During my undergraduate, I worked with a group of engineers who were building a gravity-fed water distribution system in Ntisaw, Cameroon to deliver clean water to the village. A significant problem using traditional equipment to monitor water quality in developing communities is the lack of access to running water and electricity. Since infectious diseases are often caused by microscopic life forms, it is difficult to assess viable organisms without electricity for incubators as well as basic laboratory supplies. Therefore, I designed and constructed a bright-field microscope powered by sunlight to assess large quantities of water to determine how effectively the filtration systems remove harmful micro-organisms.
The installed systems are only considered successful if the water is clean throughout the entire delivery process: from initial filtration through to human consumption. Verification of this criteria calls for many tests to be carried out in multiple homes. Conventional laboratory equipment is too bulky and expensive to be considered suitable for this context. Therefore, a portable, durable, and inexpensive alternative was critical to assess water quality in Ntisaw. To fulfill the project’s needs in Cameroon, the constructed microscope needed to satisfy certain criteria to be operative in these circumstances:
- Easy to use and maintain
- Portably powered by solar energy
- At least 400x magnification to view objects at 1-2 microns
- Capable of photo and video capture
- Inexpensive and easy to reproduce
In addition to these requirements, the microscope was used in education programs in the village. With a microscope, community members can “see” germs whereas they are invisible with the naked eye. This eliminates the need to inherently trust that the water is contaminated, which helped foster continued support from the community.
You can see the microscope in action here.