In December, members of S&T’s student chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) completed a decade-long effort to provide clean drinking water to the people of Nahualate, Guatemala.

The trip was a follow-up to an August visit, when the team finished one of the largest projects in the EWB chapter’s history — a water distribution system that includes a 430-foot well, a 15,000-gallon storage tank, a chlorination system and 8 miles of distribution pipe. During the December trip, the students performed final inspections and recommended maintenance and operations to community members.

The team also established a new partnership with the community of Paraje Xecaxjoj, which needs a school for its children. The project will include a rainwater diversion system and a school building for kindergarten through sixth grade, complete with a kitchen. The team collected data from topographical surveys and soil strength and consistency data.

In November, another EWB team from Missouri S&T visited the Amazon jungle of Puerto Pando, Bolivia, to continue earlier work to provide access to safe drinking water.

The project includes the implementation of a 200-foot-long pipeline suspension bridge and water distribution system. The group also surveyed the land surrounding the community in preparation for the project’s next phase — treatment of water from a local spring.