{"id":415932,"date":"2020-02-12T15:08:42","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T20:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=415932"},"modified":"2020-02-12T15:08:42","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T20:08:42","slug":"engineers-without-borders-dominican-republic-415932","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/engineers-without-borders-dominican-republic-415932\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018All of our previous work would have gone to waste if we didn\u2019t address this\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Members of the University of Rochester<\/a> Engineers Without Borders<\/a> (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\u2014those of the schoolchildren.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Instead, they discovered that one of the school\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

In addition, children were refusing to drink the disinfected water being supplied to the rest of the school. The water was too \u201chard\u201d\u2014about 420 mg of calcium per liter. That\u2019s not a health risk, but it can definitely leave a metallic taste in your mouth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe children thought the water wasn\u2019t clean,\u201d says Joshua Batres \u201922, 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. \u201cBasically, all of our previous work would have gone to waste if we didn\u2019t address this.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2014and in some cases replaced\u2014previously 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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201chard\u201d water problem. If it works, school officials will be able to buy a larger filter.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing we are very grateful for is that the school is very committed to finding a solution,\u201d says Fatou Diop \u201920. \u201cThe beauty of this is, you encounter setbacks, but ultimately it helps move the project along.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"three
Leonor Teles ’21, Fatou Diop ’20, and graduate student Emily Schilling gluing a water pipe to connect one of the water tanks to the building that was not getting any water. (Engineers Without Borders photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New projects on the horizon<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the meantime, the EWB chapter is exploring two new projects through Engineers Without Borders USA<\/strong><\/a>, which pairs individual student and professional chapters with specific community engineering or infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n

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\u2014basically a \u201cgo\/no go\u201d trip to determine if the scope of the project would be feasible for the students to tackle.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Being good at a lot of things<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting time,\u201d says Nathan Ward \u201920. \u201cI\u2019m kind of sad to be a senior.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve gotten a lot out of this club, to the point I would say it\u2019s equal in weight to my engineering education,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Diop, a chemical engineering major, agrees. \u201cEngineers 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

She plans to pursue a PhD in catalysis and nanotechnology, then work in industry, specifically on transforming CO2 into fuel. \u201cEngineers Without Borders has motivated me to apply what I have learned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very proud of this club,\u201d Diop adds. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen it grow from our freshman year, and it\u2019s just amazing. The new students are so engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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