{"id":10604,"date":"2024-03-04T08:31:32","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T14:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=10604"},"modified":"2024-03-04T08:31:32","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T14:31:32","slug":"crossing-borders-uw-stout-students-engineering-new-clean-water-system-for-village-in-ecuador","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/crossing-borders-uw-stout-students-engineering-new-clean-water-system-for-village-in-ecuador\/","title":{"rendered":"Crossing borders: UW-Stout students engineering new, clean water system for village in Ecuador"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
UW-Stout students who are part of the university\u2019s Engineers Without Borders chapter traveled to a village in Ecuador to help build a clean water system. A return trip is planned in 2024 to continue the two-mile-long project. \/ Photo courtesy of Engineers Without Borders chapter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After first visit in 2023, return trip planned in 2024 for second phase of two-mile-long mountainside project<\/h2>\n

Residents of a village in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador are looking forward to having \u2014 for the first time \u2014 clean water, thanks to the skills and efforts of determined engineering students at UW-Stout.<\/p>\n

The students are members of the university\u2019s Engineers Without Borders chapter. They designed a system that captures spring water and chlorinates it for safe consumption. Then, gravity transports it in buried pipes down the mountain to a pair of 5,000-liter holding tanks, where villagers will access it.<\/p>\n

Three members of the chapter,\u00a0Jeremiah Hubbard, Jack Lonn and Elana Showalter<\/strong>, visited the village, Naranjal, for 10 days last August and September to help the 100 residents begin installing the system. The villagers have continued to make progress and are close to completing Phase 1, a section highest on the mountain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learned a lot about the process of engineering,\u201d said Showalter, of Northfield, Minn., EWB chapter vice president who is majoring in\u00a0mechanical engineering<\/a>. \u201cThis isn\u2019t guesswork. We know it will work because of our calculations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The system will improve residents\u2019 lives by eliminating fears of E.coli and other water-borne illnesses. Currently, they use a system that isn\u2019t chlorinated and requires them to boil water or travel to find clean spring water.<\/p>\n

The new system also will capture and hold more water, be more accessible to residents who live over about a two-mile area, and with larger holding tanks store water even during the dry season.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe intention is that once we finish the project, we hope we\u2019ll never have to touch it again. They can operate it completely on their own,\u201d said Hubbard, of Hammond, the chapter president and also a mechanical engineering major. He is minoring in global perspectives in engineering.<\/p>\n

About six-tenths of a mile of pipe was installed during the visit, with residents working independently on another three-tenths. Excavating equipment was brought in to dig trenches for the pipes.<\/p>\n

The students plan to return to Naranjal in 2024 to begin Phase 2, farther down the mountain. Phase 2 would cover about another mile and bring holding tanks to more residents.<\/p>\n

The approximately $17,000 project was paid for through fundraisers, EWB chapter funds and grants. Naranjal residents are covering about 5% of the cost. Students paid their own travel expenses, about $700 each. They are fundraising for their return trip. Donations can be made at the UW-Stout\u00a0EWB student chapter website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The students worked with EWB professional engineer advisers and Rachel Conrad, representative of an Ecuador NGO \u2014 nonprofit government organization. Conrad also acted as a translator, although Showalter also speaks Spanish and is pursuing a minor in it.<\/p>\n

In 2024,\u00a0Engineers Without Borders USA<\/a>\u00a0is working on 506 projects in 39 countries involving more than 14,000 volunteers.<\/p>\n

Assistant Professor Vince Wheeler<\/strong>, who provided project support, was impressed by the students\u2019 efforts. \u201cIt takes determination and a deep sense of purpose to dedicate this much of their time and expertise to help people in need,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

UW-Stout has four undergraduate programs and one in Graduate Studies in engineering, part of the\u00a0Robert F. Cervenka School of Engineering<\/a>, and an\u00a0engineering technology<\/a>\u00a0degree.<\/p>\n

\u2018Huge motivation to go back\u2019<\/h3>\n

Prior to the trip, students met about 12 villagers during several virtual meetings. \u201cWe talked with community members, explained our plan and asked them if they had questions,\u201d said Lonn, of Eden Prairie, Minn., a\u00a0computer and electrical engineering<\/a>\u00a0major.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe villagers were all in to help,\u201d said Lonn, previous EWB chapter president.<\/p>\n

Some digging had been done before students arrived, but PVC pipe, a Bobcat excavator and other materials had to be trucked up the mountain before the full project could begin.<\/p>\n

Designing the system, which involved numerous steps and approvals, including from EWB, took about two years during the students\u2019 spare time. \u201cWe had to submit pages of math to show this should be able to go where we want it to go,\u201d Hubbard said.<\/p>\n

They were warmly received in Naranjal, with residents amazed they would come all the way from America to help them. \u201cWe were honored that they would invite us into their community,\u201d Showalter said.<\/p>\n

Students housed and ate at residents\u2019 homes, and on their last night the entire village threw them a party with food, music and dancing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have this huge motivation to go back and help them,\u201d Showalter said. \u201cIt\u2019s that responsibility we all knew we had to the community but especially after meeting them and seeing the people we\u2019re helping.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project began in 2020 under chapter president Daniel Horist but was delayed during COVID. In the meantime, students remained in touch with Naranjal residents and provided plans for greenhouses needed to grow certain types of crops in a tropical climate. They saw the finished greenhouses during their visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis team, and those in EWB before them, have persevered through serious setbacks since the project started,\u201d Wheeler said.<\/p>\n

The project is the first one successfully implemented by UW-Stout\u2019s EWB chapter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Written by Jerry Poling<\/p>\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/www.uwstout.edu\/about-us\/news-center\/crossing-borders-uw-stout-students-engineering-new-clean-water-system-village-ecuador<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After first visit in 2023, return trip planned in 2024 for second phase of two-mile-long mountainside project Residents of a village in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador are looking forward to having \u2014 for the first time \u2014 clean water, thanks to the skills and efforts of determined engineering students at UW-Stout. The students are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":10605,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[90],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-10604","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-stout"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/10604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=10604"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=10604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}