About EWB

EWB – NCSU is a student organization, dedicated to improving lives through the creation and implementation of sustainable projects to address the needs of disadvantaged peoples. EWB-NCSU also works to help the local community through service.

EWB-USA was founded in 2002 by University of Colorado-Boulder Civil Engineering professor, Dr. Bernard Amadei in order to address some of the most prevalent challenges facing the developing world, including water purification and delivery, sanitation, transportation and infrastructure projects, and sustainable and renewable energy systems. What started as a backyard conversation with a landscaper from San Pablo, Belize resulted in a clean water system for the local community and sparked a global engineering movement that has directly impacted more than one million people to date. The nonprofit started with 18 members and one university chapter. And today, EWB-USA is comprised of an expansive network of over 12,000 members and more than 225 university student and professional chapters engaged in over 400 active programs in 45 countries around the world.

The North Carolina State University Student Chapter, founded in 2006, has three active projects; a water sanitation project in Bolivia, an energy project in Sierra Leone, and a water systems project in Sierra Leone.

Each project committee is made up of approximately 10 – 20 students from many different majors, both engineering, and non-engineering. In addition, each project has at least one profession mentor with significant work experience in a relevant field. For more information about the projects, please contact one of the project leads:

Bryan Peele (Renewable Energy): slre@ewbncsu.org

Andrew Santos (Water Sanitation): bws@ewbncsu.org

Megan Smithmyer (Water Systems): slws@ewbncsu.org

Projects

Sierra Leone Renewable Energy

Currently the community of Lower Allentown, Sierra Leone is without a reliable power system. In order for the Village Learning Environment (VLE) to offer night classes to the women in the community, electricity is required to power lights. The VLE would also like the ability to provide laptops to students during the day. In the future, the VLE would like to add other amenities such as fans and a refrigerator.

In December, 2011 we are planning on taking two students and a mentor to Sierra Leone for a two-week assessment trip. While there, the team will meet with the local government and further develop ties with the local community. The team will assess the needs of the VLE and the surrounding community by talking with community leaders. We will reach out to community suppliers and skilled workers in the surrounding area who can help implement our system in the future. The team will also analyze the energy needs of the VLE to determine the capacity requirements for the power system we are designing. Furthermore, we wish to survey the weather, topographical conditions, and geographical features of the VLE location to determine the efficacy of a PV system. During our analysis of the feasibility of a PV system we will take into consideration aspects such as the security and mounting of the solar panel array.

he ultimate goal of our project is to implement a self-sustaining energy solution for the Village Learning Environment. We plan to develop a system which initially meets basic power consumption needs, but can be expanded over time to provide greater power capabilities. A key aspect of the longterm sustainability of the power system we work to develop involves educating the community. We will work to train members of the local community to be able to care for the system and make repairs as needed.

Bolivia Water Sanitation

The community of Asanquiri is located in the highlands of Bolivia. Young adults from this village and others are taught at the Capacitation Center. At the Center, students live and take classes to teach them responsible agricultural practices and other skills to improve their livelihood.  Due to the seasonal cycle of rainfall that occurs in this region, the Center often runs dangerously low on water during the dry season. The only source of water is a spring, which is also seasonal. The spring box is also open and unguarded, which allows animals to trample and defecate in the spring. Diarrhea is a common problem for children at the Capacitation Center, and the cause most likely comes from bacteria found in the water.

To supplement the strained water supply, a new water source must be obtained. In addition, this water source and the existing water source must be cleaned to reduce the number of cases of waterborne illnesses.

Five members from the NCSU chapter traveled to Asanquiri in January 2007. During their time in Bolivia, the team visited Asanquiri, the Capacitation Center, and several other villages that surround the Center. The need for some improvement was the greatest at the Capacitation Center, so the focus of the project was shifted from the village to the learning center. The team took water samples at the various tanks, at spigots, and at the spring. A health assessment revealed diarrhea being the main health issue. Four different NCSU members and one adviser traveled to Asanquiri in August 2009. Upon arrival the community made it clear that water quantity is the biggest issue. In response, the team focused its energy and resources on making a larger 5000L rain harvesting system, rather than water sanitation. The team used only local services and products to implement the project making it sustainable.

A second assessment trip in summer 2011 will evaluate the catchment system’s operations, determine the viability of reconnecting the upper spring, and analyze the catchment system’s usage by the community and their perceptions of it. While in country the team will monitor the structural conditions and water quality of the catchment system. Providing the Capacitation Center with water collection and treatment systems will give tangible and intangible benefits to the community, directly improving the quality and quantity of potable water at the Capacitation Center while also familiarizing center students with reproducible technology that can be im-plemented in their homes and other regions. Potential expansion of work into the nearby area of Santiago with irrigation systems will also be evaluated in-region.

Sierra Leone Water Systems

Sierra Leone’s 10-year civil war ended in 2001. Since then, the country has been rebuilding but there is still much work to be done. In a suburb of the capital Freetown, a community called Lower Allentown has experienced a huge population growth due to people moving towards the city in search of jobs after the war. This urban sprawl has put tremendous stress on the city’s already suffering water infrastructure. In 1999, Dr. Nancy Peddle founded the LemonAid fund in Sierra Leone to help with these problems. Some years later, the LemonAid Village was established in Lower Allentown to educate the future leaders of the country from preschool through secondary. However, the school had little resources, including sufficient clean water. Dr. Peddle contacted EWB-USA and in 2007, EWB-USA at NC State took on this task.

Water is supplied to Freetown from the Guma dam reservoir. It is pipe several miles, properly treated, then sent through a distribution system to the city. This pipeline was established over 25 years ago, and is in the process of being replaced. Due to the large population increase in the area, a main pipeline runs along the upper ridge of Allentown with no taps for the people to get water. The population currently breaks into the pipe and attaches garden hoses, which introduces leaks and contamination. Once the pipeline is replaced, public taps will be installed.