Peru Project

Founded in 2011, the Peru team focused on water treatment and distribution systems. We came across rural communities in Peru that relied on deep aquifer wells with lethal concentrations of arsenic for daily water consumption. The odorless, colorless, and tasteless quality of arsenic renders it notoriously hard to detect until its adverse health effects take their toll. We resolved to take on the challenge of providing a viable alternative water supply while helping these communities realize the presence and dangers of arsenic-laced groundwater. This sparked numerous assessment and community engagement trips, and our Peru project was born. This project was successfully completed!

Design & Implementation

We carried out four different implementations, building rainwater catchment systems in primary schools and kindergartens in Quivicalla, Huanucollo, and Carancas. These systems utilize existing roof gutters to collect rainwater, a first flush system to flush out gutter debris, and plastic tanks to contain collected rainwater. The water is made potable through routine chlorine disinfection and flows in buried supply piping from the tanks to spigots in convenient locations for use. These systems provide the community with clean water for drinking and cooking that replace the arsenic-laden well water that the communities have used for decades.

In addition, we collaborated with the local health ministry to launch a thorough arsenic education program. We developed extensive educational tools to enhance child and adult arsenic knowledge, assuring widespread awareness of the negative health impacts of local well water.

Sustainability

Our shared effort to meet the challenge of an alternative water source forged close relations between the communities and the team. Going through the assessment, implementation and education processes together was a long and fruitful journey. Yet, given the competency of the community in maintaining existing systems and their acute awareness of the arsenic issue, we are confident in the sustainability of the project and aim to round it off after a final monitoring & evaluation trip in March 2018.

Sub-Projects

Rainwater Harvesting:

Goal: Design and implement rainwater harvesting systems on key buildings in the community to provide an arsenic-free source of water to school children and faculty during the school year.

The EWB rainwater team specialized in designing and implementing sustainable rainwater harvesting systems to provide safe drinking water in areas of contaminated groundwater. Since its creation in 2012, the rainwater catchment team has designed a system for a kindergarten in Carancas, Peru, which was constructed in January 2013. It also designed a rainwater catchment system for the Quivillaca Primary School in Huatta, Peru, which was implemented in the summer of 2013.

Each rainwater catchment design requires diverse applications of science, design, and engineering principles. In the design phase we considered water demand, precipitation data, tank sizing and placement, water disinfection, seismic analysis, concrete loading, cost analysis, and construction management, in addition to many other aspects of design. The rainwater catchment team created hands on opportunities in design and engineering for a group of energetic members and professional mentors.

Simple Iron Matrix Filter:

Goal: Design a point-of-use arsenic filter using iron shavings that can be found in local machine shops and be constructed, operated, and maintained by individual households.

The Simple Iron Matrix (SIM) team is working on designing and testing a filter prototype aimed at removing arsenic from highly contaminated water in Carrancas, Peru. The team used rusted steel as the medium to remove arsenic and is building off of filter technology used for arsenic remediation in Bangladesh. The team supplied locals with the tools necessary to conduct their own investigations into easy SIM design and use.

Education:

Goal: Compose education material to teach the community about the dangers of arsenic.

The Education team was in charge of developing educational materials for Peruvian communities to understand our project and who we are, as well as teaching our own team about the cultures of the communities with which we worked. As a group, we must recognize the importance of our actions and always approach education as something in which we collaborate with others to learn together rather than teaching them. Education is a shared experience that involves a relationship rather than direct action. We strive to be respectful of the cultures with whom we work, and we recognize that, while we may know certain things, we do not have all of the answers or knowledge. Our knowledge is important, but so is that of community members.

The Education team made materials that explained the science and importance of the chapter’s involvement to the communities we work in. The Education team's holistic approach drew from many fields including sociology, art, biology, political science, and education.

In addition to authoring and illustrating coloring books, posters, and pamphlets, the team also created lesson plans for community science demonstrations and shows to help convey new concepts. Although past Education projects have been mostly paper-based, future projects look at using new and different educative techniques.