A Sydney Anglican has almost completed a unique water project in Uganda where clean water availability per capita is amongst the lowest in the world despite the high rainfall in many parts of the country.
Environmental engineer Professor Steven Riley is helping upgrade the sewerage system at the Uganda Christian University (UCU), where sewerage is currently discharged into the soil of the campus.
Professor Riley, who is the Head of School of Engineering at University of Western Sydney and a member of All Saints, West Lindfield was asked to help develop engineering programs and undertake research at UCU after a chance meeting with a Ugandan bishop seven years ago.
Professor Riley first visited Uganda in 1999 and met with Vice Chancellor, the Rev Professor Stephen Noll in 2000.
"We met with some senior government and industry engineers and Ugandan church leaders and decided that I could help UCU develop essential infrastructure through the construction of a water and sewerage system," he says.
Professor Riley says the work will be directly relevant to the wellbeing of students as well as provide a base for research and training.
"This development will improve the capacity of UCU to provide better services to students and staff," he says.
"It also provides us with the opportunity to develop teaching and research facilities for those in engineering and technology research. Uganda government engineers have already agreed to be involved in teaching and research programs."
UWS has a research agreement with UCU which gives Professor Riley the opportunity to do research. He takes annual leave to gain extra time in Uganda and complete work on the water project.
"If you asked me 10 years ago if I would be doing work in Africa and helping people in the area of my research " not in my wildest dreams," Professor Riley says.
Professor Riley hopes the research that went into building this facility can be used to train people in Uganda to develop similar systems for other parts of the region.
"It will probably have a significant impact on the quality of life of areas wherever trained graduates go to," he says.
As students are trained in engineering at UCU using Professor Riley's research, the population of Uganda is likely to benefit.
"I looked at the value of what would happen if you spent $10,000 training an environmental engineer in Uganda. In the first 10 years the return is $10 to $20 million dollars, in terms of the value of lives saved," he says.
"It's a crude analysis, but it shows that our work has a huge value to the community in an economic sense at the very least. The improvement of the quality of life on top of that is astronomical."
The Archbishop of Sydney's Overseas Relief and Aid Fund (ORAF) is financially assisting research, committing $200,000 to funding the project.
Professor Stephen Noll visited Sydney last month and appreciates the Diocese's commitment to supporting UCU.
"The grant has been a wonderful gift to us and it will make a big difference in the future of UCU," he says.
Mr Riley will return to Uganda on May 5 to complete work on the sewerage treatment plant.
"It's great to wake up in the morning and discover you have clean water and you don't have diarrhoea because your water system has microbes from the sewage of a village up hill," Mr Riley says.
