A past team trip to Honduras.

The Engineers Without Borders (EWB) student chapter at Missouri University of Science and Technology will travel to Santiago, Honduras, this January to continue its work to improve clean drinking water accessibility in the community.

A team of two students will be in the country Jan. 5-9, 2015. While there, the group will continue to improve the chlorination system of the community’s water, making sure that all modifications are functioning. The team will also monitor water quality for decreases in biological contaminants. The EWB members hope to meet with leaders of several community, government and funding agencies to try and secure additional funds for a water storage tank.

The team remotely monitors the water chlorination system installed in the community in mid-2013 through weekly calls with the water project leaders in Santiago to get updates.

“We hope to eventually design and implement a large water storage tank for the community to provide 24-hour water access,” says Cathryn Pherigo, a senior in chemical engineering from St. Charles, Missouri, and Missouri S&T’s EWB-Honduras team leader. “We recently found out the local government is starting 24-hour water distribution in a quarter of its largest city with plans to spread that to the whole county, which would greatly benefit the people.”

Dr. Richard Stephenson, professor emeritus of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at Missouri S&T, is the EWB faculty advisor. David Hoffman, an associate research engineer at S&T, and Stephen Hubbs, a volunteer mentor in the civil, architectural and environmental engineering department at S&T, will travel with the team. Donate to EWB’s cause at ewb-mst.org/donate.

The following students plan to travel to Honduras:

— Luis Pereira, a senior in computer science from Sedalia, Missouri

— Megan Schulte, a junior in chemical engineering from Columbia, Missouri.