Students' irrigation kit designed to save lives - 2010

03 November 2010

It might look like a hessian sack but the micro irrigation kit designed by two Queensland University of Technology (QUT) students has the potential to transform the way developing countries access clean water.

Designed by Howard Hsu and Brett Hopper, the kit is a simple-to-use, water-carrying sack that incorporates a highly-innovative filter capable of removing viruses that lead to significant health problems in developing countries.

Howard said the kit which if developed for mass production could potentially only cost about $10 - would greatly benefit farmers in developing countries by filtering contaminated water before being used on crops.

"It can also be used in the home to filter water for drinking," Howard said.

Brett said the kit was designed to function as a drip irrigation system capable of holding 20 litres of water and irrigating 15 square metres of land.

"It's been designed for rural farmers who have small plots of land and the idea is they can form a modular design so when they buy more kits, then they can connect them together," he said.

"We believe this system has the potential to increase crop yields by up to 50 per cent."

Howard said one of the key benefits of the irrigation kit was the ability to filter out the potentially deadly Rotavirus and prevent the spread of diarrhoea through contaminated water.

"Rotavirus kills approximately 500,000 people a year in sub-Saharan Africa and south-eastern Asia," he said.

"The filter we have used in the kit was developed by QUT Professor Huai Yong Zhu and uses a specially designed ceramic mesh to filter the virus from water."

The project is part of the students' fourth-year industrial design subject - Industrial Design 7 - which focuses on Design Led Innovation and offered the opportunity to put industrial design theory into practice.

The students presented their micro irrigation kit at the launch of the QUT Innovation Space - established to help budding entrepreneurs turn a novel idea into a booming business - and won $5000 worth of market research from the Australian Institute of Commercialisation.

"The decision to pursue this project further at this stage is dependent upon generating industry interest in it. We are also considering putting the market research prize towards one of our final year projects," Brett said.

"But we are definitely keen to work together in the future."

Both students are considering undertaking a Masters degree at QUT when they graduate at the end of the year.

Media contact - Sandra Hutchinson, QUT media officer, 07 3138 2999 or s3.hutchinson@qut.edu.au