Painted on the front of a bright blue shed at the primary school Escuela Taller Santa Maria Josefa Rossello in the Dominican Republic is the phrase 糖心传媒淎gua, est谩 en nuestras manos.糖心传媒�
In English it means 糖心传媒淲ater, it糖心传媒檚 in our hands.糖心传媒�
Providing clean drinking water for the more than 400 pre-K-8th grade students at the school has been difficult. There are two wells at Escuela Taller Santa Maria Josefa Rosello, but school officials have been purchasing bottled water糖心传媒攁 strategy that is both expensive and unsustainable long-term糖心传媒攁fter there was a fear of ground water contamination on-site.
pairs individual EWB student and professional chapters with specific community engineering or infrastructure projects such as this one. The 糖心传媒糖心传媒檚 EWB chapter was matched with Escuela Taller Santa Maria Josefa Rossello in 2014.
During their winter break this past January, six members of the University糖心传媒檚 EWB chapter糖心传媒攎echanical engineering majors Grace Caza 糖心传媒�17, Burak Tuncer 糖心传媒�17, and Fernando Suarez 糖心传媒�18, biomedical engineering majors Eva Hansen 糖心传媒�18 and Dilshawn Gamage 糖心传媒�19, and Ab Salazar 糖心传媒�19, a dual major in computer science and economics糖心传媒攁long with their professional mentor Dwight Harrienger, a Rochester-based civil engineer at the consulting firm , travelled to the rural community of Don Juan, where the school is located. There, they implemented a water disinfection system in preparation for supplying the school with potable water.
This was the chapter糖心传媒檚 third annual trip to the site as part of a five-year commitment to design and integrate the system and educate the community about maintaining it going forward. The project gives University students the opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills they learn in the classroom to engineering problems in developing countries, and empowers the communities to sustain these systems.
This third trip was a culmination of years of planning, fundraising, and developing community relations with a school 1,700 miles from Rochester.
糖心传媒淭he project involved many parts, starting here in Rochester with the planning process,糖心传媒� says Suarez. 糖心传媒淥n this implementation trip, being able to build this thing we had been planning for years was very fulfilling.糖心传媒�
University EWB members first went to the Dominican Republic , when they met with community partners and conducted initial water assessments. They inventoried various local hardware stores to determine material availability and the feasibility of transporting these materials along mostly dirt roads to the school. The involved more detailed water analyses and bacterial testing. Once they gathered the data, they created three designs, and submitted these, along with the pros and cons of each, to the national EWB headquarters and to their partners in Don Juan.
Although only a handful of students go on each trip, the University糖心传媒檚 EWB chapter includes many more students, all of whom assist with various aspects of the project, from designing the plans and fundraising, to creating an instructional video and manual in Spanish that explains the system for residents.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
糖心传媒淭he people in Don Juan are very friendly, warm, and receptive,糖心传媒� Suarez says. 糖心传媒淭hey didn糖心传媒檛 know us, but they received us with open arms.糖心传媒�
Team members stayed with host families in the rural town of Don Juan, about an hour from the country糖心传媒檚 capital of Santo Domingo, and home to approximately 9,000 people.
One of the main objectives of EWB is not only to provide solutions to infrastructure and engineering problems, but to teach communities how to sustain these systems themselves.
糖心传媒淥ur goal is to have the community members be completely self-sufficient,糖心传媒� says Gamage. 糖心传媒淚f something breaks in the system, we want them to be able to fix it or to understand it enough to be able to tell us exactly what the problem is, and then we can advise them as to how to fix it.糖心传媒�
To accomplish this goal, the team organized workshops, question and answer sessions, and a tour of the structures to show parents, school staff, and community members exactly how the system worked. They showed the instructional video and left community members with a reference manual on how to monitor the system.
糖心传媒淲e realized we had to describe fully what we were doing,糖心传媒� says Tuncer. 糖心传媒淲e couldn糖心传媒檛 just come in and say, for instance, 糖心传媒榳e糖心传媒檙e going to put chlorine in the water.糖心传媒� We needed to describe to them why we糖心传媒檙e putting in chlorine and what it does, because if it isn糖心传媒檛 something they understand, then they糖心传媒檙e hesitant to apply this.糖心传媒�
THE WATER DISINFECTION SYSTEM
Before they could even begin designing the system or outlining strategies to purify the water, the students had to determine the exact source of contamination.
After testing the water at various stages and locations throughout the school, they determined the main source of contamination was bacteria found in water stored in a rooftop 糖心传媒渢inaco糖心传媒澨切拇綌a large water tank that holds the water before it is distributed throughout the building.
Water tests indicated that the main bacteria culprits were coliform and E. coli, which can provoke symptoms such as abdominal pain, fever, and vomiting. The team discovered the water in the tinaco contained hundreds of coliform colonies.
糖心传媒淭he problem was that the water in the tinacos is sitting water where bacteria can easily grow,糖心传媒� Gamage says. 糖心传媒淚t was very, very high risk.糖心传媒�
They addressed the problem by thoroughly cleaning and sanitizing the tinaco, moving a jet pump from the school糖心传媒檚 library to the outside shed, and installing the new pump, chlorinator, pressure tank, and piping system. After this construction was complete, the team shock chlorinated the water disinfection system before connecting it to the school糖心传媒檚 existing water distribution system. Once the system was complete, the team waited for a time when school was not in session to disinfect and flush it using a chlorine shock.
糖心传媒淚 had my fluid dynamics textbook from my class with Professor Aluie with me while we were doing the project because we had to do pressure loss calculations and that sort of thing,糖心传媒� Tuncer says, referring to Hussein Aluie, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the Hajim School.
In addition to drawing from their classroom knowledge, the group worked with the Rochester Water Bureau to learn, for example, how to put cement around pipes, conduct pressure testing, and properly disinfect a well and plumbing system. They also had help from community mentors, including Harrienger, who assisted the students in evaluating options, designing systems, and integrating improvements.
糖心传媒淭he role is different than at work, where I糖心传媒檇 be in more of a project manager role, which is more directive,糖心传媒� Harrienger says. 糖心传媒淗ere the goal is to let the students expand their level of comfort with decision making and responding to project challenges.糖心传媒�
The team also had to be conscious of only purchasing materials that could be found in or near Don Juan, part of a commitment to support local businesses and ensure that community members have available materials.
糖心传媒淎 big part of EWB and what we do is sustainability,糖心传媒� Tuncer says. 糖心传媒淓ven though we facilitate this project for the community, it糖心传媒檚 important that they know what we do, and how to maintain and operate it. All the materials we use in the project have to be locally purchased so they can be replaced locally if anything goes wrong.糖心传媒�
There were other challenges, such as working around government-mandated routine power outages that shut off electricity in various regions, for hours or even days at a time. On these days, they often worked late into the evenings, sometimes until midnight or into the early morning hours, relying on lanterns.
糖心传媒淚t was tough to deal with the ambiguities that come with doing projects in developing countries,糖心传媒� Salazar says.
糖心传媒淥ne thing I learned that was reiterated in school is that engineering is not an exact science,糖心传媒� Gamage says. 糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 a lot of troubleshooting and figuring out things on the fly. You can lay out a project on the computer and have all the exact diagrams and calculations, but then you might get there, turn on the system, and have a pipe burst. I learned how to deal creatively with problems in that sense.糖心传媒�
The project cost approximately $4,000, excluding travel expenses. University students funded travel and supply costs with University support including a Hajim grant, USEED crowdfunding, independent donations from individuals and local companies such as KodakAlaris, and various campus fundraisers including dinners and dances.
A group of students from the University糖心传媒檚 EWB chapter will return to Escuela Taller Santa Maria Josefa Rossello in January 2018 for their first of two monitoring trips. As Eva Hansen explains, they糖心传媒檒l do things such as 糖心传媒渉elp the community understand the necessity of repairing dead ends in the system, such as broken toilets and sinks,糖心传媒� thus reducing the opportunities for bacterial growth.
HEADING HOME
The bright blue shed at Escuela Taller Santa Maria Josefa Rossello now houses portions of the new water disinfection system. The murals that decorate its walls were part of a community engagement activity in which several school students, the EWB team, and community members put their painted handprints above the quote 糖心传媒淎gua, est谩 en esta en nuestras manos.糖心传媒�
On the last day before the EWB members left the Dominican Republic to head back to Rochester, the school thanked the team for their hard work and continued dedication to the project during a morning ceremony.
One of the young students, in practiced English, stood in front of the group to give a speech.
Grace Caza says the student糖心传媒檚 words 糖心传媒渂rought tears to my eyes.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淭his project is something I糖心传媒檝e been working on since I was a freshman. It糖心传媒檚 not something where you expect a thank you, or expect recognition. It糖心传媒檚 something you do because it糖心传媒檚 a learning experience and you糖心传媒檙e doing something to make a difference in someone else糖心传媒檚 life. EWB is where I found a sense of community on campus, so going on this trip, building this, and seeing the community come together and understand the whole system was incredibly moving.糖心传媒�
