Engineers Without Borders

General Meeting 1/14/09

January 15, 2009 at 7:02 pm | In Meeting Minutes | Comments Off

General Meeting 1-14-09

Announcements:

• Introductions of officers
• Early registration ($10 off registration) for the EWB international conference (the second weekend of spring break, Mar. 25-26, in Milwaukee) ends soon. A scholarship has been provided to help with travel expenses, plus  the $50 registration fee will most likely be covered by EWB.

New project presentation:

• We will be voting online (only paid members can vote)
• The project committee had narrowed down possible projects to 3 from the 45 considered, then another chapter took one, so we’re down to 2.

General pros/cons of each project:
(A more detailed description is attached at the bottom)

Option 1: Apatut, Philippines

• $60,000 estimated total cost – $20,000 for travel (2000 per ticket) and 40000 materials. However, the materials cost could be much less.
• This could hopefully be done in 3-4 trips
• The slope for the proposed pipeline looks sufficient, but we’re not sure if it would have enough water.
• We’re not sure if their local water or the spring dry up during part of the year.
• Complimenting existing shallow wells used for water with filtration devices could also help stop the waterborne diseases they are working to stop.
• The project could quickly become much more complex than we expect, especially if the terrain is too rough to run the pipe.
• This type of project is something we have a lot of experience with and OSU has plenty of resources for.

Option 2: Mbita, Kenya

• $70,000 estimated total cost – $43000 for materials and $1000-1600 per plane ticket.
• Could probably be done in 2 trips.
• Materials are very expensive and will need consistent replacement (batteries and solar panels), which will also be expensive for the community.
• Finding and transporting all of the hi-tech materials could make the logistics of this project much more difficult than the design.
• The project looks very straightforward, but we still don’t know enough for sure to say that it will be as simple as we hope.
• Working with solar energy is an area where OSU has a wealth of resources.
• This project would be a change from previous water projects.
• We would also have the opportunity to work collaboratively with local students from Moi University.