Ten City College of New York (CCNY) students traveled to Honduras this past January to build a water system for a small rural village. They're part of Engineers Without Borders (EWB, www.ewb-usa.org), which connects volunteers with projects that need their engineering skills.
After more than a year of preparation the students were finally able to roll up their sleeves and construct the system on site. They tackled the job with energy and enthusiasm.
A global commitment
"This water project exemplifies our student body's commitment to the global community. It also enabled them to apply practical and theoretical skills, and to develop leadership skills through service," says Joseph Barba, dean of CCNY's Grove School of Engineering. CCNY's engineering department is one of the most diverse in the country.
Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is a private nonprofit organization that applies engineering principles to solve problems for disadvantaged peoples around the world. EWB was founded in the U.S. in 2000, and now has more than a hundred established university-based chapters and more than fifty additional "developing" chapters. It connects projects with school chapters in a competitive bidding process.
The CCNY chapter of Engineers Without Borders got organized in October 2005, and submitted its application for the Honduras project that November. Beth Wittig, assistant professor of civil engineering, served as faculty advisor.
"A bunch of students here took the idea and ran with it," says Rebecca Pizzaro, a senior majoring in civil engineering. She was the assistant project manager during the implementation trip, and became lead project manager when her predecessor, Yurintzy Estrada, graduated in 2007.
A multicultural team
The group's multicultural background was an advantage in the bidding process. "They were chosen over some of the best engineering schools in the country, because their proposal demonstrated a special understanding of the cultural issues related to the project," professor Wittig says. "Also considered was their ability to achieve the project and their dedication to implementing sustainable designs."
The chapter had to come up with all the money to pay for the project, as well as its travel, lodging and other expenses, like special immunizations. The $33,000 the students raised came from major contributors that included CCNY's Grove School of Engineering and Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies, the CCNY Alumni Association, the CCNY Engineering Alumni Association, the CCNY Auxiliary Enterprise Corp, Turner Construction and private donors.
"Engineering design was only one component of the project," says professor Wittig. "A lot of it required public relations to get the word out about the need for funding. It's a testimony to the students that they raised the money."
A group that included three students, professor Wittig and professional advisor Cliff Gold, a CCNY alumnus, made an assessment trip in the spring of 2006. Then professor Wittig and a second faculty advisor, Thomas Price, assistant professor in the School of Engineering, accompanied ten students on the implementation trip in January 2007.
Defining the problem
The tiny village of Nueva Suiza, located in the Cortez region of the Sierra de Omoa Mountains of Honduras, has no electricity, telephone service or public transportation. Until this past January it also didn't have a water system. Its 350 residents relied on a spring-fed pool created by a natural dam of rocks and clay about half a mile from the village. Residents had to carry water back from the pool, or use surface water from a small stream that caught the dam's overflow. Since the village depends on agriculture for trade as well as subsistence, a reliable water supply is critical.
Carrying water back from the spring was heavy work. About a quarter of the village residents chose not to make the trip and used the surface water, which was often contaminated by runoff and was implicated in intestinal illnesses and skin infections.
Involving the community
It was essential that the project involve community members, who would sustain the system after the student engineers left. CCNY's project manager began by talking with the mayor, bank representatives and other officials to be sure they were behind the project.
On the assessment trip in April 2006 the students and their advisors interviewed the head of every household about the family's health and water needs and use. They then identified a source that provided sufficient water for a predicted twenty-year demand, and tested the water to determine whether it required filtering and/or disinfection. They used disposable indicator strips and a portable chemistry kit to measure pH, hardness and chlorine levels, and collected samples for additional laboratory analysis for turbidity, microorganisms and chemical contamination.
An engineering plan
The assessment team surveyed the topography of the terrain between the village and the water source to determine possible pathways for a 1.5 inch PVC pipeline. A completely gravity-fed system was feasible, but the dense vegetation and complex terrain were challenging. An erosion-prevention plan was necessary along steep portions of the pathway. In some places, the pipeline would have to be anchored in place using geo-textile and rebar; in others, it could be buried to protect it from foot traffic and animals.
The team returned with their reports and set to work designing the system. The group met weekly to refine the project's components: the dam, the pipeline, the disinfection tank, the chlorine disinfection process, and gray water reuse and disposal. "We needed to find a middle ground between the optimal engineering solution and what was possible given the budget," says Estrada.
The team also came back with information about other public health problems that needed to be addressed: solid waste disposal and ventilation problems. One student designed a compost bin. "There was trash all over the place that was not biodegradable," says Pizzaro. "We had to educate the community about solid waste."
Overcoming challenges
After many months of planning, a second team made the implementation trip to Nueva Suiza to build the system. Several spoke Spanish, so they didn't have to call on local translators. Those who didn't know Spanish memorized useful phrases. The villagers picked up English quickly, calling out "Check it!" each time they laid a block.
"I was surprised by how much I could understand," says Rumana Haque, who speaks Bengali, the language of her parents' native Bangladesh, but not Spanish. Bengali and English sounded the same to the villagers.
The villagers had never seen a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf. They asked if she was a nun. "It was a major adjustment for me," she adds. "I've never lived with pets, and there were chickens and dogs and cats running all over the place."
Haque has asthma, which added another challenge to her participation in the project. She took her medication, but was hesitant when another student challenged her to make the trek through the jungle to the water source. "I was terrified of going. Then I thought 'I will never have an opportunity like this again,'" she says.
She and her teammates took the easy route to the source. She had little difficulty, and enjoyed the beautiful, peaceful setting. They took the hard way back, and even with her teammates' support, it was a difficult journey. "I could barely crawl. I tried to hold on to roots, but they would come out in my hands," she recalls. "But I took it slow and ultimately I succeeded."
Gary Chen, a civil engineering senior specializing in environmental engineering, also faced some challenges. Chen doesn't speak Spanish, which made communication difficult when he needed to build an embankment around the water source. "I got really good at specifying measurements with gestures," he says. "When we were done the man I worked with gave me a big bear hug. I was very moved."
During their stay in Nueva Suiza the students were completely cut off from family and friends, as the mountains made phone reception impossible. Most enjoyed the temporary isolation. "It was nice to get a break from all the electronic stuff," Pizzaro says.
Future plans
When one of the students stopped to take a picture of the mountains surrounding the village, the village president wondered why they were so interested. Pizzaro explained that there are no mountains in New York, only buildings as tall as mountains, but he didn't understand. "He was astonished that we don't have the beauty of the land all around us," she says. The students plan to take postcards of the city's skyscrapers with them on their next trip to show what they can't convey in words.
The final water system features multiple spigots, but many residents still get their water from a communal source. In the future the team wants to install spigots for each family. They'd also like to design a poster to continue educating the community about public health practices.
"The experience was hugely rewarding, not only in terms of teaching, but personally as well," says professor Wittig.
"We were such a mixed group, but we all had the same intention," notes Haque. "We were doing something good and helping people out."
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