Members of the 糖心传媒 (EWB) student chapter, back from their sixth trip to a school in the Dominican Republic, will return next year to make sure the clean water they are providing pleases the most important palates of all糖心传媒攖hose of the schoolchildren.
In January, six EWB members and their professional mentor visited the Escuela Taller Santa Maria Josefa Rossello primary school. They had planned the visit as a final monitoring and sign-off on the water disinfection system and new piping they installed on previous visits, providing 400 pre-K through eighth grade students with drinking water.
Instead, they discovered that one of the school糖心传媒檚 buildings was no longer getting any water at all. A separate well for the building, installed prior to the EWB project, had not been dug deeply enough.
In addition, children were refusing to drink the disinfected water being supplied to the rest of the school. The water was too 糖心传媒渉ard糖心传媒澨切拇綌about 420 mg of calcium per liter. That糖心传媒檚 not a health risk, but it can definitely leave a metallic taste in your mouth.
糖心传媒淭he children thought the water wasn糖心传媒檛 clean,糖心传媒� says Joshua Batres 糖心传媒�22, an engineering science and business double major and business manager for the chapter. The school had to continue buying bottled water at a high cost. 糖心传媒淏asically, all of our previous work would have gone to waste if we didn糖心传媒檛 address this.糖心传媒�
The students set to work tackling these issues. They connected a high-pressure faucet in one building to supply the building without water. In the process they discovered糖心传媒攁nd in some cases replaced糖心传媒攑reviously undocumented underground water lines. The students also capped off a line from the old well that connected to the rest of the system, and was responsible for traces of E. coli in the water.
Then, during a visit to Santo Domingo for other supplies, the students were referred to a water purification store. The owner sold them a small ion exchange filter to attach to a single sink as a possible solution for the 糖心传媒渉ard糖心传媒� water problem. If it works, school officials will be able to buy a larger filter.
糖心传媒淥ne thing we are very grateful for is that the school is very committed to finding a solution,糖心传媒� says Fatou Diop 糖心传媒�20. 糖心传媒淭he beauty of this is, you encounter setbacks, but ultimately it helps move the project along.糖心传媒�
New projects on the horizon
In the meantime, the EWB chapter is exploring two new projects through , which pairs individual student and professional chapters with specific community engineering or infrastructure projects.
One is a project to bring water to Naramat, a village in Tanzania. The Rochester chapter is hoping to raise enough funds to visit the village later this summer糖心传媒攂asically a 糖心传媒済o/no go糖心传媒� trip to determine if the scope of the project would be feasible for the students to tackle.
The chapter is also exploring opportunities to work with Taproot Collective, a Rochester nonprofit that designs and builds holistic systems for healthy local food, dignified housing, and educational opportunities in urban neighborhoods.
The Rochester EWB chapter, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, is interested in growing its membership. Though most members are engineering students, undergraduates from any discipline can join.
Being good at a lot of things
糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 an exciting time,糖心传媒� says Nathan Ward 糖心传媒�20. 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 kind of sad to be a senior.糖心传媒�
The biomedical engineering major, who plans to work in biopharma after graduating in May, says participation in EWB has opened his eyes to the complexities of solving engineering problems in the real world.听 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檝e gotten a lot out of this club, to the point I would say it糖心传媒檚 equal in weight to my engineering education,糖心传媒� he says.
Diop, a chemical engineering major, agrees. 糖心传媒淓ngineers need to be good at a lot of things. When you end up leading a team through a project like this, there are so many things you need to consider: the community you are working with; how your project is impacting other people, and how to adapt and be respectful, especially when working with people from another culture.糖心传媒�
She plans to pursue a PhD in catalysis and nanotechnology, then work in industry, specifically on transforming CO2 into fuel. 糖心传媒淓ngineers Without Borders has motivated me to apply what I have learned.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淲e are very proud of this club,糖心传媒� Diop adds. 糖心传媒淲e糖心传媒檝e seen it grow from our freshman year, and it糖心传媒檚 just amazing. The new students are so engaged.糖心传媒�
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