Projects
Current Project: Water Supply for Talle Batti, Cambodia
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.
Background
The community of Talle Batti is located in Southeast Cambodia, 80km 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, most of the residents speak Khmer, and the primary religion is Buddhism.
During the rainy season, April to November, the community uses rain buckets to store (often contaminated) water. During the dry season, clean water is 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 all failed within a year. The water was still contaminated, and the community lacked the knowledge and resources to fix mechanical problems. The picture to the right shows several children gathered around one of the failed pumps.
The Cambodia-Dutch Organization (CDO) is a non-profit group already working in the villiages to provide primary education and English classes. This organization submitted the applicaiton for technical water supply assistance to EWB-USA, allowing our chapter to be awarded the project. The CDO is an important partner as we move forward, as they are providing important cultural and logistics information about the villiages and act as translators during the assessment and implimentation visits.
The Next Steps
Our chapter has just completed our first assessment visit to Talle Batti and surrounding villages. During this visit the team 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 CDO. As there have been several failed attempts to improve the water supply in the past, it will be critical to establish a positive rapport and build trust within the community.
Now that the assessment is complete, the design phase has begun in earnest. The chapter is currently working to design a water system that will provide sufficient fresh water for the community year round, construct a plan for implementation, and raise the required funds. The goal is to complete the first implementation trip by the spring of 2011.