Arada Vieja, El Salvador

Over winter break, a team of six Tufts EWB members traveled with Professor Durant to El Salvador to continue work in Arada Vieja. The team included seniors Jonathan Zack and Sara Jackson, juniors Russell Hyatt, Jon Gregorowicz, and Kate Siegel, and sophomore Lauren Morris. This group, representing engineers and community health majors, focused their efforts on the construction of a permanent lid for the spring box located at the beginning of the water system. Prior to lid construction, the spring box was open to the air and thus polluted with algae, bacteria, garbage, and insects. The lid was constructed with an L-shape design and built-in manhole that allows for easy access to the spring box for routine cleaning. In addition, a diversion ditch was dug around the spring box to prevent rainwater runoff from entering the system. The team focused heavily on health surveys, as a new health survey was formed during the fall semester that was more data oriented to better facilitate comparisons between trips. On the trip, the team also did multiple water quality tests, testing not only for bacteria, but iron, phosphates, nitrates, turbidity, and pH. The results were astounding. All three filters were fully working at reducing the bacteria count from over 50 counts of total coliform to 0 per milliliter of water. Future trips will focus on ensuring it will stay this way.