Engineers Without Borders

In the Dominican Republic we are working on a water distribution system in Cruce de Blanco.

Students analyze results of a water test

Since 2006, EWB-CWRU has been working in partnership with La Federación de Campesinos Hacia El Progreso (The Federation of Farmers Towards Progress) in Cruce de Blanco, a community deep in the mountains of the Dominican Republic. In 2008, a dirt road was cut on the ridge close to the water system. The sediment that eroded from the road ruined the quality of both the system and the water. The goal of this project is to implement a sustainable water distribution, treatment and storage system for the small community of approximately 900 people in Cruce de Blanco. This designed system includes PVC piping, a break pressure tank with treatment consisting of a sedimentation tank, filtration tank, and storage tank.

I wanted to be able to apply what I learn in the classroom in a real-life setting.

Christopher Heermann, Civil Engineering 2022