Engineers Without Borders

Engineers Without Borders• EWB-USA

• Founded in 2002 by Dr. Bernard Amadei (CU Prof.)

• EWB-USA has over 300 chapters around the nation

• Over 350 projects in 45 developing countries

• 180 University campuses with student chapters

• Why work with EWB• Professional experience

• Recruitment

• Projects often considered comparable to internships

• Learn about new cultures, have new experiences, create lasting friendships

Millennium Development Goals


• Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger,• Achieving universal primary education,• Promoting gender equality and empowering women,• Reducing child mortality rates,• Improving maternal health,• Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases,• Ensuring environmental sustainability, and• Developing a global partnership for development.





The World of Unsafe Drinking Water

• 884 million people do not have access to safe drinking water

• Every day, nearly 6,000 people die from water-related illnesses, and the vast majority are children.

• Diarrhoeal disease alone amounts to an estimated 4.1% of the total DALY global burden of disease and is responsible for the deaths of 1.8 million people every year (WHO, 2004). It was estimated that 88% of that burden is attributable to unsafe water supply, sanitation and hygiene and is mostly concentrated on children in developing countries.

The Global Water Crisis

• Health• Education • Economy• Development• Equity• Peace

What is water?

Ilam District, Nepal

Ilam District, Nepal

• 25% live below international poverty line of $1.25 per day• 39% Infant Mortality Rate• 30% children are able to attend school • 27% improved sanitation facilities (anything not a hole in the ground)• 35% treatment of Diarrhea with oral rehydration salts• 29% Comprehensive knowledge of HIV

Ilam, Nepal•Tea and “cash crops” (cardamom, ginger, potatoes)

• District Population of 280,000

•City population of 20,000

What EWB Caltch can do• Spring Source Protection

• Health Survey

• Sustainability Education

• Teaching students about drinking water management

• Hydropower

• Improved Cooking stoves

• Bio-gas generation

What can you do• Design Work

• Technical engineering work

• Construction management

• Operation and maintenance

• Development and implementation of operation program

• Fundraising

• Grants, events, presentations

• Education

• Sustainability of project

• Working in schools with children

• Health and Sanitation outreach

Community Partner - NCDC• Namsaling Community Development Center

• Founded in 1984

• EWB has partnered with NCDC since EWB’s inception

Construction of the System• Worked with a partner NGO– NCDC- and other local groups to

construct the system

• NCDC – Project managers

• EWB CalTech – System designers and water system experts

• Ilam Municipality, Development Fund, SIMEN – may provide financial support for materials

Education and Sustainability in Local Schools

• Goal: Familiarize students and community with the relationship between clean water, human health, and environmental integrity

• Promote understanding of technology, and why implementing water treatment methods (such as spring source protection, reed bed) are important for health, environment, community

• Work with students of all ages at various schools

• Activities included: hands-on interaction with Enviroscape™ educational model, field trips, water testing (local water sources, reed bed at NCDC office), investigation of reed bed process at NCDC office, at-home water treatment options, hand washing

General Expenses

$250 - Cost for one student to stay with a Nepali family for the summer

$300 - Domestic flight in Nepal

$1800 - International flight from Colorado to Nepal

Questions?