Floods: Survival strategies.

[Khun Don]

Safe against shock
Pattarawadee Saengmanee

The Nation on Sunday November 6, 2011 1:05 am

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Stalking perilous electric current in the floodwater, the FloodDuck could save lives

Not quite as cute as the name implies and certainly not a toy for kids, the FloodDuck could save some lives during the current crisis. The cylindrical plastic case capped with a yellow duck contains circuitry to test the water for dangerous electrical current.

The electrocution deaths of two brothers in high water last month inspired Professor Dusit Sukawat to design the prototype from materials he had at home. Then, with third-year electrical-engineering students, he finished the gadget, which can float well away on its own in search of electrical leaks.

If the FloodDuck finds anything, from 10 to 220 volts, its red LED light is activated.

Dusit, from King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Lat Krabang, is giving 1,000 of the ducks to hospitals, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the Army and rescue squads.

"We're trying to develop a better model that can identify five different levels of leaking electrical current," he says.

With support from the university, private organisations and the government, the ducks are also being made for Bt300 apiece.

"It's not difficult," says Krisada Somsup, one of the students. "We have volunteers with no electrical knowledge helping us. Only the processes like testing and soldering have to be done by specialists."

Krisada says the dirty water engulfing much of the country "is actually a good electrical conductor" because of several elements it contains.

The FloodDuck makers gather every afternoon at the university and form an assembly line whose functions are charted on a whiteboard.

Nichapa Taechathanompong, a 27-year-old hotel receptionist, is among the more experienced volunteers showing the rookies how the parts fit together.

"I wanted to help in the crisis and I saw the FloodDuck page on Facebook. Anyone can help make these, and we still need lots more ducks for people living and doing rescue work in the flooded areas."

Nuttapatch Chanitsriphoom, 64, is busily installing resistors in the ducks. "I'm a volunteer at Public Health Centre on Soi Ladprao 41," she says. "I saw the FloodDuck mentioned on TV and realised how useful it could be."

BUILD A BIRD

<< Help make FloodDucks in Room 311 of the ECC building at King Mongkut in Lad Krabang.

<< Or send them some money via "floodduck54" on Facebook or by calling (088) 873 6859.

[Khun Don]

Mudding the waters
Khetsirin Pholdhampalit

The Nation on Sunday November 6, 2011 6:09 am

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More than 200 good-hearted folk turn out to a dharma centre each day to make EM mud balls

Baan Aree, a dharma sanctuary and wellness centre on Soi Aree 1 off Phaholyothin Road, is providing a much-needed boost for the spirits by inviting people to spend their time producing about 5,000 EM (effective micro-organism) mud balls every day to help disinfect contaminated floodwater.

The project, which was launched early last week, is drawing more than 200 volunteers of all ages each day, who work together mixing the ingredients and moulding the balls that are later distributed free to flood-affected people and institutions.

"The main problem of all flood-affected people is that the water is polluted and smells terrible. The EM balls are one of the environmental solutions to reduce water pollutants and improve water quality. Once thrown into the water, one EM ball can generally disinfect about five cubic metres of polluted water," says Suwit Chansirirat of Baan Aree.

Developed by University of Ryukyus professor Dr Teruo Higa, EM has a wide range of applications such as water and sewage purification, improving recycled water and solving sanitary problems. It is also widely used in agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries and food production.

Microorganisms are crucial for maintaining the ecological balance. They carry out chemical processes that make it possible for all other organisms including humans to live. The fermentation emitted from the mud balls alleviates or destroys the ammonia nitrogen found in human effluents and sewerage leakages into the water system.

Each day, Baan Aree spends about Bt5,000 to buy the ingredients. The EM ball is made from fine and rough rice bran and sandy soil in a ratio of 3:2:2 before pouring in the liquid mixture containing EM activated solution and water to ensure it's not too wet or too dry.

The volunteers are divided into groups of five and each group has a plastic container containing the ingredients.

Volunteer Monthita Rojtinnakorn enthusiastically mixes the soil, liquid and rice brans together and compress them firmly in a small bowl before thoroughly kneading and forming the mixture into a tennis ball. To make sure the ball is compressed firmly and tightly enough, she is told to hold it by her knee then drop it on the floor.

"This is my first time here. The process of making EM balls is simple yet meaningful, everybody can do it. I wanted to do something meaningful. Before this, I'd volunteered to fill sandbags at Siriraj Hospital and Suvarnabhumi Airport and also packed relief bags at the Thai Red Cross. I've kept updated through Twitter and Facebook to see which venue requires volunteers," says the Chulalongkorn University student.

Once the balls are made, we are told not to leave them in direct sunlight. They must left in an open but shady area for five days. During fermentation, there will be white spots covering the mud balls: this is normal. The white spots are fungus, which is important for a successful ball that is ready to use. A ball under ideal conditions is effective for three months.

"Our problem right now is that the factory in Nong Chok district that supplies us with the ingredients has just been submerged by floodwaters. We are facing a shortage of supplies and what we have now is coming from donations. If anyone has a source where we can buy a large amount of rice bran, please call us," says Suwit.

"Another problem is we cannot produce enough balls to meet demand. Due to the shortage of supplies and our limited space, we can only produce about 5,000 balls a day. We also don't have a big enough space to dry all the balls we produce so the recipients need to dry them in the shade by themselves," he adds.

Kneading Needed

<< You can help make the EM balls at Baan Aree daily from 10am to 5pm. Donations of the ingredients to make the balls are also welcome.

<< Interested flood-affected people can ask for the EM balls by calling (02) 619 7474.

<< Baan Aree is on Soi Aree 1 off Phaholyothin Road (BTS: Aree). Visit www.BaanAree.net.

[Khun Don]

EM balls effective : academics
The Nation


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Photo : Sukul Kerdnaimongkol November 9, 2011 5:07 am

EM balls can control pollution in flood water, experts at Srinakharinwirot University said yesterday.

"They are effective," Assoc Prof Sumalee Leungsakul said. She is the dean of the university's Faculty of Culture, Environment and Eco-tourism.

Sumalee said her university was now handing out the effective micro-organism balls to flood victims. The Tamaka sugar factory in Kanchanaburi has donated molasses for their production.

Many Bangkok residents have sought EM balls to tackle the filthy, smelly flood water around their homes, but their effectiveness has been questioned in recent days.

Dr Sanong Thongpan, who has had eight years of experience in treating polluted water for Srinakharin-wirot University, agrees that the EM balls are effective.

"It's just that the micro-organisms used for them must have the ability to dispose of starch, fat and protein in flood water. Their micro-organisms must be from the bacillus subtilis and nitro-factor groups," he said.

Sanong said users should break up the EM balls into small bits before throwing them into the flood water.

"For every 10 cubic metres of water, you should use just two EM balls," he said, "If you use them correctly, water quality should improve within one week".

[Khun Don]

EM balls and water safety
Krib Sitathani
Special to The Nation November 9, 2011 4:02 am

Let me first ask you a few questions: What's your definition of polluted water? Does polluted water smell foul and look dirty? Is clear water without the stink safe to use and walk through?

You may then ask what these questions have to do with the so-called EM balls. Actually, they are very pertinent, because EM balls are believed to treat polluted floodwater.

As per the creator, Professor Dr Teruo Higa, EM balls are a mixture of micro-organisms including lactic acid bacteria, yeast and phototrophic bacteria. Lactic acid bacteria produce lactic acid from sugar when oxygen is not limited in its environment. A species of yeast is used to convert carbohydrates into carbon dioxide and alcohol, which is normally used for baking bread and brewing beer, while phototrophic bacteria utilises sunlight for photosynthesis. It is unclear what species of phototrophic bacteria is used in EM balls, though it could be Rhodopseudomonas palustris - identified by Szymanski and Patterson in 2003. The Rhodopseudomonas palustris are purple non-sulphur bacteria that do not produce oxygen. The percentage of these micro-organisms in EM balls remains undisclosed.

Further complicating the debate is that many companies produce their own version of the EM balls, though the varieties are unclear at present and their effectiveness has yet to be proven.

According to Higa, these bacteria become "positive micro-organisms" once introduced into the system, replacing the negative ones. There has been a lot of research on how EM balls have been effective in improving agricultural yield - the purpose they were designed for originally.

Let's explore some studies on the effectiveness of EM balls when it comes to treating wastewater. Szymanski and Patterson tested how effective EM balls were in reducing sludge in five septic tanks against a septic tank that was treated in the normal manner. The result was inconclusive. Another example is the study conducted by the Biological Husbandry Unit (BHU), Lincoln University, New Zealand, on how effective EM balls can be to control odour. The primary result was an improvement in foul odour, and though there are other studies referred to on the Net, nobody is making any claims about EM balls disinfecting water or reducing hazardous chemicals.

So we arrive at our dilemma. Will EM balls help solve our problem with polluted floodwater? As stated above, there has been limited scientific research on the effectiveness of EM balls. Though one study demonstrates that EM balls could improve the odour of polluted water, would that be enough?

According to World Health Organisation regulations, potable water should not contain any harmful pathogens or hazardous chemicals.

However, using EM balls without proper understanding could put people's lives and safety at stake.

Simply put, EM balls can temporarily reduce the stench in floodwater, they do not prevent the spread of disease or chemical contamination.

Now that the floods are approaching the ocean, our next big obstacle is addressing the problem of disease prevention and control, as well as rebuilding our homes, neighbourhoods and country.

The writer can be contacted on Twitter @KribBKK and his blog can be found at www.thaienergysolution.com.

[Khun Don]

FLOOD REHABILITATION
Universities and inventors doing their bit

The Nation November 14, 2011 6:03 am

Range of products developed for flood victims

With more than 40 people having lost their lives due to fatal electric shocks during the worst flood crisis in decades, this risk has become a serious issue. It has drawn a lot of attention from people in flooded areas, anxious - understandably - to prevent themselves suffering a similar fate.

Maybe it's time for universities - the agencies that house a lot of knowledge - to lend a hand, by inventing different utensils or objects that can be used during flooding to ease victims' troubles.

King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) has successfully invented thousands of items of equipment that can be used to test water for dangerous electrical current.

As many as 5,000 plastic tubes equipped with circuitry to test the electrical current in water were completed last week thanks to overwhelming help from volunteers. With voluntary assistance, KMUTT was able to produce 1,000 pieces a day (up from 100) until it reached the 5,000 pieces targeted.

Each of the tubes can test electrical leaks in a radius of two metres and when it finds a leak, a small fluorescent bulb is activated.

About 3,000 of these detectors have been distributed for free to people in need and agencies doing flood assistance missions after about 6,000 people submitted a requests for them.

Anyone wanting to know about the university's assistance and voluntary activities can go to www.facebook.com/maicheckfirerua or call 02 470 9999.

King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), meanwhile, has a "FloodDuck", which can be used for the same purpose as the KMUTT tubes.

The FloodDuck is a cylindrical plastic case capped with a yellow duck containing circuitry that can float well away on its own in search of electrical leaks.

If the FloodDuck finds anything, from 10 to 220 volts, its red LED light is activated.

KMUTL has created 1,000 of the ducks and given them to hospitals, staff at the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the Army, and to rescue squads.

Electrical leak test equipment also has been invented by Chulalongkorn University.

During floods, contaminated water has been threatening people's health, too.

So, several universities have come up with great ideas to invent water filters.

Chulalongkorn University (CU) has created more than 1,000 portable water filtration kits. Each kit has aluminium chlorohydrate to precipitate sediment, chlorine to kill germs and a water filter equipped with activated charcoal to make the water clearer and cleaner.

Kasetsart University has also created a "Mobile Aqua Purifier" to change floodwater to usable and drinkable water. One purifier that costs Bt16,500 can produce 120 litres of usable water per hour while it takes an hour to produce 30 litres of drinkable water.

Meanwhile, Prince of Songkla University (PSU) has shown its membrane-technology water filters with 0.3 micron ceramic filter elements that were used in November last year to produce 100,000 bottles of drinking water to help flood victims in Hat Yai. Each costs Bt2,000 and can filter 30 litres of water in an hour.

The main force of membrane technology is the fact that it works without the addition of chemicals, with relatively low energy use and easy and well-arranged process conductions.

Mahanakorn University of Technology also has water filters that use simple technology - ceramic elements and activated charcoal. One filter can produce five litres of usable water in half a minute.

Even defecating - going to the toilet - has become a big issue when toilets are under water.

A group of alumni from CU and University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce have designed "Judnak" bag - an instant biodegradable toilet. With Judnak bags people can do their business virtually anytime and anywhere. After they put quicklime in to kill germs and tie up the top of the bags, which can be put into a "Judtem", a larger version of the biodegradable bag; it can keep many Judnak bags. These can stay nearby during the inundation or be buried if people have a chance to do this. They are designed to "disappear" within six months.

But, these bags are not available for individuals, only organisations that work directly with flood victims. Thousands of packages have been donated to concerned organisations.

KMUTT has biodegradable bags as well. Its bags can quickly biodegrade. The university has provided a chemical substance, Zeolite, to kill germs and neutralise unwanted odours.

To cure the disease athlete's foot, which people often get in a flood, Srinakharinwirot University has provided balms to help people and soldiers who have to work in flood water on assistance missions.

Around 4,000 caskets of balm have been produced. The university has also offered 400 bottles of citronella oil, a mosquito repellent.

Phayao University has offered more kinds of medicines, including calamine lotion, balm, alcohol hand gel, a cream for fungal infections on skin, plus mosquito repellent.

Even a university from a southernmost province, PSU, Pattani campus, has presented an edible invention to help flood victims.

The campus' canned Massaman curry with chicken can be kept as long as two years. Around 1,000 cans have been sent to affected people in many provinces.