Students travel to El Salvador to install water purification unit

A team of four University of Toledo students from the College of Engineering served as mentors for a freshman-design team during a trip to El Salvador this past summer. The students installed a water purification unit they built for their freshman design project.

“This trip provided the real-world experience that is needed to understand the impact of engineering design on the adoption and use of technology to improve the human condition,” said Glenn Lipscomb, professor and chair of chemical and environmental department in a previous interview.

Lisa Young, Kayla Piezer, Kylee Kramer and Alison Haas built the water purification unit as part their orientation class in the department of engineering. This is a continuing project for them as Young, Piezer, Kramer, and Haas will serve as mentors for other freshmen design teams this fall semester.

“As students, this project allowed us to gain real world experience as engineers,” Young, a second-year chemical engineering student, said. “As a team, we were able to construct the unit, present the project to different organizations, raise funds, trouble shoot problems involving installation and maintenance, and learn about a different culture.”

In the spring of 2015, chemical engineering graduate, Lucy Hosenfeld, approached the department of engineering about working with Clean Water for the World, a nonprofit organization that is committed to providing clean water to communities in need.

“Not only did this allow direct and personal contact with the endpoint user of the design, but it allowed for an understanding of global needs that differ between cultures,” Piezer, a second-year environmental engineering major, said.

By the fall of 2015, more than ten water purification units were created.

The unit has a two-­part purification process, which includes a filter and a UV bulb. The unit uses UV light to kill pathogens and keeps them from reproducing and causing illness. After filtration, the water exits the purification system at a rate of 300 gallons per hour.

“This is enough water to provide up to 3,600 people with adequate drinking water every day,” Piezer said.

The unit was installed in a health clinic in San Pablo Tacachico and local residents have access to the water from outside the clinic.

“The community was very impoverished and water borne illnesses were a serious problem,” Kramer, a second-year chemical engineering student, said.

El Salvador’s lack of clean water was affecting the community’s health, causing many diseases and even death, according to Haas, a second-year chemical engineering student.

“With the clean water our unit provided, the community will be able to lead better, healthier lives,” Haas said.

The team remains in contact with the Clean Water for the World organization, CWFW representatives in El Salvador and the Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad, who handled on­site logistics.

Funding for the trip to El Salvador came from GoFundMe campaigns, the Chemical Engineering Department and UT Study Abroad scholarships.