Students from both the Engineering School and the College are applying knowledge from the classroom to help a village in Cameroon obtain clean water.
Samantha Rowell, a fourth-year Engineering student and project leader, said she became interested in the cause when a guest speaker visited one of her classes last year.
The chief of Aghem, a village in the town of Wum, Cameroon, spoke to the class about the village's efforts to build a water purification system, Rowell said. With funding from Helvetas, an organization based in Switzerland, the villagers began the process of diverting water from a nearby stream and purifying it for everyday use. Unfortunately, the project came to a standstill in 2001 when the funds were exhausted.
In order to revive the project, Rowell said she enlisted the help of fourth-year Engineering student Christina Blum, third-year Engineering student Kelly Schumann, second-year College student Meredyth Gilmore and third-year College student Nellie Dunderdale.
The multidisciplinary group is currently working with Thomas Dunnells, a Charlottesville resident who was stationed in Cameroon as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1960s.
The project is still in the planning stages, Rowell said, but the goal is to finish the filtration system the villagers already started. In addition, the team plans to build a water distribution system for Aghem.
Rowell said she made a preliminary trip to Cameroon this past July to see the site firsthand.
During her week there, Rowell examined what work had already been completed and collected information for what remains to be done.
The group is also looking for funding for the project.
"At this point we are searching for funds," Dunnells said."We are anticipating the Charlottesville Rotary [Club] to participate in fundraising with us. That is the primary source we are working on at this point."
Dunderdale added that the group is also looking into possible sponsorships from engineering firms and grant proposals to raise funds.
Having lived in Cameroon, Dunderdale, a foreign affairs and anthropology major, brings a unique perspective to the project. She said the group is "looking at it not just in terms of the engineering design, but in terms of looking at how it is affecting the society."
The group is concerned with the economic repercussions of the project as well, she explained.
Dunderdale said initial estimates suggest the water purification project in this area of Cameroon could provide clean water for up to 50,000 people.
"It's neat to have something that you can tangibly do," Dunderdale said. "I'm personally passionate about people in the third world [countries] who don't have as much as we do"
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