World Water Forum College Grant Program 2011-2013 Grant Proposals

College Loyola Marymount University

Faculty Dr. Rachel Adams

Project #111

Clean Water for Isla Espiritu Santo, Usulatán, El Salvador

G

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY SEAVER COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Clean Water for Isla Espiritu Santo, Usulután, El Salvador

Global Project

Dr. Rachel Adams

Jennifer Rodriguez

Thomas Zachariah

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A. PROJECT SUMMARY

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY

SEAVER COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Clean Water for Isla Espiritu Santo, Usulután, El Salvador

Global Project

Dr. Rachel Adams

Jennifer Rodriguez

Thomas Zachariah

The Engineers Without Borders Chapter at Loyola Marymount University is currently

undertaking a water improvement and education program in Isla Espiritu Santo, El Salvador, a

community of 500 people which has unclean water. On a trip in the August 2011, the team provided

15 families with Sawyer filters and re-did the water system which supplies the local elementary

school with water. Plans are in place to install a UV water filter at the school, as well as to provide

more Sawyer filters. An educational program was also completed and plans are in place to

strengthen and expand that program.

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B. CONTACT INFORMATION

1.

College Loyola Marymount University

Address One LMU Dr.

City, State, Zip Code Los Angeles, CA, 90045

Make Check Payable to:

2.

Application Strand

Global: Clean Water for Isla Espiritu Santo, San

Salvador, El Salvador

3.

Student Project Manager Jennifer Rodriguez

Undergraduate or Graduate Undergraduate

Department Civil Engineering

Cell Phone/ Email Address 323-327-8088 / jrodri76@lion.lmu.edu

Student Project Manager Thomas Zachariah

Undergraduate or Graduate Undergraduate

Department Electrical Engineering

Cell Phone/ Email Address 818-635-5355 / tzachar1@lion.lmu.edu

4.

Faculty Project Manager Rachel Adams

Title Dr.

Department Civil Engineering

Telephone/Email Address 310-338-5186 / radams@lion.lmu.edu

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D. ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND

Loyola Marymount University was founded as Loyola University in 1911. In 1973, Loyola

University and Marymount College merged to form Loyola Marymount University (LMU). LMU

considers 1911 as its founding year, and hence is celebrating its centennial this year.

LMU has a three-part mission: (1) the encouragement of learning, (2) the education of the

whole person, (3) the service of faith and the promotion of justice. In addition to fostering an

environment of academic excellence, LMU provides students opportunities to engage in off-campus

service in places throughout the country and world through programs such as Alternative Break and

Ignacio Companion Service Trips. Thus, LMU provides students with opportunities that positively

impact communities in need. But, it is the students with the “heart of a Lion” who must actively

engage in these opportunities to bring about real change in places like El Salvador and hence live

out the university’s mission.

The science and engineering programs at LMU are housed in the Frank R. Seaver College of

Science and Engineering. The College’s mission statement expounds its commitment to “delivering

science, engineering, and mathematics education to students through individual attention with

emphasis on self-learning, service to society, and ethical behavior.” As predominantly science

majors of ethnic minority, who are often perceived as students who do not normally engage in

service, our achievements on this front thus far have been recognized and lauded, but we are aware

that there is much more we can do with the fine higher education that we are receiving at LMU.

Indeed, we consider ourselves responsible for going back to our own communities and other

underprivileged communities that we encounter to help them assess their needs and make a

difference to help them meet those needs. We must make sure that we are meeting these needs in a

way that upholds standards we have set for ourselves, not only morally but socially. We have the

power to impact a whole community and if we do it right, we will not only improve their living

conditions but improve and broaden their outlook in life. In turn we hope people will be encouraged

to continue bettering not only their lives but the lives of those around them.

E. PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Safe drinking water is a crucial necessity and a basic right for all human life. This is especially true

for members of developing communities. During the summer of 2011, six members of LMU’s

Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers

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(SHPE), accompanied by an LMU faculty member, helped develop a water treatment and

distribution project on Isla El Espíritu Santo, Puerto El Triunfo, Usulután, El Salvador that provided

dozens of families with safe drinking water. Perhaps more importantly, the work done by the

students this past summer established the foundation for a long-term collaboration between the

LMU community and the community of 300 plus families on Isla El Espíritu Santo.

Through previous Alternative Break and Ignacio Companion service trips, members of our

university became aware of the struggles that the island community faces on a daily basis. We were

very impressed by the level of commitment and organization that the community itself had towards

bettering the lives of all families on the island. Though Isla El Espiritu Santo lacks many of the

amenities that we are accustomed to in the U.S., one primary missing essential is clean running

water. With that in mind, a group of LMU students organized a trip to El Salvador and collaborated

with a Salvadoran non-governmental organization (NGO), Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad

(CIS) to develop the water distribution and treatment project.

The summer project had two components. First, our group worked with the island’s

community to install a new water pump and over 200 meters of piping for the island’s only school.

This part of the project

ensured that the school

would continue to have

access to water from its

only well. Second, we

assembled and distributed

fourteen table-top filters for

the benefit of the island’s

families. The filters we

chose to distribute to the

families were Sawyer brand

filters, which filter 20

gallons every 15 minutes

and filter out the bacteria with which the island is severely contaminated. This component of the

project also involved presenting an educational workshop to the community during which the use

and maintenance of the filters was conveyed. As additional instruction to the community, the

Fig 1 Average Coliform Count in Unfiltered and Filtered Water from

Household Wells. Collection and testing performed by our students.

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importance of the many health and development aspects of having safe, clean drinking water was

highlighted.

Our accomplishments from last summer have inspired us to return to Isla El Espíritu Santo

in two trips in 2012: the Ignacio Companions (IC) Service Trip in February and the Engineers Trip

in the summer. During these trips, we hope to complete several projects: (1) we will install an

Ultraviolet light filter at the island’s school, completing the project started last summer. This work

is crucial since the water that is now used at the school is unfiltered and previous tests of that water

(carried out by our group last summer) indicate that it is risky for the children to use it as drinking

water. Since the school is a public institution, electricity is provided to the school free of charge,

taking care of any cost issues that may arise from the electricity consumption of filtration unit. (2)

We will replace damaged and/or old piping and also provide a piping connection so that the

community’s women’s cooperative will have easy access to clean water for its candy-making

business, which is run out of a kitchen neighboring the school. This work will protect one of the

only economic entities on the island by providing uncontaminated water for both the laborers and

the business operations. (3)

The kitchen for the women’s

cooperative does not yet meet

health code requirements;

thus, another part of our

project will consist of helping

the women gather further

resources to bring their kitchen

up to code. This way, their

candy-making business will

remain functional and

hopefully grow. This part of

the project will not be

completed in February since the trip has allotted only three days for the island visit, thus we will

start the work in February and continue to work on the kitchen and the following items during the

summer trip. (4) We will purchase additional table-top (Sawyer brand) filters to distribute to the

community in an effort to bring clean water to every household. (5) We will have additional Water

Awareness workshops for the community, to ensure the proper care and use of the filters they

Fig 2 E. Coli count in water from different island locations. Sample

collection and testing were performed by our students.

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receive, and continue to educate them about the importance of clean, safe drinking water. (6)

Further research will be conducted by the EWB and SHPE members

as well as CIS on the trip in order to ascertain other ways that we, as

engineers, can help this community. Specifically, we want to identify

other individuals with pertinent expertise (i.e., LMU engineering and

science faculty and alumni) who we can bring on future trips in order

to help with both engineering and other important issues on the island

(e.g., solving the community’s waste disposal problem, one of the

main causes for its air and water pollution).

To bring back benefits of the project to the LMU community

we plan to: (1) Participate in LMU’s Water Awareness Week and

continue to make presentations to the LMU community on potable

water issues throughout the school year so that the students are

constantly reminded of water issues in the developing world. (2) To concretely show the LMU

community how water projects are indeed within the grasp of our student body we will install “Hot

and Cold Water Dispensers” in more locations on campus so that students can refill reusable water

bottles. Places such as the Engineering Lab, Seaver Hall and in the School of Film and Television

are only a few locations in need of such a system. (3) At these locations, we will install an

interactive monitor that has several facts about water quality issues around the world and offer ways

in which students can get involved and help to make a difference on this issue locally and globally.

We have chosen our project to emphasize new approaches for the cost-effective

implementation of water-use efficient technology, to allow us to conduct applied research toward

enhancing water quality of supply sources for internationally,

water stressed regions, including developing nations. In our

case, we have chosen to work in the country of El Salvador,

where we have created a strong relationship through

Alternative Break trips as well as Ignacio Companion Trips

in the last four years.

The research and data collection has been taking

place in two locations. One is the campus of our university

LMU, located in Los Angeles, CA, where our students spend

most of their time in class and participating in extracurricular activities of their choice. The second

Fig 4 At LMU, students tested samples

collected from El Espíritu Santo.

Fig 3 We plan to bring more

easy-to-use Sawyer Filters

for individual households.

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location is Isla El Espíritu Santo, Puerto El Triunfo, Usulután, El Salvador and San Salvador where

many of our students have visited for extended periods of time learning about the culture and the

people in order to better meet their particular needs.

Anticipated Outcome of Research

Further research on quality of water, as well as water-borne diseases of water, by taking

more water samples: We would like to take a larger set of samples from the island’s wells,

and use them to create a map displaying the levels of contamination in the wells from which

the island community obtains its water for daily use.

Further testing of purification techniques: We wish to find a quick, cheap solution to

adequately purify water from all of the island’s wells.

Quality-checking our solutions: After installation of the UV filter at the island’s school, we

would like to analyze its success and make any necessary adjustments or improvements. In

addition, we would like to continue testing the table-top Sawyer filters that we provided to

the community, to ensure that the filters still work properly.

Further research into the causes of pollution: We would expect it to be from the latrines,

animal waste, and trash. We would begin to try to develop solutions to these causes.

Enhancement of community education: We hope to expand the current education of water

related pollution within the community (via community meetings for the adults and school

presentations for the children). We want to analyze the effects of this education to see if it is

being effective. We would then attempt to work with the community to develop a plan to

reduce this pollution.

Improvement of the Local Business: We would also look into the exact needs of the

Women’s Center so they can satisfy federal business codes and get approval to sell their

candy product.

Estimated Project Benefits

During the summer of 2012 Loyola Marymount (LMU) students will embark to Isla El Espíritu

Santo, Puerto El Triunfo, Usulután, El Salvador. The main goal will be to fortify and reinforce the

water systems LMU students have been working on since the previous summer. One of the most

important reasons in deciding to return again to the island is the benefits that it will provide to the

community.

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There are about 300 families on the island of which 100 individuals are school children that

attend the only school on the island. While adding more filters and more piping, our project

members will be providing technical training to each family. This will not only be safer for the

community by providing better access to fresh drinking water, but it will also provide knowledge so

that the water purification equipment is cared for properly and that the community can utilize the

equipment for the longest possible amount of time.

Another goal of the project is to provide education on water conservation and hygiene. The

group plans to hold interactive seminars where it will

educate at least one member from each family on the

impact clean drinking water has on a community and on

the human body. As of now, even though some families

in the community have filters they sometimes misuse

them because they do not have the patience to wait for the

filter to do its work on the water (an issue more common

with previously donated clay filters than with the Sawyer

filters we provided). Part of the seminar will focus on

why members must let the filters do their job lest the

bacteria (E. coli) or waste threaten the water supply and the community member’s health. Other

parts of the seminar will focus on our goals for the next project and what the members of the

community can do to help the project flow as smoothly as possible.

The main goal of the project is to improve equitable access to fresh drinking water for the

families on the island. Assuming the filtration system will be properly setup for the school in

February, in the summer, we hope to add a connection to the

school’s water supply so that the women’s cooperative in the

island will have easy access to clean water for their candy

making business. Of course, perhaps the most important aspect

of this project is for the school children to receive fresh, clean

water. We hope to improve the water system in the school by

adding additional piping to increase the amount of water

available at one time for the school. The project will also

revisit the system put in place in the previous summer and

Fig 5 Conducting water awareness meeting

with the community during summer 2011.

We hope to conduct more on future trips.

Fig 6 Island’s School Water Storage

Tanks. We plan to supplement our

previous work by installing a UV

Filtration Unit here.

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ensure it is running at optimal performance. We want to emphasize the importance of clean drinking

water as a necessity and an essential factor of good health.

In summary, this project will affect most, if not all of the island’s inhabitants from the

students attending the island’s school to the laborers at the women’s cooperative, as well as the

LMU students who will have an opportunity to work with a community in a developing world. It

will: (1) provide access to clean water to the students in the island’s only school and to the many

families that will receive new table-top filters; (2) assist the women’s cooperative in continuing to

grow their candy-making business; and (3) provide LMU students with the opportunity to

experience (including work alongside, conduct research and be in solidarity with) a poor, but

resourceful community in the developing world. This grant would significantly impact the small

community of Isla El Espíritu Santo; it is difficult to bring attention to this island community or to

get anyone to fund their project because they are such a small and rural community, therefore it is

critical for us to empower them.

Table 1: Quantitative Benefit Projections

PERFORMANCE

MEASURE

QUANTITATIVE

OUTCOME

LOCAL/GLOBAL

IMPACT

Provides Technical

Training

8 people Global

Provides Water

Conservation and/or

Hygiene/Public Health

Education

200+ people Global

Improves equitable access

to fresh drinking water

and/or sanitation practices

(e.g.- by improving water

quality)

200+ people Global

Cost Associated with each

of the physical

quantitative outcomes

above

$75/family,

$9/student OR $900/school

Global

Teams Experience

Our team is primarily composed of students. We have several faculty and staff members that have

helped greatly with our past projects and continue to support us as we look for ways to continue

helping our Salvadoran friends.

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Thomas Zachariah, a Junior Electrical Engineering major with Emphasis in Computer

Engineering and minors in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, is our student leader and

was the project manager for the 2011 summer trip to El Salvador. He is an Eagle Scout and an

active leader in the Engineers Without Borders Chapter at LMU. He has had previous experience in

organizing large-scale service projects and in working on water-related engineering strategies. He

also researches future climate change impacts via climate model analysis with Nobel Laureate

Jeremy Pal of the LMU Civil Engineering Department. Mr. Zachariah will be participating in the

February 2012 IC trip.

Jennifer Rodriguez, a Junior Civil Engineering major with Mathematics minor is the co-

project manager and co-student leader along with Thomas Zachariah. After the spring 2011 IC trip

she spent two months during the summer of 2011 volunteering in Espirtu Santo Island as a Math

and English teacher. She communicated with residents of the island to ensure that they were in

accordance with the engineering project and delegation. She is also the main contact between LMU

and El Salvador. She will be leading the February 2012 IC trip.

Rachel Adams, an Environmental Engineering Professor at LMU brought to our attention

the World Water Forum grant. As our faculty advisor, she has met with our student leaders to

ensure that we are approaching this project from an appropriate engineering perspective and in a

professional manner.

Herbert Medina is a Mathematics Professor at LMU. He is a native of El Salvador, knows

the country very well and is fluent in Spanish. Most of our students have a connection to him as we

have taken him for a class or two at LMU. The summer 2011 delegation of students approached him

in hopes of having him be the faculty advisor on the trip representing LMU’s commitment to the

students and El Salvador. Without hesitation, he agreed to accompany the group and worked side-

by-side with the students as they worked on installing the pump and the necessary piping for the

school. Prof. Medina has supported our group also by finding sources of funding and participating

in meetings in which we strategize how we will accomplish our goal of bringing clean water to the

island

Wesley Walker, an LMU Mechanical Engineering graduate (Class of 2011) worked closely

with our co-leaders and has been a member of Engineers Without Borders Chapter at LMU. He is

not only involved in the El Salvador project but he also helped with the EWB project in Malawi.

His experience in the engineering field, the fact that he had already taken many of the classes our

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younger members have yet to take, helped us be practical in our project and not commit to

something we could not accomplish during the summer.

Marty Roers is a Campus Minister who led the first LMU delegation to El Salvador. He is a

great resource as is extremely knowledgeable about the Salvadoran people and culture. He has close

ties to the people in that country due to his own service abroad. It was Mr. Roers who originally

proposed the idea of starting a project in El Salvador to the engineering students traveling on the IC

trip in the spring of 2011. He has continually encouraged and supported those students ever since.

His role is to provide assistance and counsel to the group, by motivating students to continue their

work in solidarity and providing an opinion, not only from an engineering standpoint but from a

personal standpoint keeping in mind that we do not have all the answers, but are working together

with the Salvadoran community. He will be accompanying the students on the 2012 IC trip.

Cristy Ayala is the Delegations Coordinator at CIS. Ms. Ayala, like Marty, has been a

supporter of our project and students since day one. Ms. Ayala has encouraged the students to

continue their work with the Salvadoran people, but reminds us that our education is important and

we are students first. She hosted our student, Jennifer Rodriguez, during her summer service and

continues to be our main contact with the community in El Salvador. Her role is to provide

logistical accommodations (housing, transportation, dining and emergency arrangements) for our

group. She also knows the local businesses where we can purchase supplies for our trip to the

island, and is able to answer any questions we may have about El Salvador and its people. She is

our main source of information since communication with her is more accessible than with the

people of the island.

Luis Aguillon is the Coordinator of the CIS Clean Water Campaign. He has years of

experience as a community organizer and has been participating in national campaigns in El

Salvador for water rights that are in danger of being privatized and made inaccessible to the poor

majority. In addition, he serves as CIS’ Clean Water Coordinator and has developed training

manuals and methodology to work with communities in El Salvador to use filters correctly, to raise

awareness about environmental protection, defending water as a human right, and how to maintain

good health by drinking only from purified water sources taking into account local culture. Mr.

Aguillon also trains community representatives on how to conduct follow-up work to strengthen the

local organizational capacity.

Martha Perez is the woman in charge of the Women’s cooperative on the island. She

oversees the candy making business, participates in the CIS workshops off the island and relays

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back this information to the women who often times do not have the resources to leave the island to

attend the workshops. Mrs. Perez is the main contact we have on the island. She coordinates with

CIS and LMU to make sure delegations have an agenda that incorporates hands on solidarity work

with the women on the island enabling the delegations to take away as much from the experience as

they can.

Juan David Llanos is a Sophomore Mechanical Engineering major he has experience

working in large and small teams as well as helping accomplish a service project under LMU’s

resources. He can convey messages effectively to other team members as well as project

beneficiaries and is fluent in Spanish. David has some experience in mapping terrain if it will be

used as a guide to add additional piping. He belongs to two different clubs at LMU, for which he is

treasurer. If needed, he can provide guidance in managing a budget.

Leonard Turcios is a Sophomore Computer Engineering and Applied Mathematics double

major. He is an active member of Engineers Without Borders and Math Club, the vice president of

the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and an athlete on the NCAA men’s crew team. He

has displayed great resolve in his roles both as a team player and a leader. He was a member of the

group that traveled to El Salvador during the 2011 summer trip. He is fluent in Spanish.

Esmeralda Villalpando, Mathematics major, travels to Mexico on De Colores trips with

LMU and is fluent in Spanish. De Colores is Campus Ministry’s weekend service and immersion

trip to Tijuana, Mexico run by the aforementioned Marty Roers. There she works alongside other

LMU students and the people of Tijuana on several construction projects such as building homes,

schools, and other community buildings. She also holds leadership positions on several clubs on

campus including Society of Hispanic Engineers and Math Club. She will also be participating on

the Spring 2012 IC trip to El Salvador.

Mara Luevano, Environmental Engineering major and Environmental Studies Minor, is the

Associated Students of LMU’s Director of Environmental Responsibility, where she spreads

environmental awareness and activism on-campus. She has traveled abroad on several

environmental service and immersion trips. She has also been the president of Society of Hispanic

Professional Engineers since 2010, where she works to empower Hispanic students in the STEM

fields, as well as promote the El Salvador project.

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Schedule

1. November

a. Continue plans for UV water filter installation

b. Work on plans to bring water hookup to Women’s Center

c. Continue fundraising/working on grants

2. December

a. Continue fundraising/working on grants

b. Continue plans for filter and women’s center

c. Research possible solutions for education/pollution/purification

3. January

a. Finalize plans for filter and women’s center

b. Make plans for further research, samples, data taking, etc.

c. Continue fundraising/working on grants

d. Purchase Sawyer filters

e. Finalize travel plans, logistical plans, survey for the island

f. Create budget

4. February

a. Finalize all plans

b. Ignacio Companions Trip: February 24-March 5

c. February 27: distribute sawyer filters during a water workshop, install UV filter at

the school

d. February 28: filter follow-up, conduct survey, run UV filter, do workshop at school

e. February 29: final assessment, answer any questions and make sure community

knows how to properly care for filters

f. Go over research, assessment, samples, data, etc.

5. March 5 and on

a. Complete report on trip

b. Follow up with CIS- Luis, Cristy and the island

c. Analyze data

d. Discuss plans for next trip-educational workshops, more filters

e. Continue fundraising/grants

6. April

a. Begin plans/research for next trip

b. Follow up with CIS

c. Plans to get women’s center up to code

d. Make a schedule for the summer trip and run it by with Cristy, Marty and Herbert

e. Continue fundraising

7. May/June

a. Continue plans-make necessary changes

b. Finalize educational plan

c. Make travel/logistics plans by May 31st

d. Continue Fundraising

8. July/August

a. Finalize all plans and run through schedule with Cristy- July 16

b. Travel-August 13-19th : in this trip we will distribute more filters, continue the water

workshops, provide support for the water group on the island, visit the school and

have workshops for them, check up on the previously installed system, talk to the

community and see what needs we have met and have yet to meet.

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F. PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM

Name Title/Organization Address Phone & Email

1 Thomas Zachariah LMU Student

Project Manager

22325 Napa St.

West Hills, CA 91304

818-635-5355

tzachar1@lion.lmu.edu

2 Jennifer Rodriguez LMU Student

Project Manager

3355 Roseview Ave.

L.A., CA 90065

323-327-8088

jrodri76@lion.lmu.edu

3 Rachel Adams LMU Faculty

Project Manager

310-338-5186

radams@lmu.edu

4 Herbert Medina LMU Faculty

Advisor

herbert.medina@lmu.edu

5 Wesley Walker LMU Project

Advisor

wwalker4@lion.lmu.edu

6 Marty Roers LMU Minister/IC

Advisor

marty.roers@lmu.edu

7 Cristy Ayala CIS Delegations

Coordinator

Ave. Aguilares y Ave.

Bolivar #103

Colonia Libertad

San Salvador, El Salvador

503-2226-5362

delegaciones@cis-elsalvador.org

8 Luis Aguillon CIS Clean Water

Advocate

9 Martha Perez El Espiritu Santo

Women’s

Cooperative Head

10 Juan David Llanos LMU Student

Project Member

jd.llanos@hotmail.com

11 Leonard Turcios LMU Student

Project Member

l_64spartan@hotmail.com

12 Esmeralda Villalpando LMU Student

Project Member

eevee91@hotmail.com

13 Mara Luevano LMU Student

Project Member

mluevan5@lion.lmu.edu

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APPENDIX A – Letter from Executive Director of Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (CIS)