Brief Description of Project:

Summer 2006: The Ecuador project began in the summer of 2006 when five students traveled with a civil engineering professor to a small town several hours north of the country’s capital. The travel team stayed at the Hacienda Picalqui, the rural headquarters of the Ecuadorian NGO Fundación Brethren y Unida (FBU). One of the key objectives of the first trip was to establish a relationship with the NGO. FBU works with many local community leaders and student volunteers. The Hacienda serves as a meeting place for these leaders and students. For this reason, the initial aim of the Ecuador project was to implement green technologies at the Hacienda as working models. On the first trip, the students helped build an anaerobic digester, which now fuels a kitchen stove in one of the homes on the property.

Academic Year 2006-2007: The group began the academic year researching applicable technologies to implement at the Hacienda or in surrounding communities. By the spring semester, the group had researched water collection and storage, water filtration and community health surveys. Rainwater collection techniques were demonstrated by a model unit implemented at the Somerville Community Growing Center. The filtration group did research many different methods before choosing batch-based bio-sand filters. In April, three prototypes were built. Materials used were bought at the local hardware store but they were limited to parts believed to be accessible in Ecuador.

Summer 2007: Six students traveled with a mechanical engineering professor in August 2007 to Ecuador. The NGO had helped identify a village in need and two weeks of the trip were dedicated to the assessment of the community, el Cristal. The students passed the first two weeks at the Hacienda where a back-up water storage unit was constructed and a bio-sand filter model was built and put on display. In el Cristal, three students conducted individual health and resource surveys to key informants and community members. The other students mapped the community and water sources/systems using a GPS unit and performed water quality tests. The tests showed strong bacteria counts in the holding tanks of the main system.

In the surveys, the locals had identified several community priorities including a community center, public bathrooms, clean drinking water, waste water system, and education. These priorities were discussed at a community meeting. The group presented its findings from the surveys and water tests. The community discussed and decided that their highest priority that suited the group’s scope was a water filtration project. A bio-sand individual filter was constructed for one of the community leaders as a pilot project.

Fall 2007: Returning from the trip, the students focused on researching individual vs. community-based filters. Before a size could be identified, the group needed a better understanding of the four water systems that serve the town. More water quality testing had to be done to understand variations.

January 2008: A three person team traveled during January to thoroughly map the water systems and do water quality testing. Upon arrival they learned that the community had used the water quality test results from the summer to apply for a grant from the municipal government. The community received $25,000 to convert storage tanks to a community-sized slow-sand filter for the main system. The cleaning and resurfacing of the tanks were underway in January. Water quality testing was conducted to provide results necessary to secure funds for the remaining systems.

Trip Reports: For more detailed information about each of our trips, please feel free to download any of our trip reports (Word Documents):

• Summer 2006