The community of Otho Abwao has
only one source a potable water, an old foot-pump with a
relatively slow output. Our project will replace this foot-pump
with an electric pump capable of extracting enough water for the
entire community. The pump will be powered by a solar panel
array. Water will be pumped to a two-tank system situated near
the highest point of Otho Abwao. Water will be fed by gravity
into a distribution system with taps placed in key areas
throughout the village.
During the implementation of our
water project, we will begin assessing future projects in Otho
Abwao, such as school improvements.
In the past decade, worldwide access to safe drinking
water has increased.
Unfortunately, population growth has outpaced the installation of water
infrastructure, leaving 1.1 billion people without access to a safe water
supply.
As of 2006, Kenya ranked 152nd out of 177
countries covered in the United Nations Development Program Report. Kenyans' average life expectancy is
just over 47 years, and almost 40% of people in Kenya do not have access to an
improved water source.
More than half of the Kenya's population suffer from water-borne diseases,
which include bacterian and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, and
schistosomiasis.
Otho Abwao, a community of more than 600 people in Kenya's Nyando District currently relies on a single bore-hole well with a foot
pump. The Otho Abwao foot pump is
difficult to use and leads to contamination of the bore-hole water. As a result community members resort to
collection of surface water from nearby Lake Victoria, seasonal rivers, or
shallow wells hand-dug in an attempt to find water. Water from these sources is contaminated either at the
source or by unsanitary transportation and storage.
EWB-UCIN's current project is to research, design and
implement a replacement water distribution system for the community, including
a new pump, storage tank and three to four distribution points.
The anticipated distribution system will improve the
community's access to reliably potable water, dramatically reducing the
likelihood of waterborne diseases and dehydration. Water distribution will also alleviate some of the
day-to-day labor that commonly falls to the women of the community. Women in Kenya are traditionally responsible
for tending crops and caring for children, and often spend as much as two hours
a day fetching water. Girls often
miss school to help their mothers.
With improved access to clean water, women and girls will have time for
childcare and a greater opportunity for education.
Tanzania
- Burere school building project (ongoing)
The school in Burere has stood for several
decades without any improvemnets or repairs, and the children’s education is
suffering because of it. We intend to update the dilapidated building to make
it a safe structure conducive to learning. We also are investigating
sustainable and appropriate construction technologies such as interlocking
soil-stabilized bricks(ISSB’s).
- Nyambogo water project (ongoing)
Nyambogo is a community of roughly 5,000 people
that lacks any reliable source of clean drinking water. Currently in the
assessment phase, we are partnering with the Cincinnati based NGO, Village Life
Outreach Project, to provide potable water. They have already established a
partnership through routine health brigades and the implementation of slow-sand
filters in many households, and we hope to build off this success.
Lights Our Fridays
We strive difference at home as well as overseas. Every
Friday, students in EWB go around the University of Cincinnati’s campus and turn
off lights in classrooms that have been left on. We are tracking the amount of
lights turned off in order to calculate the amount of energy saved. UC
Facilities management has agreed to use some of the saved money to purchase
motion sensors for lights.
