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Our chapter just completed our first assessment visit to the three villiages. During this visit the team visited the three villages in the community, verified the current conditions, determined the best engineering design and materials for the evironment, and evaluated the cost of project completion. The team also worked to establish a strong personal connection to the community and the Cambodia Dutch Organization. Since there have been several failed attempts to fix the water supply problem in the past, it will be critical to establish a possitive repore and build trust within the community Now that the on-site assessment has been completed, the team will work with the entire chapter to design a water system that will work for the community, construct a plan for implementation, and concentrate on raising the required funds. The goal is to complete the project by the spring of 2010. Making this project a success: Our chapter is dedicated to ensuring this project succeeds and has assembled a team of highly qualified engineers. But we also need financial support to make the project a reality. If you would like to help us reach our fundraising goals please click below. This will take you to a secure EWB-USA page that will allow you to make a tax-deductible donate directly to our chapter. Thank you for your generosity! If you are part of a larger company, which may want to be a corporate sponsor, please see our corporate sponsor page or email us directly at ewbhr@yahoo.com. | ||
Our chapter is excited to anounce we have officially begun our first project for the Talle Batti community in Cambodia (pictured left). The community of Talle Batti suffers from a multitude of health problems, including high child mortality, stemming from the lack of clean water. Our chapter is looking forward to using sustaiable engineering designs to solve this problem, and providing the education required to maintain the system and complete basic repairs if necessary. This holistic approch will not only directly affect the health of the community but make the community viable for years to come.
The community of Talle Batti is located in South East Cambodia and is 80 km South of Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh. It consists of three villages: Phum Muen Prosjan, Phum Pharet, and Phum Dawndog, and is home to approximately 3,500 people. The primary occupation of the community is rice farming and most of the residents are Khmer and Buddhists.
During the rainy season (April to November) the community uses rain buckets to store water, but unfortunately this water is still contaminated. During the dry season, clean water is often even harder to find and many families resort to collecting dirty water from ditches and small ponds. There have been some attempts in the past to install water pumps and filters but within a year the pumps failed, the water was still contaminated, and the community lacked the knowledge and resources to fix the problems. The picture above shows several children gathered around one of the failed pumps.
The Cambodia-Dutch Organization is a non-profit group already working in the villiages to provide primary eduaction and English classes. This organization worked with the villiage to submit the applicaiton for technical water supply assistance to EWB-USA, making it possible for our chapter to be awarded this project. The Cambodia-Dutch Organization is an important partner as we move forward, as they are already providing important cultrual and logistics information about the villiages and will serve as translators during the assessment and implimentation visits.
