Engineers Without Borders

Project Meeting 5/19/08

Permission for summer trip:

·         We have official TAC approval for the El Naranjito project in June.

·         Aaron, the peace corp. volunteer talked to Tom Hawk (one of the land owners) and hopefully we will have signed permission faxed to us by Wednesday.

Possible donations/partnerships:

·         There is a possibility of getting the automatic float valves donated for the tanks.

·         We will receive a $1500-2000 donation from Isa Mundo.  This would cover the cost of tanks for the Las Mercedes system.

·         Evan and Malia met with the local rotary leader, who was interested in working with us.  He will help us track down rotary contacts in El Salvador.  They might be able to help us in future projects after the June trip.  However, the El Salvador rotary is limited to five country projects at any given time. 

o   We were asked to speak to a rotary meeting in Florence.  Malia and one other will go on June 17^th.

December trip possibilities:

·         Two or three more gravity systems?  We need to get the legal process taken care of, plus labor is limited during the coffee harvest.

·         Work on groundwater entering existing systems

·         Possibility of more gravity fed systems? We would have to start setting up for it on this trip.

Other:

·         We are putting in orders for EWB T shirts for travelers who don’t have them.

5-28-08 Board Meeting

Engineers Without Borders Board Meeting

May 28th 2008, 7:00pm

Kelly 2057

Members attending in person:

Nick Moses, Kevin Boston, Malia Kupillas, Kelly Kibbler, Evan Miles, Katie Bruce, Carl Moen, Janice Keeley, Douglas Van Bossuyt, Kendra Seniow, Kelly Wilson, Rob Hess, Aparna Shrivastana, Jesse Boudart, Bruce Pritchard

1. Year Book Photos

The year book wants photos representative of the travelers to El Salvador for publishing. Kelly Kibbler and Evan will coordinate that.

2. Ted Brekken

Dr. Brekken is writing a grant with money specifically allocated for outreach, and would like to coordinate with EWB. Rob met with Dr. Brekken last week to discuss possibility for us. This could involve helping with measurements or us being on the receiving end of some seminars.

3. Update on El Salvador and Request for Funds to Travel to El Salvador

The materials for the June project installation in Las Mercedes will be around $3500. In addition to this are other fees associated with Lawyers, Plane tickets and local labor totaling everything to $9874. In Las Mercedes there is little ambiguity as to who owns the water source and they have received an oral agreement from that owner, Tom Hawk, but will not have a binding agreement.

At this point they decided that there hasn’t been sufficient progress for installation at El Naranjito. There are 6 or 7 land owners that would need to confirm documentation to begin progress on legal contracts for the project.

The worst case scenario would be that Tom Hawk takes ownership of the system and the community would lose use of the system. The best case would be that the contracts get signed afterwards and the installation of the LM system inspires the rest of the community to better organize.

Tom saw and approved a proposal for the project. To proceed with the Las Mercedes project, the travel team will get a signed letter giving permission for the project until the official contract is signed by the land owners or their representatives.

Doug motioned, and Robb seconded, to approve the budget release for the project in June, contingent upon getting travel insurance for the tickets and urging the travel team to get informal contracts with the land owners in Las Mercedes. It passed 13-0-0.

4. Report on Poker NIght

The poker night was a learning experience. It officially lost money but a lot of information was spread around.

5. Planning for Fall Banquet

The committee will be October 24^th. They will need a few people to be on the banquet committee.

6. New Project Committee Report

The new project committee has narrowed down a list of 20 to 4 options that can be selected or not. They looked initially looked at size of the project, less than 2 years to complete, to rule out projects. They wanted something out skill sets match. Potentially we could partner with ISF in Santander, Spin. They have mostly skills with water quality.

The projects

· Cruz de Valencia, Honduras. The community is 5k from the airport. They have had several economic issues where they have lost city infrastructure or was never built. They are looking first for bridges for banana carriage and then water and sewer. They have initiated a funding process with different organizations. The request came from a local NGO. A kill point would be the size of the bridge.

· Malera, Kenya. Near Lake Victoria. There is an existing hand pump and would like a submersible pump into an existing borehole. They are looking for a limited distribution system and power for the system.

· Maseno, Kenya. Their hospital has an older water catchment system and on an old grid and they need more quantity and quality. The project would be to dig and power a well. This project is rejected based on high costs for digging, traveling and low volunteer prospects.

· Sokouroni, Mali. The community has WQ issues due to livestock contamination, general sanitation and availability. They would like to construct a water source strictly for livestock to separate the sources. A peace corps volunteer would like to have a pond filled from 2 streams during the rainy system that would last through the summer. The pond could also be a fish stocking pond to provide protein and income for the community.

At this point the group will research more fully the 3 projects and present them at the first meetings of the

7. Business Cards

Rob will be taking care of the business cards to be used in the fall.

8. Transition Board Meeting

We will have an end of the year board transition planning meeting where we will lay out a game plan for the beginning of next year.

Minutes prepared by:  Kelly Wilson, May 28^th, 2008

General Meeting 5-21-2008

Engineers Without Borders Board Meeting

May 21st, 2008, 7:00pm

Kelly 1003

I. Announcements:

– Habitat for Humanity work day May 31^st

– Poker Night Results – No official update, but generally not as successful as hoped due to conflict with Relay for Life

IV. David Hackleman, “Taking Leadership: To Sustain Our Planet and Our Species”

Dr Hackleman is also the advisor for the Biodiesel Initiative. That group is considering changing their name in order to better reflect their intentions to install sustainable energy systems, of any appropriate types, rather than solely biodiesel.

The Big Picture

Energy balance of the planet includes energy input primarily from the sun and very small amounts from meteorites and other sources. Energy leaves the planet by radiation, and a very small amount by convection. This balance is altered by people. Energy leaving is a function of emissivity and temperature. If temperature is to stay constant, emissivity must remain constant, though this is influenced by smoke, pollutants etc. which decrease emissivity and therefore increase temperature. If in 2025 everyone lived like us, humankind would divert 0.7% of the energy of the earth. This includes transportation, industry, agriculture, and residential use. The removal of this amount of energy is enough to lower the temperature 2deg C or to slow rotation to make days 15 minutes longer.

What happens to energy after it’s used? This is rarely considered. As an example, a mint plant he’s worked on uses both an evaporator and condenser (theoretically zero energy balance), yet requires the use of coal and cold water – double the energy use. Also, some homes use ground water as a heat source.

The amount of land available is relatively constant over time, yet the population continues to grow to eventually this will become a problem for living and food space. Even the oceans are being depleted. Eating habits of the wealthy are higher on the food chain and therefore less sustainable. 20% of food produced in the United States rots before it is eaten, highlighting issues with distribution.

Is global warming true? Examine the jet stream, an energy sink. With added energy the jet stream must compensate by increasing length, which happens by becoming more curved or oscillatory. This results in an average global temperature increase and more varied and extreme weather patterns. Some people do not believe in global warming including those that have a vested interest in so, those that are apathetic, and those that don’t understand the situation.

The fundamental problem is that the earth has a specific carrying capacity. Animals such as people consume 4kJ/kg body weight per hour. Headlines worldwide declare ethanol a bad idea for increasing prices and prioritizing food sources. The change to NAFTA motivated Mexican farmers to cease growing white corn to export corn to the U.S. for food. Corn used for fuel does, though, reduce the supply of corn syrup. Is it so bad to reduce the amount of sugar in our food?

Alcohol and Biodiesel

There is no corn shortage as shown by trends in corn demand being less than its supply. This highlights the inefficiencies of distribution.

Senator Grassley of Iowa has a webpage which shows that the majority of information and campaigns against corn for ethanol and food come from grocers, not farmers or consumers. It was commented by an attendee that this webpage is probably the most biased source of information on this subject.

Biodiesel is made by adding an alcohol to an oil to yield a glycerol and biodiesel. There is no sulfur in biodiesel as there is in petroleum products. Soy, canola, semolina, sunflower, and corn all make good sources of oil. Canola is not grown in the valley to avoid crossing with other crops. Sequential Biofuels in Salem makes about 1000L of biodiesel a year form used oil from Kettle Chips. Vegetable oil can be burned in a diesel engine as long as it is hot enough. The amount of fuel used in farming is less that made from the crop. About 1 acre of land can support one commuter car. Petroleum could last forever only if we use less each year, as shown by the integral of exponential decay from zero to infinity.

Production of ethanol requires more energy than that of biodiesel, though it does not yield more. The production timeline of biodiesel is much shorter than that of petroleum and much more local. As shown in the list, the costs of biodiesel are lower and benefits greater than of petroleum. Different sources of oil have different yields. Algae has the highest yield. Fallow land could be used to produce enough fuel to satisfy the country’s demand. Algae could be grown at the Coffin Butte landfill in order to both filter water for drinking and produce a large quantity of fuel. This algae could not be used as animal feed (as other biofuel sources can), but could be put back into landfills to continue to rid toxins.

Global warming could be mitigated by the correct use of biodiesel and a change in lifestyle.  A sustainable system is feasible.

A biodegradable polymer can be made from biodiesel by products and tartaric acid, a byproduct of the wine industry.  There is research into making biodiesel using an enzyme bound in a bead as well as in a genetically modified seed.

A house bill passed last year which encourages the use of biodiesel by, among other things, providing an income tax credit for those who use it.  Current student projects include the Fiji project, a biodiesel test station (built by mechanical engineers in order to compare emissions between biodiesel and petroleum), and a biodiesel demonstration cart.

The goal is energy independence for the country and for Oregon.  Oregon plans to add only renewable energy resources to its supply from now on.

Minutes prepared by: Kendra Seniow, May 21st, 2008

5-14-08

Engineers Without Borders Board Meeting

May 14th, 2008, 7:00pm

Kelly 2056

Members attending in person:

Jesse Boudart, Evan Miles, Lindsey Croghan, Katie Bruce, Carl, Doug, Aparna, Kelly K, Kelly W, Nick Moses

I. Poker

They have done a significant amount of PR including sidewalk chalk and face book events. Everyone is invited to help out. Katie is putting together a sheet of paper to teach people how to deal. So far they have ~6 people volunteering and estimate that they need at least 12 people. They will be dealing blackjack, poker and texas holdem. Setup starts at 6pm and the event runs to 11pm.

II. El Salvador Project

They received TAC approval for both project designs for the two proposed projects in LM and EN in June. However, neither of the legal documents allowing official access to use the springs. Kelly wants to know if they can proceed on purchasing tickets for travelers without the legal documentation for the project ownership. They would like to purchase tickets in the next two weeks. It was agreed to table this issue for the next board meeting after we try to contact Tom Hawk and hear more feedback.

III. Concrete Training

The Organic Growers club has requested that we put in two concrete pads to raise the current water system and some other improvements to the pump area. This will be a good experience to teach travelers about how to use concrete and mortar. Carl estimates costs to be $200. He anticipates attendance to be around 10-15 people tailoring the event to the 5 travelers. They would aim to have a Friday afternoon to begin and finish on a Sat Sun timeframe. Doug motioned that we allocate the $200 for the concrete training (passed 3-0-0)

IV. Habitate for Humanity

There will be a Habitat volunteer opportunity. It will go from 9-3 10 Miles off campus.

V. Terra Magazine

Carl spoke with someone from Terra. They seemed interested in running a piece (s?) on EWB’s current activities.

VI. The Babel Event

The event went well. There were many EWB members presenting and Evan and Nikhil helped construct the Tower.

Minutes prepared by: Kelly Wilson, May 14th, 2008

5-5-08

General

·         The TAC report for the summer trip is due Wednesday.  We just need to work on refining our powerpoint for this.

·         We will not partner with FONAES for this trip, but maybe at some point in the future. 

Design:

·         The design is almost finalized with just a few small issues remaining. 

·         We also got verbal permission this week to use the second spring we were considering, and this land owner also has another spring on his property that we haven’t considered yet. 

·         Hydralic design finalized and checked off. 

·         Rebar and concrete mix designs to be approved this week.

·         We still need to figure out:

o   How to flush lines.

o   How to deal with overflow incase float valves in tanks break.

o   Outlet design for landowner’s shower.

o   A finalized materials list (based on unit lengths).

Education

·         Continuing work on powerpoint presentation.

ACJF grant application is also in progress.

4-7-08 Project Meeting

Anouncements:

·         To do list:

o   Create a poster for the El Salvador project for easy presentation, maybe as a webpage on the EWB USA site.

o   Thank you letters to community members who have supported the project.

Spring Trip Summary:

·         During five days in El Salvador, enough information was collected to build two gravity feed well systems near El Naranjito.

o   Could serve up to 70 people.

o   Would allow wash to be done with water from wells, minimizing pollution of streams with detergent and bleach. 

·         Established verbal permission to use springs.  Aaron is working on written permission.

Sanitation Education for Salvadorans:

·         Should cover littering and water contamination by bleach.

o   We could put up warning signs for these near water tanks.

·         Handwashing.

·         Educational workshops should be organized for the summer trip.

Summer Project Cost Estimate:

·         Work in progress…

5-7-08 General Meeting

Engineers Without Borders Board Meeting

May 7th, 2008, 7:00pm

Kelly 1003

I. Elections- Congratulations

• President: Aparna Shrivastana
• Vice President: Evan Miles
• Secretary: Nick Moses
• Treasurer: Rob Hess

II. Poker night- May 16^th

The signup sheet has slots for setup, during and cleanup. Contact Katie for more information about this.

III. Babel Tower

Evan is looking for people to help come construct this ‘tower’ for the language department.

IV. Crystal Clear Technologies- Lisa Farman

Crystal Clear Technology Powerpoint_Lisa Farman

Lisa runs a company that has NSF funding. They have partnered to some extent in the past with EWB. For the most part the US is reliant on municipal water and when this service fails we want technology that we can passively go out purify water in the river.

They want to develop the nanotechnology and other materials to purify water at a cost developing countries can purchase. Her proposal was to provide something to purify 10 gallons a day for a year for operating cost of 1$. NSF then required her to double her claim. They have several NSF grants and Califeornia Clean Tech Open Winner, and Onami Gap funding winner.

Their technology is based on low cost high surface area substrates and bonding 3-5 ligands/nm^2 with functional groups that grab heavy metals. They can pull out Arsenic, Lead, Copper, Selenium, Uranium, Mercury. They can load multiple layers of the ligands over the trapped metal contaminants. She has samples with up to 19 layers of the ligands. The functional groups on the end of ligands could be changes to trap other contaminants.

They are working currently to develop a solution for the 60,000 Navajo Indians. Currently they pay $5mil a year for contaminated water. She has several partners lined up to help her at cost to develop the model once it receives funding. She mentioned several other water purification and sanitation methods including chloride conversion and surface modified zeolites with quartenary amines.

Her presentation will be posted later.

Minutes prepared by: Kelly Wilson, May 7th, 2008

General Meeting, May 7, 2008

This term’s third general meeting is scheduled for 7:00 pm in room 1003 of the Kelley Engineering Center and will feature a talk by Lisa Farmen, president of Crystal Clear Technologies, a small start-up company based in Portland. She has been working to develop a low-cost water purifier to remove both heavy metal and biological contaminants from drinking water. Her research has applications for the third world and areas of the United States that have clean water issues. Lisa will present her research, its application, and a prototype of a human powered pump that will remove water contaminants. For more information on the company, see the following website: http://www.simplyclearwater.com/

Election results and pizza as well!

4-14-08 Project Meeting

General:

Sunday afternoon is the deadline for summer trip design plans.

Trip will leave right after exams.  3-4 students will go for at least two weeks.

Questions:

How much water needs to be supplied to each tank?

·         15L per person per day hauled up already with buckets.

o   Only used for drinking, cooking, household cleaning (not laundry)

o   We want to supply water for laundry as well to prevent stream pollution

·         We will go with 50L/person/day to be safe

·         Tanks must be sized for water to be used over a 12hour period.

Limitations

·         38L/person/day maximum from Don Rojelio’s spring during the dry season.

Other issues to consider:

·         Concrete tanks were asked for instead of plastic.  How do we build them?

o   Foundation:

§  Cinderblocks(cheaper) vs concrete(stronger)

§  Filling cinderblocks (gravel or low density concrete)

o   Waterproof coating inside?

o   How much rebar do we use?

o   How do we cap the tank yet let it remain open to the atmosphere?

·         Should we include a viewing window so people can see the tank level?

o   Clear PVC? Might get brittle and break with UV exposure (drain tank)

o   Float with weight outside the tank? (used on city tanks here)

·         How do we deal with overflow? Shutoff valve? Just let it drain once full?

·         Shutoff valves?

o   Maximum of 81psi, so a regular (toilet style) shutoff valve is fine.

·         Shower for landowner to attain permission to use her land.

o   Use a small pipe for her shower, build a tank big enough for 2 showers to limit usage

(25 gal or more, 55gal drum).

·         Polyducto vs PVC

o   Polyducto: 125psi rating, 100yrd sections, cheaper, will use this

o   PVC: more confident about pressure, 6m sections, more expensive

·         Should we wrap metal fittings with a moisture barrier?

·         Should we use two pipelines? (pipe is so far our largest expense, so it would be best to avoid this)

·         Should we use handpumps to get water out of tanks (because they will be so low to the ground).  Do we need a siphon?

·         How do we design the wash station?

Things to be determined by Sunday:

·         Hydralic design for piping

·         Tank specs

·         Wash station design

4-28-08 Project Meeting

ACJF Grant Proposal (up to $12000) for project funding:

·         There is a 1 page application limit.  We have plenty of material, it just needs to be narrowed down.  Will continue working on it this week.

Summer Project Costs:

·         Rough Estimates (not including a fudge factor of maybe 30% to be safe)

o   $2260 for El Naranjito system

o   $2080 for Las Mercedes

o   $4340 Total

·         We have just about finalized the pipe sizes, and there a few minor tank size questions left.

Education:

·         Goals

o   Education about liter/water contamination is landowner requirement for using land.     

§  Help community come up with plan to deal with this.

§  Have some educational materials.

·         How to encourage people to change behavior?

o   What do we send to Aaron?

o   Incentives.

o   Just teaching probably won’t be enough.