UTEP Students Help Provide Clean Drinking Water to Haiti Community.
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Six undergraduate civil engineering students and their professor are making a difference overseas by helping to bring safe drinking water to hundreds of families in Haiti.
The UTEP students partnered with two Borderland companies to develop a solar-powered water system that’s going to benefit 500 people.
Ivonne Santiago, clinical professor of civil engineering, says the project was made possible through an anonymous donor from Tennessee.
According to Santiago, there’s no electricity in the community where the system will be installed, and the only source of water residents have is a nearby lake.
"The problem here is that the source of water is salty, it’s brackish, so it’s not safe for drinking.
So with reverse osmosis, what we do is filter out all the salts."
In 6-8 weeks, Santiago and her students will go install the equipment in Haiti.
"Civil engineering is a people-serving profession, so this is a prime example of how we can use our knowledge and our skills for the benefit of our community.
In this case, it’s an international community."