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Sololá, Guatemala
by Katherine Harry
This November, the Kansas City Professional Chapter of Engineers Without Borders teamed up with our university chapter (KU-EWB) and Heart to Heart International to work on a water quality and sanitation project in Guatemala. Heart to Heart International and EWB are non-profit organizations with a focus on improving health and hygiene. Heart to Heart began their work in the Sololá region of Guatemala by distributing needed medical aid after Hurricane Stan severely damaged the area. Now that several years have passed and Heart to Heart has a strong relationship with the community, they want to expand the program from treating water borne diseases to preventing them.
Water borne illness continues to be one of the leading causes of death among children in developing countries like Guatemala. In order to improve this situation, Heart to Heart International contacted EWB to provide technical assistance with the sanitary and water supply systems in seven schools in this region of Guatemala. In mid-November, our group traveled to Guatemala to assess the situation. Before arriving, we contracted with a community member to clean out the existing septic systems. It turns out that the system in the first school we visited hadn’t been cleaned for twenty years! This is a system that is used by upwards of 800 people a day. In fact, maintenance turned out to be a key issue in all of the schools we visited. The systems themselves are built correctly and will work, but the schools were unaware of the need to clean them every few years. While there, we educated the school principals on the need for maintenance.
Additionally, Heart to Heart has installed bio-sand filters in these schools. While there, our group took water samples from the tap and the filters to test for total coliforms and e-coli. Our tests showed that the filters are working; however, additional disinfection is required to make the water completely safe. Unfortunately, the community is not receptive to putting any foreign chemicals, like chlorine, in their water supply.
Heart to Heart International and EWB will continue to work in this region to educate the people on the importance of filtering and disinfecting drinking water and maintaining their sanitary systems. We will also work with the community to install filters in the homes of the students.
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