UC Berkeley Engineers Without Borders

STRETCH GOAL OF $10,000 TO FURTHER FUND OUR PROJECTS!

Thank you so much to all of our donors who helped us reach our initial goal of $7,000! We have extended our goal to $10,000 in order to cover further costs of project planning and implementation. These projects are very expensive so any donation helps!

Engineers Without Borders - University of California, Berkeley (EWB-UCB) envisions a future where basic human needs are met across the world on a daily basis. We engage and empower developing communities through projects which implement sustainable solutions to real problems and leave a lasting impact.

EWB-UCB is a chapter of the national organization Engineers Without Borders - USA, and is composed of about 130 UC Berkeley undergraduate students studying a variety of topics, and about six professional mentors. For each project, a team of students and mentors is assembled to work in tandem with a developing community abroad to find sustainable solutions to a given problem. Projects require many travel trips to the partner community for field research, community outreach, and implementation. Projects last five to ten years. Currently, EWB-UCB has two ongoing projects in Panama and Peru. Please make a gift today to support our efforts!

The Panama Project aims to provide clean, reliable drinking water to the community in Kuna Nega, Panama through the construction of a water distribution system and community led participation. Kuna Nega is a rapidly growing community of about 1,200 residents outside of Panama City and is located adjacent to the Panama City dump. The pollution in this area makes the local water source unusable and has created a plethora of health problems.  To avoid using this water, people rely on water that is irregularly trucked into the community. Many residents wait with buckets for the trucks to arrive and fill as many as possible at one time because they do not know when the next delivery will arrive. Storing water in these mass quantities over long amounts of time allows bacteria to reproduce and spreads water-borne illness and disease. The construction of a safe, reliable, water distribution system throughout the community will directly combat the growth of bacteria in water and spreading of illness throughout the community, as people will no longer have to store excess quantities of water. Please make a donation to help fund the completion of this water distribution system!

The Peru project has focused the past nine years on providing clean drinking water within three communities on the Peruvian Altiplano. In 2007 a meteor struck the community of Carancas, Peru on the Peruvian Altiplano leading to high quantities of arsenic in the community’s drinking water. The Peru project has designed and implemented multiple technologies such as a Simple Iron Matrix (SIM) filter, a rainwater catchment system, and an arsenic coagulation system to improve water accessibility and quality in the region. Over the course of 7 years, we have aided three different communities in Peru with our technologies. The Peru team is currently in the process of beginning a new project as our project in Peru is coming to a close. This semester, we have begun a new project in Nicaragua, developing sanitation technologies. Donate today to help fund the continuous work of EWB-UCB!

To learn more about our projects and team members check out our website at https://ewb.berkeley.edu/ and like us on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EWB.UCB/. Thank you!