Students from a previous trip work in Guatemala. Photo submitted.

The student chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) at Missouri University of Science and Technology will travel to Nahualate, Guatemala, to continue its work to help provide access to safe drinking water for the community of approximately 3,000 people.

The students will be in Guatemala Nov. 19-23. While there, the EWB team members will work to fully implement a water distribution system.

This trip is part of a project that the team has been working on since 2008. The project is now over half-way complete. On past trips, the team designed, constructed and completed an elevated storage tank and designed a chlorination system. This trip, the group will fill the previously installed 15,000-gallon tank with water for the first time.

Last year, the team completed trenching of approximately 4 miles of piping for water supply, installed transformers and electrical systems and installed a 15 horse power submersible well pump.

“The main goal of this trip is to ensure the pump will fill the tank and that the distribution network will maintain continuous flow and pressure,” says Matthew Baer, EWB-Nahualate team leader and a senior in ceramic engineering from Harrisonville, Missouri. “A follow-up trip will be scheduled later in the semester to return to the community and commission the water project once all systems are working properly.”