WHY WATER?

Today, 1 billion people live without clean drinking water. Areas that are particularly in water crisis include developing regions of Sub-Saharan Africa*. This is also the location of Naluja, Zambia.

Perhaps more concerning is the fact that, when the people have access to water, it is often unsanitary. Diseases from this unsafe water kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war*.  Children are especially vulnerable to these diseases, as their bodies aren't strong enough to fight diarrhea, dysentery and other illnesses. 

Every 19 seconds a mother loses a baby to a water related disease*.  Nevertheless, the WHO reports that over 3.6% of the global disease burden can be prevented simply by improving water supply, sanitation, and hygiene*. 

A Catalyst For Change

Economy

According to the United Nations World Water Development Report, every $1 invested in improved water supply and sanitation can yield from $4 to $12 for the local economy, depending on the type of project*.

Margaret Catley-Carlson, the Vice-Chair of the World Economic Forum, also notes that "water is an astonishingly complex and subtle force in an economy. It is the single constraint on the expansion of every city, and bankers and corporate executives have cited it as the only natural limit to economic growth."

Gender EQuality

In Naluja, women and children are usually burdened with water collection — a task that, on average, requires a 5 kilometer journey.

This time-consuming journey is often not only dangerous and demanding, but it consumes valuable time that women and children could spend learning to read and write, to improve household income, and to care for family. Too frequently, the water — that was so taxingly collected — is also of poor quality and likely to cause disease. 

Moreover, this task of water collection is a daily one. In fact, Naluja currently has no storage system beyond the gallon-sized buckets used for transportation.

With safe water nearby, women and children are free to pursue new opportunities and improve their lives. In Naluja, women will even have new leadership opportunities as members of the new Water Committee that will over see current BioSand filters and the implementation of transportation devices.

WAter: A Holistic SOlution

WITH FOUR DIFFERENT WATER PROJECTS, EWB-BU IS WORKING TO IMPROVE WATER COMPREHENSIVELY addressing the role of water in all components of life in naluja from accessibility to transportability,  drinkability to hygienic uses. our current focus is the rainwater harvesting project
EWB-BU is working to provide improved water accessibility to the Nalujan community - even during the dry season - by repairing a solar-powered pump system near the clinic and by further investigating drilling a well. As of 2017, this project has transformed into the Rainwater Harvesting Project.
The chapter hopes to introduce this simple technology in order to encourage construction of similar systems by the community. It will make clean water accessible to school children so , reduce cases of water-borne diseases and help improve attendance vital to a proper education.
Since August 2014, EWB-BU has developed and monitored biosand filtration devices in Naluja, designed to be locally affordable and resourced,  as well as efficient in naturally sanitizing contaminated water. As of 2017, this project has been successfully implemented and is in its monitoring phase.
Given that safe-drinking water sources are few and far apart, community members journey several kilometers daily to acquire water. EWB-BU is searching for a more efficient means of acquiring safe water, by reducing the time of transport, and by alleviating the physical stress. As of 2017, this project has transformed into the Rainwater Harvesting Project
The Boston University Student Chapter of EWB is an officially recognized chapter of Engineers Without Borders-USA
and an officially recognized student group under the Boston University Student Activities Office. 
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