Panoramio - Photos by tan0404

Ever thought repeatedly drinking cups of water could make you comparable to your household water meter? What seems like a bizarre idea has helped engineers at The University of Queensland (UQ) explain the mechanical principles behind their current project: a low cost water meter for use in Cambodia’s Kandal province.

By designing and implementing household water meterage systems the “Planeteers” team, comprising Leah Bygraves, Oskar Schawb, Wai Tan and Ashleigh Tomkins, hope to alleviate water shortages, water access problems and contamination issues in Kandal province.

Water woes

According to The United Nations, every 15 seconds a child dies due to lack of basic sanitation and access to clean drinking water. Engineers, including the team at UQ, are at the forefront of combating such issues by developing sustainable solutions to improve the quality of life for individuals worldwide.

Situated close to the nation’s capital Phnom Penh, residents of Cambodia's Kandal province face numerous water access and quality issues. Presently water sources sustaining rural communities are drawn from shallow ground wells, ponds, lakes and tributaries of the Mekong river. Such water collection methods are associated with health problems such as arsenic contamination, lead poisoning and microbiological issues which lead to high incidences of diarrhoea and typhoid.

According to the World Health Organization 31 per cent of Cambodia’s population (27 per cent in rural areas) have access to safe drinking water. Further data published in the Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey 2005 found 16 per cent of Cambodia’s rural population is exposed daily to the threat of bacteriological contamination arising from the consumption of unclean groundwater.

Pioneering solutions

Through the design of a low cost water meter, the Planeteers team aims to establish household access to clean drinking water for villagers across Kandal province. Whilst not directly implementing the technology (pipes and gravity fed tanks) for villagers to access water, the team, in conjunction with Engineers Without Borders and Resource Development International Cambodia, is designing and will market water meters, a perquisite of any funding body targeted to aid the project.

“Organizations are currently available to install gravity fed tanks into households but in order to do so they need something to meter the water so it can be paid for,” Leah Bygraves said.

Engineer and senior lecturer at UQ, Dr Lydia Kavanagh expressed her support for projects like the Planeteer’s and highlighted the importance of successfully gaining funding.

“I would hope that all schemes for the provision of good quality running water will be implemented. The question is the length of time that it takes to get a system adopted... international funding will underpin the successful design and adoption of a water meterage system,” she said.

Presently the only available water meter costs $50 USD (approximately $55 AUD), a price prohibitive to the majority of villagers across Kandal province who earn less than $2 USD a day. The Planeteers will therefore aim to make the cost of their meter (undetermined due to further design refinement) less than the $50 USD benchmark and keep production local, ultimately feeding back into communities.

“We intend to use local resources and people...which will obviously minimise costs...also we intend to manufacture and distribute the water meter locally, providing employment for local people...” Miss Bygraves said.

The team further plans to implement a financial scheme whereby villagers can make small but regular repayments on the water meter.

“The meter will be sold on the condition that the buyer adheres to a simple payment plan. This will ensure that their bill isn’t oversized... each week customers will pay about 50 cents off the water meter. This means that over about one or two years they’ll have it paid off,” Miss Bygraves said.

Technology, technology, technology

Whilst there are numerous methods by which a water meter may function the team has identified the technology most suited to the needs of their target markets.

Like any successful design much research has been conducted into consumer needs and the team has acknowledged a “limited exposure to modern technology” on part of the Cambodians. Miss Bygraves said the meter design would reflect such facts.

“The water meter will be as simple as possible to use...and include a clear method of how water is recorded,” she said.

Fellow Planeteer Oskar Schwab identified the two components of a functioning water meter as the flow meter (which physically measures water passing through and is comparable to drinking cups of water and then counting the number of cups you consumed) and the register (which displays the amount of water measured) and continued to specify the types most relevant to the teams design.

“We looked at several water meters to benchmark our project...the most promising design so far is the oscillating systems meter and if possible we would like to have it magnetically connected to the register (mechanical odometer),” he said.

Part of a larger picture

Whilst the Planeteers project is aimed specifically at enabling access to safe drinking water in Cambodia’s Kandal province via the implementation of household water meters, it is part of an ongoing water project undertaken by RDIC.

Dr Kavanagh identified the importance and relevance of access to clean water.

“In 2002, the United Nations declared that access to water is a human right; it is one of their 8 millennium development goals... access to clean water is a high priority,” she said.

The water meterage project undertaken by the Planeteers is a vital component of the continual plight to provide safe water to disadvantaged communities. Its successful implementation and ability to gain funding will have a significantly positive impact on not only the health but life quality of villagers across Cambodia’s Kandal province.

Our water woes- Queensland is currently experiencing severe drought conditions with level six water restrictions in place. Want to know about your water usage and how you can help save water? Visit to find out.

To learn more about the Planeteers presentation click here.

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tan0404 said:

Tanya Ponton

UQ News

Ever thought repeatedly drinking cups of water could make you comparable to your household water meter? What seems like a bizarre idea has helped engineers at The University of Queensland (UQ) explain the mechanical principles behind their current project: a low cost water meter for use in Cambodia’s Kandal province.

By designing and implementing household water meterage systems the “Planeteers” team, comprising Leah Bygraves, Oskar Schawb, Wai Tan and Ashleigh Tomkins, hope to alleviate water shortages, water access problems and contamination issues in Kandal province.

Water woes

According to The United Nations, every 15 seconds a child dies due to lack of basic sanitation and access to clean drinking water. Engineers, including the team at UQ, are at the forefront of combating such issues by developing sustainable solutions to improve the quality of life for individuals worldwide.

Situated close to the nation’s capital Phnom Penh, residents of Cambodia's Kandal province face numerous water access and quality issues. Presently water sources sustaining rural communities are drawn from shallow ground wells, ponds, lakes and tributaries of the Mekong river. Such water collection methods are associated with health problems such as arsenic contamination, lead poisoning and microbiological issues which lead to high incidences of diarrhoea and typhoid.

According to the World Health Organization 31 per cent of Cambodia’s population (27 per cent in rural areas) have access to safe drinking water. Further data published in the Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey 2005 found 16 per cent of Cambodia’s rural population is exposed daily to the threat of bacteriological contamination arising from the consumption of unclean groundwater.

Pioneering solutions