Early in Summer of 2009, a team of nine students and
Civil Engineering professor Dr. Michael Horst, traveled to the Phrao district of northwestern Thailand to implement a sustainable water system in a small village. Warm Heart Worldwide (WHW), a nonprofit organization headquartered in Thailand, made it their goal to give these children both a safe place to live and continued education. The village currently consists of separate boys and girls dormitory buildings with an accompanying kitchen and bathhouse. In the future, an enterprise training center will be built to teach trades which will promote economic growth in the surrounding community.
TCNJ’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) worked with WHW to design and build a sustainable water system that would provide the village with clean drinking water. The design chosen had three components: a deep water well, elevated storage tanks, and a solar powered pump. Prior to their arrival in Thailand, a local contractor drilled a well on site and erected a storage tower with tanks. Upon arrival, the implementation team assessed current conditions and proceeded to install a submersible pump as well as four solar panels. The self sustainable solar power source would ensure a constant supply of water at a cost of nothing to people who are already poor enough. Upon completion of construction, the pump was turned on and water samples were tested for various chemical properties. The water proved adequate for drinking after being run through a simple sediment filter. Now clean water for drinking, cooking, and bathing is as accessible to this village as it is to us.
The team would not have been successful if not for the financial and educational support of many people. Many thanks to: Chip Sanders and Tom Herbster, for their generous donation of our pumping equipment (without which the project could not have been completed!) as well as their technical expertise; Mickey Ingles and the rest of the World Water and Solar team for their expertise and helpful suggestions both before and during the trip; and Dr. Carol Bresnahan and The College of New Jersey for their financial support of the project and assistance with pre-travel requirements!
