The
Adventurous Engineer

How does the eVac compare to it's Gulper in Malawi? Can it be made with the limited parts available here?

A small affordable machine for emptying pit latrines. Developed in South Africa using parts that can be sourced almost anywhere.

With a new suck and blow tank the eVac makes short work of another low flush toilet, but struggles with a rubbish clogged VIP.

The eVac manages to suck the watery waste out without difficulty, but causes a significant mess around the emptying area.

After the eVac's inital success it struggled on a drier pit latrine, although the air/water lance helped.

In South Africa I'm working on an improved way of emptying pit latrines. This is the why and the how.

An extract from Mark O'Riordan's report on pit latrine emptying regarding the Vacutug: a machine for emptying pit latrines.

The eVac's first test on a real pit latrine - and it's a great success!

An unsuccessful yet informative test with the pit screw auger, as it struggles to cope with the rubbish in the pit latrine

After struggling to find a suitable moisture trap, I end up making one from a jam jar

I've arrived in South Africa, and the work looks like it is going to be very interesting.

The EWB pre-departure course and the Clare Farm training course in preparation for my EWB placement in South Africa.

As of August I'll be going on an EWB placement for a year in South Africa.

I and a team from EWB Edinburgh travelled to Cambodia for the summer to learn about the water sector and see how we could help.

My MEng thesis is titled Case Based Reasoning (CBR) as a Decision Support System (DSS) for water treatment in Cambodia.