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For the past several years , the College of Engineering has led a
service learning trip to the central mountains of Nicaragua to evaluate
water resources in the region and incorporate it into projects n the
undergraduate senior design curriculum.
The groups task is to
identify potential water resource development projects in low-income
rural communities and build relationships with local partners and
organizations in Waslala, Nicaragua. The group also incorporates a
multidisciplinary engineering project that seeks to develop integrated
solutions for problems faced by the village in Nicaragua.
The annual spring break service trip to the
underprivileged communities in and around Waslala, Nicaragua continues
efforts between the native people and student design teams from the
Mechanical Engineering
department for
the design and installation of gravity-fed and photovoltaic-pumped water
distribution networks, and to improve water quality.
The Ever-Evolving Water for Waslala
Matt Nespoli, Nora Pillard (Reynolds), and seven other Villanova University
students first traveled to Waslala, Nicaragua in 2002 on a two-week
service trip. The group had learned about Waslala through the work of
another organization, Free the Children, which built 50 schools in
Waslala in the 1990s.
Matt, Nora, and the other students on the trip were deeply affected
by the poverty and lack of infrastructure in Waslala, as well as the
beauty and warmth of the people they visited.
During the trip, the Waslalan people indicated that their most urgent
need was to access clean drinking water. Matt and Nora returned home
convicted to find a way to end the Waslalan water crisis, and in 2004
created Water for Waslala (WfW) to do so.
Since its inception, WfW has provided nearly 3,000 Waslalans with the
clean drinking water they deserve – water that will last for a lifetime.
View the video and read more at the
Water for Waslala web site. |
