Engineers Without Borders—Cameroon
Water Project
-- Project work with this partner has been postponed and will not be offered for the Fa10
semester. Check back for opportunties in the future. -Ntisaw Project Team Coordinator
Partnering with: Nitsaw Water Committee and School of Public Works, Yaounde, Cameroon
www.ewb-uiuc.org/project/76
Mission
The Ntisaw Village Water Project (NVWP) was started by Engineers Without Borders (EWBUIUC) chapter at the University of Illinois in Fall 2008 with the mission of providing convenient
access to clean drinking water for the 1500 villagers in Ntisaw, Cameroon, West Africa. This
clean water solution should be sustainable both in regards to high quality engineering design and
also with respect to educating the community so that they are able to fully understand and
maintain the system.
Opportunities
EWB-UIUC and its student project team is in charge of all aspects of NVWP. Several UIUC students
traveled to Cameroon in May 2009 to complete surveying, to meet with people in the village, and to assess
the feasibility of brainstormed design ideas. The engineering component of this project will use data that
the EWB-UIUC NVWP group gathered to determine the best system to supply the village with a reliable,
clean, convenient water source. Once the design has been decided and developed, it will be up to the
NVWP group to raise funds, source materials and oversee construction of the system in Cameroon. In
addition to the engineering challenges of sourcing, storing, treating, and distributing water, this project has
many other areas of importance. Some of these include: education of the village about the water system
and its appropriate use, health and hygiene education, sustainability of the design, etc. The project is both
exciting and challenging because of the multidisciplinary skills that it requires.
Projects
The EWB-UIUC NVWP group will work with the LINC students to tailor a project to fit their
talents and interests. Possible projects could include:
 Developing a health and hygiene education program that will cross language and cultural barriers and
increase Ntisaw’s awareness of best health and hygiene practices.
 Assisting in the design of a water distribution system that utilizes local resources, has minimal effect on
the village, and is cost effective to build and maintain.
 Tackling issues that may arise when addressing how to effectively treat the water.
 Maintaining key relationships between the EWB-UIUC NVWP, the village of Ntisaw, other EWB-UIUC
projects, and other EWB water projects in the country.
 Developing innovative solutions to various engineering challenges.
 Developing internal EWB-UIUC materials that standardize project management and facilitate
information sharing between projects.
These projects will continue to evolve as the project progresses towards its ultimate goal of providing
Ntisaw with a sustainable clean water solution.