Update 3/25/2007:
EWB-USC recently returned from an Assessment Trip for our very first project, the La Estanzuela Water Pipeline, for which we hope to bring clean water to every home in the village. Over three hundred people live in La Estanzuela, and their current access to water consists of contaminated, visibly yellow water (available at a flow rate of less than 2 gallons/minute for the entire village in the dry season), and water from a nearby river that is contaminated by cars, horses, and people swimming and doing laundry. Currently, the residents of La Estanzuela must waste valuable productive time on carrying water from the river to their homes. 

We plan to utilize the current water storage tank and distribution system to bring water from a clean source higher up the river to people's homes; however, since the source is at an altitude 100 meters below the village, we must use a pump to elevate the water.  Teaming up with the residents of La Estanzuela, EWB-USC will build nearly two kilometers of pipeline, a water wheel pump, and several faucet connections to homes that are not currently connected to the existing system.

Our ultimate goal is to educate the people of La Estanzuela as to the technology behind the system and enable them to take responsibility for the maintenance of their water system upon its inception.  The village has arranged to provide nearly all the required labor and what materials they can afford; EWB-USC and our project partners are supplying technical and financial support.

Sincere thanks to Knightsbridge International, Century City Rotary, UNAVCO, the Viterbi School of Engineering and the Peace Corp for all the generous support.

During spring break 2007, a small group of members from EWB-USC plan to travel to the community of La Estanzuela in La Paz, Honduras to complete an evaluation of their current water situation. Working with an in country Peace Corp volunteer, we will conduct water tests, take measurements and work with the community to design a water distribution and purification system that fits their needs.

Currently the indigenous Lencas of the five surrounding rural villages must travel several miles to collect water. Valuable productive time is needlessly spent carrying water from the source to the residence. Furthermore, the lack of potable water causes countless gastro-intestinal sicknesses (Cholera, Dysentery, Acute Diarrhoeal Illness, etc), which afflicts mostly children.

The challenge in pumping water from the nearest river is the lack of electricity in the area. Current plans call for the use of a water ram pump to utilize the energy of a waterfall to move the water over 100 meters in elevation and 1.4 kilometers in distance to a storage tank nearby the villages. The water can then be purified using sustainable and environmentally friendly treatment methods.

The provision of treated drinking water, a necessity for life, will prevent disease and significantly raise the quality of life for the residents of the villages. Woman and children who have spent long hours carrying potentially contaminated water, will be able to spend their time in more productive endeavors thus raising not only their quality of their lives but their standard of living.