Background

Our largest project is in the community of Sabana Larga, which is nestled into the mountains in Northern Nicaragua, near the La Trinidad municipality. A large portion of the community’s 300 residents lack access to drinking water, and families have to walk up to a mile each way to retrieve water for the day. 20 years ago, a water infrastructure project was implemented in the village; after 10 years, the source dried out and the system continued to break, leaving many homes further out from the expanding village’s center or at higher elevations without water. Over the past 10 years, the problem has escalated; children miss school, parents spend time away from family, and farmers work less to spend time retrieving water.

This community partnership was established spring of 2021. Since, we have worked with EWB’s Country Field Office in Nicaragua to complete a full assessment trip and collect a variety of data. Using this, we have formally proposed three alternative solutions and are now starting the design phase. We plan to travel to Nicaragua to implement the first phase of the project in the Winter of 2022.

This project has four main design components:

-Water Treatment

-Supply Pipeline

-Storage Tank

-In-House Tap Development

Goals

• Sustained Communication with Nicaragua Country Office
• Submit Pre-Implementation Document
• Finalize Pipeline Design (Calculations and Costs)

Accomplishments

• Completed assessment trip and data collection
• Proposal of Alternative Solution Options
• Establishment of professional partnerships to support members

Partnerships

This is a large project; we are fortunate enough to partner with the University of Alabama – Huntsville EWB Chapter, the Huntsville Professional EWB Chapter, Dr. Alan Bowers and other professors, and even Professional Engineers working both in the consulting industry and for EWB.