Computational Design Methods for Clean Water Systems in Remote Communities

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Providing reliable, clean water is one of the greatest engineering challenges our society faces. This is a challenge for remote locations both in the developing world and in Canada. Currently, many remote communities rely on drawing water from multiple sources that is often contaminated with bacteria and dissolved salts. This water typically requires purification or desalination, which is lacking in remote communities, to meet World Health Organization standards [1]. This proposal is part of a long-term program to develop clean water systems with higher efficiencies, lower costs, and robustness to variable operating conditions.  The five year research program proposed here has two short-term focuses. The first focus is to develop computer-based design tools for photovoltaic reverse osmosis systems (PVRO) and to integrate these technologies into the water system for a remote community. The second focus is to apply the design methods to develop prototype PVRO systems which are appropriate for remote locations. Designing an integrated water solution for a remote community is a challenge as each community requires a custom system to best accommodate their own unique water needs, water sources, and energy sources. Unfortunately, custom design is expensive and beyond the reach of many such communities. This research program will develop computer-based design methods to aid in the configuration of water systems for remote communities. These methods will use physical models to analyze availability of different water sources, such as PVRO, cisterns, and wells, and use them in an optimization framework to determine the lowest cost system that meets the desired system performance. PVRO systems have been developed to provide water to remote locations. Unfortunately, previous systems have reduced efficiency and high costs due to the incorporation of batteries and limitations in components available for community-scale applications, such as energy recovery devices. This research will use the computer-based design tools to develop an efficient PVRO system that eliminates batteries by varying the system operation to match the available solar power. In this approach, expensive energy storage is replaced by inexpensive water storage to deal with solar fluctuations. To enable this approach, a tailored energy recovery device and a control system will be developed to maximize the water production for the batteryless PVRO system. This research will develop both physical water system technologies and computer-based tools to aid in the design of water systems for remote communities. These integrated water systems have the potential to provide a reliable clean drinking water supply and make a positive impact on the quality of life for more than 700 million people who lack access to clean drinking water [1].