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EWB Water Catchment 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. Serving as Rwanda Team Lead in 2023-2024. 

Skills:

  • Fluid distribution

  • Technical writing

  • Project management

Project Context: 

The ESAPAN school is located near the Mugonero Hospital, just south of Gishyita, and east of Lake Kivu. The school currently receives its water from a government-managed spigot sourced from a nearby developed spring. However, the water is periodically contaminated by E. coli and dries up in the summer. Additionally, the runoff from the various rooftops makes paths difficult to traverse during rains and erodes the paths over time, preventing students from getting to classrooms. 

Project summary:

EWB-UCSB’s Rainwater Catchment Project will improve the health and wellbeing of students at a vocational boarding school community in Ngoma, Rwanda. Our project will provide the school with reliable, potable water by collecting and treating rainwater. We completed an Assessment Trip in Sept. 2019 to determine the community's needs and take measurements for the project. We returned for a successful Implementation Trip in Sept. 2022 to install a rainwater catchment system with a budget of $29,000. Now the goal is to expand the rainwater catchment system in a continued implementation trip in Sept. 2024 with a budget of $20,000. This project aimed to serve 205 students and faculty with 7.5 L of clean water, daily, per person. It was designed by UCSB students and professional EWB engineers and will be built by our team members, local contractors, and students of the school.

What I did:

  1. Alternative Analysis Report

  2. System Drawing Package

  3. System CAD Modeling

  4. Pre-trip Report

  5. Fundraising and Grant Writing

  6. Weekly Meetings

1. Alternative Analysis Report (team of 3)

  • Analyzed alternative water solutions including water catchment systems, Intermittently Operated Slow Sand Filtration (iSSF) systems, and water wells to decide which water-providing solution would be the best for the ESAPAN community. 

  • 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. 

  • ​Wrote a detailed report explaining the possible solutions, a comparison between them, and why a water catchment and iSSF combined system would be best solution for the community. 

2. System Drawing Package (team of 2)

After deciding which solution to implement, I worked on the drawing package to aid with the implementation of the system. I started with pencil sketches and received feedback from the team and mentors. After the sketch was fully approved I sketched it digitally using SOLIDWORKS. 

Most recent drawing package rough draft:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PJpj-pT9zBkrNccSS89-dKyEWVFXyKOB/view?usp=sharing

Here are a few of the drawings I specifically worked on:

3. System CAD Modeling (team of 2)

Modeled parts of the system and landscape in SOLIDWORKS to be able to show donors and better visualize the project.

4. Pre-trip Report (team of 5)

Prepared a report explaining every detail of our project implementation plan including the project description, design, construction schedule and budget, operations and maintenance (O&M) plan, as well as monitoring and data collection. This report serves to present our project to the professional EWB organization so the project can be approved.

I helped fill in large chunks of the report, especially for the design details and the O&M plan. 

5. Fundraising and Grant Writing

To reach our 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, we are on track for Summer 2024 implementation. 

Results:

  • For 2 weeks during Summer of 2022, 4 members of the Rwanda team and our mentor went to Rwanda to implement the system. 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 research options to solve the problem, choose the best solution, develop the solution, calculate project costs, raise funds, do skills training, and implement the solution in Rwanda. ​

    • Learned that it takes longer than I thought to complete this cycle.

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

  • 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

      • Provided me with even more motivation to continue to work hard towards my goal

  • 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.

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