Engineers Without Borders visit Honduras
EWB USA-NEU aids communities in developing countries by using engineering solutions to address basic human needs, such as the need for potable water – all the while supplying our student members with educational, transformative experiences.
Since their establishment in 2004, they have designed and constructed water projects in six communities in Honduras and Uganda, affecting over 2,000 individuals. Students are continually drawn to EWB USA-NEU with the goal of helping societies in need, while gaining firsthand experience in all phases of the engineering design process.
Their Honduras program has become well respected in the Yoro District of Honduras for building reliable and sustainable water systems. With this reputation and the support of their partner organizations, the Honduras design team has completed four water systems, and initiated the design and construction of a pumped-gravity fed system in the village of El Carrizalito, which includes extending the electric grid to power the pump.
In 2009 their Uganda program started traveling to Bbanda. Since then they have installed four rainwater catchment systems on schools, rehabbed one rainwater catchment system, and drilled two boreholes. They have also designed and started implementation for a water distribution system. Water will be pumped up to a brick masonry tank on the top of a hill, where it will then be gravity fed downwards to twelve tap stands around the village. Their goal is to increase the quality of drinking water and decrease the distance to the access points.