The work is a project of Water Engineers for the Americas (WEFTA), a nonprofit founded in Santa Fe to provide safe drinking water and sanitation to countries in Latin America.
Robertson, 46, and Harrington, 58, both Albuquerque residents and both fluent in Spanish, are volunteers with Water Engineers for the Americas (WEFTA), a nonprofit founded in 2002 by a group of engineers and professionals at Souder, Miller and Associates (SMA), an engineering firm with headquarters in Santa Fe.
“In developing countries, water can mean the difference between life and death,” said Peter Fant of Santa Fe, CEO of SMA, a founder of WEFTA and president of the WEFTA board.
“Forty percent of hospitals in developing countries lack access to water and sanitation.
But WEFTA volunteers don’t just come from SMA.
They come from everywhere there are people who have the heart to help others.
” Now, more than 50 volunteers work on WEFTA projects in Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and Peru.
⋄ Scott Rogers, 61, of Bountiful, Utah, WEFTA board vice president and president of a Utah civil engineering firm, who has worked with WEFTA projects in Bolivia and Peru.
“There are many organizations that do what we do – Engineers Without Borders, Water for People – but they are so big,” he said.
Robertson talks about a column of 100 people with shovels, spaced 30 feet apart, digging trenches for pipelines in Honduras.