Three undergraduate students at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology have developed a cheaper system to determine the quality of water.
The system known as ‘Waterbits’ leverages artificial intelligence to know the safety of water for human usage.
The team comprises; Esther Aboagyewaa Abankwa and Martha Esinam Kekele Demanya, from the Computer Science Department; and Gladys Obuobi from the Biomedical Engineering Department.
According to the developers, their focus was to offer solutions to problems in Africa, particularly, Sustainable Development Goal 6 (clean water and sanitation).
They indicated that their concept was based on how the properties of water are affected when there are a high number of pollutants.
These properties include the pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), and mineral concentration.
These properties can be used to determine the quality of the water and hence can be used to classify the safety of the water for drinking.
Though there are devices for determining water purity, they are expensive.
‘Waterbits’ consists of an app and hardware.
They believe their system will be essential in assessing water purity in especially rural communities.
“Most of our water supplies are from the Water Company, but those in rural communities don’t have access to clean water,” they indicated.
For their exploits, the students won the first runner-up prizes in the finals of the Innovation Track of Huawei Sub-Saharan ICT Competition 2021-2022 held in South Africa.
KNUST students develop devices to determine water quality
Huawei HMS App Innovation Contest, the first of its kind aims to inspire talented developers across the globe to create seamless, smart, and innovative digital experiences, and explore the future of digital intelligence.
By highlighting pioneering HMS open capabilities, the competition gives app developers the tools to build tomorrow’s all-connected world.
Justice Owusu Agyemang, an Assistant Lecturer and coach for the team, announced that the team has qualified for the global Huawei Innovation Competition to be held in China in May 2022.
Source: Emmanuel kwasi Debrah
