World Water Forum College Grant Program
2011-2013 Grant Proposals
G
College
Loyola Marymount University
Faculty
Dr. Rachel Adams
Project
#111
Clean Water for Isla Espiritu Santo, Usulatán,
El Salvador
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY
SEAVER COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Clean Water for Isla Espiritu Santo, Usulután, El Salvador
Global Project
Dr. Rachel Adams
Jennifer Rodriguez
Thomas Zachariah
A. PROJECT SUMMARY
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY
SEAVER COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Clean Water for Isla Espiritu Santo, Usulután, El Salvador
Global Project
Dr. Rachel Adams
Jennifer Rodriguez
Thomas Zachariah
The Engineers Without Borders Chapter at Loyola Marymount University is currently
undertaking a water improvement and education program in Isla Espiritu Santo, El Salvador, a
community of 500 people which has unclean water. On a trip in the August 2011, the team provided
15 families with Sawyer filters and re-did the water system which supplies the local elementary
school with water. Plans are in place to install a UV water filter at the school, as well as to provide
more Sawyer filters. An educational program was also completed and plans are in place to
strengthen and expand that program.
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B. CONTACT INFORMATION
1.
College
Address
City, State, Zip Code
Make Check Payable to:
Loyola Marymount University
One LMU Dr.
Los Angeles, CA, 90045
2.
Application Strand
Global: Clean Water for Isla Espiritu Santo, San
Salvador, El Salvador
3.
Student Project Manager
Undergraduate or Graduate
Department
Cell Phone/ Email Address
Jennifer Rodriguez
Undergraduate
Civil Engineering
323-327-8088 / [email protected]
Student Project Manager
Undergraduate or Graduate
Department
Cell Phone/ Email Address
Thomas Zachariah
Undergraduate
Electrical Engineering
818-635-5355 / [email protected]
4.
Faculty Project Manager
Title
Department
Telephone/Email Address
Rachel Adams
Dr.
Civil Engineering
310-338-5186 / [email protected]
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D. ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND
Loyola Marymount University was founded as Loyola University in 1911. In 1973, Loyola
University and Marymount College merged to form Loyola Marymount University (LMU). LMU
considers 1911 as its founding year, and hence is celebrating its centennial this year.
LMU has a three-part mission: (1) the encouragement of learning, (2) the education of the
whole person, (3) the service of faith and the promotion of justice. In addition to fostering an
environment of academic excellence, LMU provides students opportunities to engage in off-campus
service in places throughout the country and world through programs such as Alternative Break and
Ignacio Companion Service Trips. Thus, LMU provides students with opportunities that positively
impact communities in need. But, it is the students with the “heart of a Lion” who must actively
engage in these opportunities to bring about real change in places like El Salvador and hence live
out the university’s mission.
The science and engineering programs at LMU are housed in the Frank R. Seaver College of
Science and Engineering. The College’s mission statement expounds its commitment to “delivering
science, engineering, and mathematics education to students through individual attention with
emphasis on self-learning, service to society, and ethical behavior.” As predominantly science
majors of ethnic minority, who are often perceived as students who do not normally engage in
service, our achievements on this front thus far have been recognized and lauded, but we are aware
that there is much more we can do with the fine higher education that we are receiving at LMU.
Indeed, we consider ourselves responsible for going back to our own communities and other
underprivileged communities that we encounter to help them assess their needs and make a
difference to help them meet those needs. We must make sure that we are meeting these needs in a
way that upholds standards we have set for ourselves, not only morally but socially. We have the
power to impact a whole community and if we do it right, we will not only improve their living
conditions but improve and broaden their outlook in life. In turn we hope people will be encouraged
to continue bettering not only their lives but the lives of those around them.
E. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Safe drinking water is a crucial necessity and a basic right for all human life. This is especially true
for members of developing communities. During the summer of 2011, six members of LMU’s
Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers
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(SHPE), accompanied by an LMU faculty member, helped develop a water treatment and
distribution project on Isla El Espíritu Santo, Puerto El Triunfo, Usulután, El Salvador that provided
dozens of families with safe drinking water. Perhaps more importantly, the work done by the
students this past summer established the foundation for a long-term collaboration between the
LMU community and the community of 300 plus families on Isla El Espíritu Santo.
Through previous Alternative Break and Ignacio Companion service trips, members of our
university became aware of the struggles that the island community faces on a daily basis. We were
very impressed by the level of commitment and organization that the community itself had towards
bettering the lives of all families on the island. Though Isla El Espiritu Santo lacks many of the
amenities that we are accustomed to in the U.S., one primary missing essential is clean running
water. With that in mind, a group of LMU students organized a trip to El Salvador and collaborated
with a Salvadoran non-governmental organization (NGO), Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad
(CIS) to develop the water distribution and treatment project.
The summer project had two components. First, our group worked with the island’s
community to install a new water pump and over 200 meters of piping for the island’s only school.
This part of the project
ensured that the school
would continue to have
access to water from its
only
well.
Second,
we
assembled and distributed
fourteen table-top filters for
the benefit of the island’s
families. The filters we
chose to distribute to the
families were Sawyer brand
filters,
which
filter
20
Fig 1 Average Coliform Count in Unfiltered and Filtered Water from
Household Wells. Collection and testing performed by our students.
gallons every 15 minutes
and filter out the bacteria with which the island is severely contaminated. This component of the
project also involved presenting an educational workshop to the community during which the use
and maintenance of the filters was conveyed. As additional instruction to the community, the
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importance of the many health and development aspects of having safe, clean drinking water was
highlighted.
Our accomplishments from last summer have inspired us to return to Isla El Espíritu Santo
in two trips in 2012: the Ignacio Companions (IC) Service Trip in February and the Engineers Trip
in the summer. During these trips, we hope to complete several projects: (1) we will install an
Ultraviolet light filter at the island’s school, completing the project started last summer. This work
is crucial since the water that is now used at the school is unfiltered and previous tests of that water
(carried out by our group last summer) indicate that it is risky for the children to use it as drinking
water. Since the school is a public institution, electricity is provided to the school free of charge,
taking care of any cost issues that may arise from the electricity consumption of filtration unit. (2)
We will replace damaged and/or old piping and also provide a piping connection so that the
community’s women’s cooperative will have easy access to clean water for its candy-making
business, which is run out of a kitchen neighboring the school. This work will protect one of the
only economic entities on the island by providing uncontaminated water for both the laborers and
the business operations. (3)
The kitchen for the women’s
cooperative does not yet meet
health
code
requirements;
thus, another part of our
project will consist of helping
the
women gather
further
resources to bring their kitchen
up to code. This way, their
candy-making business will
remain
Fig 2 E. Coli count in water from different island locations. Sample
collection and testing were performed by our students.
functional
and
hopefully grow. This part of
the
project
will
not
be
completed in February since the trip has allotted only three days for the island visit, thus we will
start the work in February and continue to work on the kitchen and the following items during the
summer trip. (4) We will purchase additional table-top (Sawyer brand) filters to distribute to the
community in an effort to bring clean water to every household. (5) We will have additional Water
Awareness workshops for the community, to ensure the proper care and use of the filters they
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receive, and continue to educate them about the importance of clean, safe drinking water. (6)
Further research will be conducted by the EWB and SHPE members
as well as CIS on the trip in order to ascertain other ways that we, as
engineers, can help this community. Specifically, we want to identify
other individuals with pertinent expertise (i.e., LMU engineering and
science faculty and alumni) who we can bring on future trips in order
to help with both engineering and other important issues on the island
(e.g., solving the community’s waste disposal problem, one of the
main causes for its air and water pollution).
To bring back benefits of the project to the LMU community
Fig 3 We plan to bring more
easy-to-use Sawyer Filters
for individual households.
we plan to: (1) Participate in LMU’s Water Awareness Week and
continue to make presentations to the LMU community on potable
water issues throughout the school year so that the students are
constantly reminded of water issues in the developing world. (2) To concretely show the LMU
community how water projects are indeed within the grasp of our student body we will install “Hot
and Cold Water Dispensers” in more locations on campus so that students can refill reusable water
bottles. Places such as the Engineering Lab, Seaver Hall and in the School of Film and Television
are only a few locations in need of such a system. (3) At these locations, we will install an
interactive monitor that has several facts about water quality issues around the world and offer ways
in which students can get involved and help to make a difference on this issue locally and globally.
We have chosen our project to emphasize new approaches for the cost-effective
implementation of water-use efficient technology, to allow us to conduct applied research toward
enhancing water quality of supply sources for internationally,
water stressed regions, including developing nations. In our
case, we have chosen to work in the country of El Salvador,
where we have created a strong relationship through
Alternative Break trips as well as Ignacio Companion Trips
in the last four years.
The research and data collection has been taking
place in two locations. One is the campus of our university
LMU, located in Los Angeles, CA, where our students spend
Fig 4 At LMU, students tested samples
collected from El Espíritu Santo.
most of their time in class and participating in extracurricular activities of their choice. The second
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location is Isla El Espíritu Santo, Puerto El Triunfo, Usulután, El Salvador and San Salvador where
many of our students have visited for extended periods of time learning about the culture and the
people in order to better meet their particular needs.
Anticipated Outcome of Research
Further research on quality of water, as well as water-borne diseases of water, by taking
more water samples: We would like to take a larger set of samples from the island’s wells,
and use them to create a map displaying the levels of contamination in the wells from which
the island community obtains its water for daily use.
Further testing of purification techniques: We wish to find a quick, cheap solution to
adequately purify water from all of the island’s wells.
Quality-checking our solutions: After installation of the UV filter at the island’s school, we
would like to analyze its success and make any necessary adjustments or improvements. In
addition, we would like to continue testing the table-top Sawyer filters that we provided to
the community, to ensure that the filters still work properly.
Further research into the causes of pollution: We would expect it to be from the latrines,
animal waste, and trash. We would begin to try to develop solutions to these causes.
Enhancement of community education: We hope to expand the current education of water
related pollution within the community (via community meetings for the adults and school
presentations for the children). We want to analyze the effects of this education to see if it is
being effective. We would then attempt to work with the community to develop a plan to
reduce this pollution.
Improvement of the Local Business: We would also look into the exact needs of the
Women’s Center so they can satisfy federal business codes and get approval to sell their
candy product.
Estimated Project Benefits
During the summer of 2012 Loyola Marymount (LMU) students will embark to Isla El Espíritu
Santo, Puerto El Triunfo, Usulután, El Salvador. The main goal will be to fortify and reinforce the
water systems LMU students have been working on since the previous summer. One of the most
important reasons in deciding to return again to the island is the benefits that it will provide to the
community.
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There are about 300 families on the island of which 100 individuals are school children that
attend the only school on the island. While adding more filters and more piping, our project
members will be providing technical training to each family. This will not only be safer for the
community by providing better access to fresh drinking water, but it will also provide knowledge so
that the water purification equipment is cared for properly and that the community can utilize the
equipment for the longest possible amount of time.
Another goal of the project is to provide education on water conservation and hygiene. The
group plans to hold interactive seminars where it will
educate at least one member from each family on the
impact clean drinking water has on a community and on
the human body. As of now, even though some families
in the community have filters they sometimes misuse
them because they do not have the patience to wait for the
filter to do its work on the water (an issue more common
with previously donated clay filters than with the Sawyer
filters we provided). Part of the seminar will focus on
Fig 5 Conducting water awareness meeting
with the community during summer 2011.
We hope to conduct more on future trips.
why members must let the filters do their job lest the
bacteria (E. coli) or waste threaten the water supply and the community member’s health. Other
parts of the seminar will focus on our goals for the next project and what the members of the
community can do to help the project flow as smoothly as possible.
The main goal of the project is to improve equitable access to fresh drinking water for the
families on the island. Assuming the filtration system will be properly setup for the school in
February, in the summer, we hope to add a connection to the
school’s water supply so that the women’s cooperative in the
island will have easy access to clean water for their candy
making business. Of course, perhaps the most important aspect
of this project is for the school children to receive fresh, clean
water. We hope to improve the water system in the school by
Fig 6 Island’s School Water Storage
Tanks. We plan to supplement our
previous work by installing a UV
Filtration Unit here.
adding additional piping to increase the amount of water
available at one time for the school. The project will also
revisit the system put in place in the previous summer and
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ensure it is running at optimal performance. We want to emphasize the importance of clean drinking
water as a necessity and an essential factor of good health.
In summary, this project will affect most, if not all of the island’s inhabitants from the
students attending the island’s school to the laborers at the women’s cooperative, as well as the
LMU students who will have an opportunity to work with a community in a developing world. It
will: (1) provide access to clean water to the students in the island’s only school and to the many
families that will receive new table-top filters; (2) assist the women’s cooperative in continuing to
grow their candy-making business; and (3) provide LMU students with the opportunity to
experience (including work alongside, conduct research and be in solidarity with) a poor, but
resourceful community in the developing world. This grant would significantly impact the small
community of Isla El Espíritu Santo; it is difficult to bring attention to this island community or to
get anyone to fund their project because they are such a small and rural community, therefore it is
critical for us to empower them.
Table 1: Quantitative Benefit Projections
PERFORMANCE
MEASURE
Provides Technical
Training
Provides Water
Conservation and/or
Hygiene/Public Health
Education
Improves equitable access
to fresh drinking water
and/or sanitation practices
(e.g.- by improving water
quality)
Cost Associated with each
of the physical
quantitative outcomes
above
QUANTITATIVE
OUTCOME
8 people
LOCAL/GLOBAL
IMPACT
Global
200+ people
Global
200+ people
Global
$75/family,
Global
$9/student OR $900/school
Teams Experience
Our team is primarily composed of students. We have several faculty and staff members that have
helped greatly with our past projects and continue to support us as we look for ways to continue
helping our Salvadoran friends.
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Thomas Zachariah, a Junior Electrical Engineering major with Emphasis in Computer
Engineering and minors in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, is our student leader and
was the project manager for the 2011 summer trip to El Salvador. He is an Eagle Scout and an
active leader in the Engineers Without Borders Chapter at LMU. He has had previous experience in
organizing large-scale service projects and in working on water-related engineering strategies. He
also researches future climate change impacts via climate model analysis with Nobel Laureate
Jeremy Pal of the LMU Civil Engineering Department. Mr. Zachariah will be participating in the
February 2012 IC trip.
Jennifer Rodriguez, a Junior Civil Engineering major with Mathematics minor is the coproject manager and co-student leader along with Thomas Zachariah. After the spring 2011 IC trip
she spent two months during the summer of 2011 volunteering in Espirtu Santo Island as a Math
and English teacher. She communicated with residents of the island to ensure that they were in
accordance with the engineering project and delegation. She is also the main contact between LMU
and El Salvador. She will be leading the February 2012 IC trip.
Rachel Adams, an Environmental Engineering Professor at LMU brought to our attention
the World Water Forum grant. As our faculty advisor, she has met with our student leaders to
ensure that we are approaching this project from an appropriate engineering perspective and in a
professional manner.
Herbert Medina is a Mathematics Professor at LMU. He is a native of El Salvador, knows
the country very well and is fluent in Spanish. Most of our students have a connection to him as we
have taken him for a class or two at LMU. The summer 2011 delegation of students approached him
in hopes of having him be the faculty advisor on the trip representing LMU’s commitment to the
students and El Salvador. Without hesitation, he agreed to accompany the group and worked sideby-side with the students as they worked on installing the pump and the necessary piping for the
school. Prof. Medina has supported our group also by finding sources of funding and participating
in meetings in which we strategize how we will accomplish our goal of bringing clean water to the
island
Wesley Walker, an LMU Mechanical Engineering graduate (Class of 2011) worked closely
with our co-leaders and has been a member of Engineers Without Borders Chapter at LMU. He is
not only involved in the El Salvador project but he also helped with the EWB project in Malawi.
His experience in the engineering field, the fact that he had already taken many of the classes our
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younger members have yet to take, helped us be practical in our project and not commit to
something we could not accomplish during the summer.
Marty Roers is a Campus Minister who led the first LMU delegation to El Salvador. He is a
great resource as is extremely knowledgeable about the Salvadoran people and culture. He has close
ties to the people in that country due to his own service abroad. It was Mr. Roers who originally
proposed the idea of starting a project in El Salvador to the engineering students traveling on the IC
trip in the spring of 2011. He has continually encouraged and supported those students ever since.
His role is to provide assistance and counsel to the group, by motivating students to continue their
work in solidarity and providing an opinion, not only from an engineering standpoint but from a
personal standpoint keeping in mind that we do not have all the answers, but are working together
with the Salvadoran community. He will be accompanying the students on the 2012 IC trip.
Cristy Ayala is the Delegations Coordinator at CIS. Ms. Ayala, like Marty, has been a
supporter of our project and students since day one. Ms. Ayala has encouraged the students to
continue their work with the Salvadoran people, but reminds us that our education is important and
we are students first. She hosted our student, Jennifer Rodriguez, during her summer service and
continues to be our main contact with the community in El Salvador. Her role is to provide
logistical accommodations (housing, transportation, dining and emergency arrangements) for our
group. She also knows the local businesses where we can purchase supplies for our trip to the
island, and is able to answer any questions we may have about El Salvador and its people. She is
our main source of information since communication with her is more accessible than with the
people of the island.
Luis Aguillon is the Coordinator of the CIS Clean Water Campaign. He has years of
experience as a community organizer and has been participating in national campaigns in El
Salvador for water rights that are in danger of being privatized and made inaccessible to the poor
majority. In addition, he serves as CIS’ Clean Water Coordinator and has developed training
manuals and methodology to work with communities in El Salvador to use filters correctly, to raise
awareness about environmental protection, defending water as a human right, and how to maintain
good health by drinking only from purified water sources taking into account local culture. Mr.
Aguillon also trains community representatives on how to conduct follow-up work to strengthen the
local organizational capacity.
Martha Perez is the woman in charge of the Women’s cooperative on the island. She
oversees the candy making business, participates in the CIS workshops off the island and relays
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back this information to the women who often times do not have the resources to leave the island to
attend the workshops. Mrs. Perez is the main contact we have on the island. She coordinates with
CIS and LMU to make sure delegations have an agenda that incorporates hands on solidarity work
with the women on the island enabling the delegations to take away as much from the experience as
they can.
Juan David Llanos is a Sophomore Mechanical Engineering major he has experience
working in large and small teams as well as helping accomplish a service project under LMU’s
resources. He can convey messages effectively to other team members as well as project
beneficiaries and is fluent in Spanish. David has some experience in mapping terrain if it will be
used as a guide to add additional piping. He belongs to two different clubs at LMU, for which he is
treasurer. If needed, he can provide guidance in managing a budget.
Leonard Turcios is a Sophomore Computer Engineering and Applied Mathematics double
major. He is an active member of Engineers Without Borders and Math Club, the vice president of
the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and an athlete on the NCAA men’s crew team. He
has displayed great resolve in his roles both as a team player and a leader. He was a member of the
group that traveled to El Salvador during the 2011 summer trip. He is fluent in Spanish.
Esmeralda Villalpando, Mathematics major, travels to Mexico on De Colores trips with
LMU and is fluent in Spanish. De Colores is Campus Ministry’s weekend service and immersion
trip to Tijuana, Mexico run by the aforementioned Marty Roers. There she works alongside other
LMU students and the people of Tijuana on several construction projects such as building homes,
schools, and other community buildings. She also holds leadership positions on several clubs on
campus including Society of Hispanic Engineers and Math Club. She will also be participating on
the Spring 2012 IC trip to El Salvador.
Mara Luevano, Environmental Engineering major and Environmental Studies Minor, is the
Associated Students of LMU’s Director of Environmental Responsibility, where she spreads
environmental awareness and activism on-campus. She has traveled abroad on several
environmental service and immersion trips. She has also been the president of Society of Hispanic
Professional Engineers since 2010, where she works to empower Hispanic students in the STEM
fields, as well as promote the El Salvador project.
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Schedule
1. November
a. Continue plans for UV water filter installation
b. Work on plans to bring water hookup to Women’s Center
c. Continue fundraising/working on grants
2. December
a. Continue fundraising/working on grants
b. Continue plans for filter and women’s center
c. Research possible solutions for education/pollution/purification
3. January
a. Finalize plans for filter and women’s center
b. Make plans for further research, samples, data taking, etc.
c. Continue fundraising/working on grants
d. Purchase Sawyer filters
e. Finalize travel plans, logistical plans, survey for the island
f. Create budget
4. February
a. Finalize all plans
b. Ignacio Companions Trip: February 24-March 5
c. February 27: distribute sawyer filters during a water workshop, install UV filter at
the school
d. February 28: filter follow-up, conduct survey, run UV filter, do workshop at school
e. February 29: final assessment, answer any questions and make sure community
knows how to properly care for filters
f. Go over research, assessment, samples, data, etc.
5. March 5 and on
a. Complete report on trip
b. Follow up with CIS- Luis, Cristy and the island
c. Analyze data
d. Discuss plans for next trip-educational workshops, more filters
e. Continue fundraising/grants
6. April
a. Begin plans/research for next trip
b. Follow up with CIS
c. Plans to get women’s center up to code
d. Make a schedule for the summer trip and run it by with Cristy, Marty and Herbert
e. Continue fundraising
7. May/June
a. Continue plans-make necessary changes
b. Finalize educational plan
c. Make travel/logistics plans by May 31 st
d. Continue Fundraising
8. July/August
a. Finalize all plans and run through schedule with Cristy- July 16
b. Travel-August 13-19th : in this trip we will distribute more filters, continue the water
workshops, provide support for the water group on the island, visit the school and
have workshops for them, check up on the previously installed system, talk to the
community and see what needs we have met and have yet to meet.
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F. PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM
1
2
3
4
Name
Title/Organization
Address
Phone & Email
Thomas Zachariah
LMU Student
22325 Napa St.
818-635-5355
Project Manager
West Hills, CA 91304
[email protected]
LMU Student
3355 Roseview Ave.
323-327-8088
Project Manager
L.A., CA 90065
[email protected]
Jennifer Rodriguez
Rachel Adams
Herbert Medina
LMU Faculty
310-338-5186
Project Manager
[email protected]
LMU Faculty
[email protected]
Advisor
5
Wesley Walker
LMU Project
[email protected]
Advisor
6
Marty Roers
LMU Minister/IC
[email protected]
Advisor
7
Cristy Ayala
CIS Delegations
Ave. Aguilares y Ave.
503-2226-5362
Coordinator
Bolivar #103
[email protected]
Colonia Libertad
San Salvador, El Salvador
8
Luis Aguillon
CIS Clean Water
Advocate
9
Martha Perez
El Espiritu Santo
Women’s
Cooperative Head
10 Juan David Llanos
LMU Student
[email protected]
Project Member
11 Leonard Turcios
LMU Student
[email protected]
Project Member
12 Esmeralda Villalpando
LMU Student
[email protected]
Project Member
13 Mara Luevano
LMU Student
[email protected]
Project Member
15
APPENDIX A – Letter from Executive Director of Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (CIS)
16