Engineers Without Borders» El Salvador Water Project

El Salvador Water Project

December 2009 Traveler Applications are now available!

We are accepting applications from students of all majors as well as professional mentors. Please submit completed applications to Michelle Adlong at adlongm@onid.orst.edu by Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. Travel is still contingent upon successful fundraising efforts as well as final approval from EWB-USA.

Apply here:

Student Traveler Application for December 2009 Trip

Professional Traveler Application for December 2009 trip

Find out more about our next project

Funding permitting, the team plans to travel to El Salvador this winter to implement a gravity system for the sub-community of Lower Las Mercedes. Find out more about our newest project here!

EWB-OSU Travellers with Community Members and Finished System

EWB-OSU is partnered with the mountain communities of Las Mercedes and El Naranjito to design and install an efficient , appropriate, and locally sustainable water filtration and delivery system. These rural Salvadoran mountain communities have a history of deficient accessibility to potable water. Although sufficient supplies of water exist in natural springs, residents must hike long distances and carry the water over rough, sometimes impassable terrain.

The El Salvador Ministry of Health has expressed grave concern over the undernourishment of many children in las Mercedes and El Naranjito. Undernourishment is often a symptom of water-borne diarrheal diseases, which have been identified as a consequence of the lack of potable water in the communities. Community members have formed their own water advisory board to address this issue.

Project Progress

The communities Las Mercedes, El Naranjito and La Cumbre in the southwestern part of El Salvador are home to around 150 coffee-farming families. EWB-OSU has been officially partnered with these communities since January of 2006. Although there is enough water in natural springs around these communities, with their houses scattered across mountain ridges, the community members currently have to hike great distances multiple times a day in order to obtain adequate water for their households. Even though there is enough rainfall to sustain them through the year, they have no means of capturing or storing it for long-term use through the dry season. Another challenge faced is the quality of the water available; malnutrition is a common ailment often due to the high prevalence of diarrhea and other water-borne diseases.

PFP Filter EWB-OSU has made astounding progress in tackling this two-fold problem of water accessibility and water quality. After multiple assessment trips in order to ensure the success of implemented systems, the spring trip of 2007 saw the first implementation focusing on water quality. Along with gathering lots of water flow data, the travelers facilitated the distribution of approximately 40 Potters for Peace filtration units. Illustrated in the picture to the left, these units are simple, easy-to-use water filtration systems made locally in the capital, San Salvador. They consist of a larger plastic bucket with a removable ceramic filter lined with colloidal silver. Water poured into the ceramic filter, gets cleansed of over 99.8% of harmful bacteria and microbes. Proof of how healthy it makes the water can be seen in the fact that even our EWB-OSU travelers drink water straight from the units while in community, and none of them have gotten sick due to water quality. Many community members have already noticed the difference the filtration units make in their health and 20 additional requested units will be distributed in the coming spring. The ceramic filters have to be replaced approximately every 2 years. The community members set aside the appropriate amount on a tri-monthly basis. In order to ensure the longevity, proper use, and saving of money the community has created and elected a Water Board that keeps track of all of this.

Finished Rainwater Catchment System

The winter trip of 2007 involved the first implementation focusing on water accessibility along with more GPS data collection and a health survey. A rainwater harvesting system, pictured above, was implemented in the La Cumbre school. This implementation will directly benefit the over 100 attending school children throughout the year. As rain falls on the roof it feeds into the gutter that is sloped to drain into the PVC piping. In rainwater harvesting, the first rain is not considered healthy enough for drinking purposes because of dirt and other things that may collect on the roof during the dry season, for this purpose a first flush system was implemented to catch all the unhealthy water before it gets a chance to make it into the main tank. Once the first flush system fills, the water is able to pass through the tubing into the tank.

Because of varying geographic circumstances, different parts of the community require different water accessibility solutions. Only one design cannot encompass all the elevation and terrain issues involved with various areas in the communities. For example, the majority of the households in the El Naranjito community are much lower than their water sources elevation-wise. In their case, the most logical solution involves a gravity-fed water system. Although this is more technically demanding, this one system will provide water for about 20 households. More measurements and water ownership issues must be sorted out in order to ensure the proper implementation of the system, so another assessment team will be traveling the year to gather the pertinent information.

In order to complete a project of this magnitude and variance, it is critical to have an organized solution. Keeping this in mind, a major task to be completed is the creation of a master plan. This will include a map with all the GPS points collected, access to the pictures taken at specific survey sites, organized quantitative health information, along with plausible solution designs for specific areas. With the support of hard-working volunteers, advisors and generous donors the project team hopes to implement the gravity-fed water system for the El Naranjito community along with multiple rainwater harvesting systems through out the communities.

Photos from our Trips to El Salvador

El Salvador Project Listserv

To stay up-to-date on the latest El Salvador project happenings, please subscribe to the project’s email listserv. Meeting announcements, project information, and other relevant data are shared with the project group via the listserv.