Global Engineering – Borneo expedition reflections (Part 1 of 3)

In the first of three blog posts, fourth year MEng Civil & Structural Engineering student Amy reflects on her experience on the Global Engineering module that sees students complete a real life engineering project in a developing country.

The Global Engineering module provided the opportunity to tackle an international design and build challenge in rural Borneo, utilising the engineering skills and knowledge developed from university learning. Providing basic amenities such as access to water and sanitation facilities in the developing world is a vital challenge to be tackled by engineers, particularly in Sabah where 41% of the population lack access to safe drinking water supplies or sanitation services.

My team was placed in Bombong Empat, a remote community located in the jungle region of Northern Sabah. The project involved the construction of a toilet block and the installation of a new gravity-fed water system. An existing government installed system failed to adequately supply water to all of the community and was extremely unreliable in the dry season. This clearly highlighted the importance of the task at hand – to provide each home with a reliable water supply.

Life on expedition involved 12 hour working days with early 05:00am starts in a constant 32oC heat. The project required copious amounts of manual labour including digging, transporting heavy materials and concreting. Works for the installation of the gravity-fed water system consisted of the construction of a new dam and header tank site, laying over 1.5 kilometres of the pipe network and the installation of 15 tap stands across the village. With only 11 days to complete all tasks, as well as a limited supply of materials, careful planning and close communication were vital for project success.

Laying and connecting the pipe network

Laying and connecting the pipe network

On the ninth day of the project we released water down the pipe network and waited eagerly at the lowest tap. After 17 minutes of listening to lots of air gush through the system, we had water! It was an amazing feeling to see that all of our hard work had paid off and we were all extremely proud of our achievement. It was fantastic to see the difference between the fast flowing taps from the new system with that from the existing supply, clearly demonstrating the true difference we had made to the lives of the community.

Flowing water at the lowest home – success!

Flowing water at the lowest home – success!

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