The students, members of the WSU student chapter of Engineers Without Borders, are building an almost 17.5 mile pipeline to bring fresh water to residents of Kayafungo, Kenya.
Currently, in the area of Kayafungo, women have to travel an average of six miles per day to acquire fresh water, and waterborne diseases are a continual threat to residents. The students travelled to Kayafungo with their faculty advisor, Professor Dan Dolan, to survey and conduct water testing in preparation for their project’s design phase.
In spring of 2008, the students’ work will be reviewed by professional engineers. The group then hopes to begin construction on the first four miles of the pipeline during the summer of 2008.
Dan Dolan, WSU Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty member and WSU Engineers Without Borders chapter advisor, prepares to survey the pipeline route. Watching is a Kayafungo, Kenya, resident.
McDonald started the WSU chapter of Engineers Without Borders about two years ago. The organization does community-based, sustainable engineering projects around the world. The WSU group’s initial project was the relocation design of a potable well system for a non-profit group that does work on the Yakama Indian Reservation. Engineering students also worked with the group to design two schools that will be re-built in the region destroyed by the December, 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka.
The students who will travel to Kenya include McDonald of Woodinville, Wash.; Zakaria Mohamed of Qoryoley, Somalia; and Carrie Schramm of Selah, Wash.
