EWB

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Australia work with disadvantaged communities in Australia and Asia, to improve their quality of life through sustainable and appropriate engineering projects.

The Tenganan Water Supply Project is an example of EWB working to make it so communities have appropriate access to the resources, technology and knowledge necessary to meet their own self-identified needs.

Tenganan is a community of 4,000 people in the poor and dry region of eastern Bali, Indonesia. In each of the five sub-communities within Tenganan there are problems with the quantity and quality of clean water available to the community. During the dry season there is insufficient water for people to wash with every day often leading to skin disease. Most people spend several hours every day fetching water in these circumstances.

Identified by the Tenganan Community, the Tenganan Water Supply project is improving the quantity and quality of water delivered to the people living in the community. This is a unique development project in which the Tenganan people have identified their own needs and developed their own conceptual solution to the problem.

Many EWB volunteers have assisted in the design and implementation of this project. Currently, a water distribution pipeline has been commissioned, and EWB volunteers and community members are now working on increasing the amount of water entering the system.

Adequate water quantity and quality will have many positive outcomes for the community including:
•    Health improvements (especially in infants and children)
•    Increased community sanitation practices
•    Increased time available for women and children who no longer have to trek for two hours twice a day to fetch water, which means the kids can stay in school, and women are able to participate in income generating activities

Make it so

Engineers Australia is launching its ‘Make it so’ competition on February 16 where it is calling on all Australian’s to submit an idea that they would like to to be ‘made so’.

A winner will be selected each week and will win an Eee PC with the overall winning entry having their idea made so by a dedicated team of engineers.

To be in with a chance of winning log onto www.makeitso.org.au.