SSC Services expects a newly renovated irrigation system will save the university about 80,000 gallons of water annually. While the savings will be more environmental than financial, company representatives say they are conceptually "reinvesting" those savings by awarding six Texas A&M System students $1,950 scholarships to build wells in underdeveloped areas of the world.
Crawford said the system is installed but is still being calibrated.
But Crawford said the idea is to lead by example.
The scholarships to send A&M students to El Salvador were established in this same spirit of giving Aggies opportunities to practice the values they preach.
The group alternated between drilling for the well and teaching a class on subjects such as how to avoid germs and having a healthy diet.
She said residents of the El Salvadoran village the A&M students visited had been without a well since the previous one was overwhelmed by a flood eight years ago. With no running water and a contaminated well, Bourey said many residents got their water from rainwater collections and pools of water that accumulated near a river.
"These pools are open, they are right on the side of the road, they are open to anything drinking out of them — a lot of the dogs that were in the village would drink out of them."