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Catchment and Filtration System

Oct. 2020 - Sept. 2022

Context:

I joined Engineers Without Borders (EWB) UCSB chapter in 2020 to provide a community in Rwanda with clean drinking water. Served as Secretary in 2022-2023, as Rwanda Team Lead in 2023-2024, and as mentor from 2024 onwards. 

Skills:

  • Fluid distribution

  • Technical writing

  • Project management

Project Context and Summary: 

  • The ESAPAN boarding school is located east of Lake Kivu and currently receives its water from a government-managed spigot.

  • The water is periodically contaminated by E. coli and dries up in the summer.

  • ​​​

  • EWB-UCSB’s Rainwater Catchment Project will improve the health and wellbeing of 400+ students by providing the school with reliable, potable water by collecting and treating rainwater.

  • Conducted an assessment Trip in Sept. 2019 to determine the community's needs and take measurements for the project.

  • Completed an Implementation Trip in Sept. 2022 to install a rainwater catchment, filtration, and distribution system with a budget of $29,000.

  • Expanded the water collection, storage capacity, and distribution lines in Sept. 2024 with a fundraised budget of $37,000.

Table of Contents (what I did):

  1. Alternative Analysis Report

  2. System 1 Drawing Package and CAD Modeling

  3. Pre-Trip Report for System 2

  4. Leading the Team

  5. Fundraising and Grant Writing

  6. Final Results

1. Alternative Analysis Report

  • Analyzed water solutions including water catchment systems, Intermittently Operated Slow Sand Filtration systems, and water wells

  • Compared the water solutions taking into account how each solution fulfilled criteria such as its ability to solve community's needs, maintenance and operational costs and difficulty, regional experience with the technology, expandability and scalability, and impact by climate change. 

  • Detailed a report explaining the possible solutions and why a water catchment and filtration system would be best solution for the community. 

2. System Drawing Package and CAD Modeling

  • Sketched rough drafts for the system drawing package

  • Designed the final drawing package in SOLIDWORKS

  • Modeled the system in 3D CAD SOLIDWORKS

  • Below are a few of the drawings and models I specifically worked on:

3. Pre-trip Report (team of 5)

  • Prepared a report detailing every aspect of our implementation plan including the project description, design, construction schedule and budget, operations and maintenance (O&M) plan, as well as monitoring and data collection.

  • I worked on large chunks of the report such as the design details, budget, and the O&M plan. 

4. Leading the Team

  • Communicated with our mentors and Rwanda partners regarding next-steps

  • Guided and developed a team of 10 to expand the system to hold 30,000 L in a Summer 2024 Continued Implementation Trip

  • Taught teammates how to use SOLIDWORKS, write technical reports, reach out to donors, and write grant application

  • Guided the completion of 17 drawings and 3 SolidWorks subassemblies to show company donors and raised over $37,000

  • Kept the team engaged and continuously learning to prepare for taking over after my graduation

5. Fundraising and Grant Writing

  • To reach the first implementation project’s budget of $29,000 we ran events, sold merch, reached out to prior donors, and applied for grants. I helped out with ensuring the events ran smoothly, tabling, emailing donors, and writing up grant reports.

  • For our second implementation, I did much of the same while leading the team in applying to grants and outreaching to local businesses to collect over $37,000

6. Final Results:

  • For 2 weeks during Summer of 2022 and 2024, 4 members in separate teams and our mentor went to Rwanda to implement the system. To this day, I continue to advise the team as an alumni mentor. Pictures of their work are shown below:

Learned: 

  • Got to go through the entire process of a project, start to finish: 

    • The community states their needs, we explore solutions, choose the best one, design the project, calculate costs, raise funds, do skills training, travel and implement, and follow-up on maintenance. 

  • I learned more about water-providing solutions such as wells, rainwater harvesting, and river sand dams. 

  • Met with teammates and mentors weekly to discuss what was accomplished and goals for the coming week

    • Consistently communicated with the Rwanda ESAPAN community to ensure we are providing for their needs properly.

  • Practiced project and team management and grew as a leader

  • Gained a better understanding of the community's needs and how the Rwandan government is handling its country's water supplies.​

    • Got perspective on the livelihood of the Rwandan people and what difficulties they have just to get water​

    • Recognized how they will be affected by climate change and extreme weather patterns​

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