UMass Engineers Without Borders Work to Improve Water Quality in Kenya

Amanda C. Mitchell for TEI

[AMHERST, Mass] The University of Massachusetts Amherst chapter of Engineers without Borders spent two and a half weeks of the winter session break in Kenya collecting data and starting preliminary work on their water system improvement plan. The group, which was founded in January of 2006, includes more than twenty university students who have an interest in working to improve the lives of others through engineering and economic development.

Julie Gagen with the women who worked on the Namuninge Springbox Improvement

EWB is an international organization that operates on a global level. According to the National website, “Engineers without Borders – USA is a non-profit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life.”

Work done by EWB groups involves working to install water purification systems, preservation of local environments, and empowering local people of the communities where projects are completed to sustain the development. The National Chapter of EWB was founded in the fall of 2000 to aid the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The UN initiative put fourth the goals at the turn of the century to encourage the spread of wealth, prosperity, and health throughout the world.

The UMass Chapter of EWB traveled to the village of Namawanga for the second time this past January. Throughout their two and a half week stay, six students worked with locals to continue to examine drinking water quality, and begin work to develop a reliable, clean, and sustainable water supply for the village. The six students included Chris Arsenault, 24; Elsbeth Hearn, 22; Tom Chase, 26; Mary Serdakowski, 22; Julie Gagen, 25; and Molly Cronin, 19. All of the students on the trip study within the field of engineering; Serdakowski is an environmental engineer, Cronin and Arsenault are mechanical engineering students, while Hearn, Chase, and Gagen are civil engineering students. Though Gagen and the rest of the engineers involved with EWB-UMass are aware that a room full of engineers can be daunting for a non-engineer, they encourage non-engineers to join their group to help with the legal, political, and linguistic challenges they face in their global outreach work.
 The UMass students took their first trip to the Kenyan village in March of 2006. During the trip, four students spent one week testing water and learning the geographical layout of the village. The ultimate goal for the students working on the project is to provide a potable water source for the community.

Gagen says that the village’s primary source of drinking water is surface water that is collected from springboxes. A springbox works with surface water’s natural pattern of movement. Surface water moves through the ground directly underfoot, traveling in small, underground streams and eventually getting pushed to the surface, supplying natural springs. The springbox is designed with rocks buried behind a concrete slab to direct water toward pipes. Sand and other natural materials are placed between the rocks to ensure the water has enough retention time to be naturally filtered.

Some of the groundwater is naturally purified as it travels through the ground to wells; however a large portion of the drinking water does not travel far enough through the ground to achieve purification and is still contaminated with human and animal waste when it reaches the wells. EWB-UMass is working to develop a procedure to protect each springbok from contamination in order to rectify this problem.

Mary Serdakowski and Matt Stevenson explaining the water testing equipment to our local guides.

During the January trip the group worked to improve the existing springboxes by protecting them from surface runoff and animal waste and installed fencing around water recharge areas for the existing wells to limit livestock contaminates in the area. Ultimately, however, the group would like to drill between one and three wells that would ensure a clean, reliable of drinking water for years to come.

A challenge arises in deciding where to place the well. Currently, the group is engaged in discussions concerning property rights in order to ensure that water supplied by the new wells will serve the needs of the Namawangan public. EWB-UMass and the community leaders of Namwanga want to ensure that the land surrounding the well will be donated to the village for public use.

Another challenging aspect to the project is the geological placement of the well. A portion of the research done during the January visit to Namawanga was to learn more about the underground geology of the area. 

The village of Namawanga is located within the Bokoli District in Kenya, Africa. The Bokoli District is home to 23 villages and approximately 12,000 residents. Of those 23 villages, UMass’ EWB is involved with only four: Namawanga, which is the central village, Sihilila, Namuninge, and Miendo. In this region of Africa, villages are run by elected chiefs. Gagen reports that EWB consults with the Chief, the Sub-Chief, and the District Officer of the Namawanga village about their plans for their work upon their arrival to Africa. “They seem to share the same vision for our work,” she said, “which is to make it publicly accessible. They want to help us as much as they can.”

The Nawamanga Women’s Literacy Group also worked closely with the engineers throughout the trip. It was this group of women who first contacted EWB about the project. Headed by Robai Karumba, the Women’s Literacy Group elected a Water Technical Committee to oversee the specific technical aspects of EWB-UMass’ work. The Water Technical Committee  has eight members who represent the smaller areas within each of the four villages. As planning and project work progressed, EWB-UMass’ meetings included these women as well as the six Village Elder Men who make up the governing body of the region.

Along with their scientific work, EWB-UMass task-force members took it upon themselves to acclimate and learn to communicate with the local people, despite the language and cultural barrier. The people of Namawanga learn to speak English in school; however it took the UMass students some time to become accustomed to speaking slowly and leaving slang out of their conversations with the villagers. Gagen said that by the end of EWB-UMass’ time in the village, the students and villagers were communicating smoothly. “Everyone was very welcoming and friendly,” she said.

“We brought them text books and other school supplies,” Gagen said. “They were so grateful! We hope that by supplying them with text books the students will be more knowledgeable about their resources and will be able to help themselves that much more in the future.”

Mary Serdakowski, Julie Gagen, Molly Cronin playing with the local Children

Gagen also fondly remembers eating her meals in the open grass huts of the local women. Though they spent their nights in a hotel located in the city outside of Namawanga, the students worked and lived closely with the people of the region. Gagen claims it is an experience that she will not soon forget.

EWB-UMass hopes to return to Kenya within the year, either during the summer months or in January of 2008. Just traveling to Kenya is an expensive endeavor, and the group relies completely on donations and grant money to cover their expenses. According to Gagen, it costs approximately $1,300 per person for the 15 hour flight, and another $15,000 to drill a single well. Barring any financial problems, the students plan to spend approximately five years working in the region, installing and teaching about sustainable water systems and teaching other sanitation skills.

“The goal is to teach the local people as much as we can about safe water practices and sanitation, “Gagen said. “We want to supply them with the tools necessary to be successful sustaining themselves after we leave.”

The UMass Chapter of EWB is also in the beginning stages of planning a similar project in Brazil, they hope to integrate some Portuguese and Spanish majors in this expedition in order to open their group up to non-engineering students.

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