Projects

CAMBIAR – Climate Adaptation in Mountain Basins in the Andean Region (Ancash, Peru)

With the highest density of tropical glaciers on the Earth, Peru is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change; only 2% of the country’s water resources are stored where 70% of the population resides. In recent decades, these sources of fresh water have become less dependable and many of the rural communities have experienced water shortages during the dry season. The impacts of these shortages have been felt most acutely by farmers and ranchers in the region who have noticed changes in crop yields and struggled to maintain adequate pasture land.  We have partnered with rural communities in the Ancash region of Peru to address imminent water and climate related adaptation issues.

During the 2016 Peru implementation trip, a few volunteers and villagers participated in making a video to help better explain the project:

Meetings:
Most Tuesdays 6:00 – 7:00 pm at House of Tutors
2400 Pearl St, Austin, TX 78705

Project Leads:
Sharon Heber and Camila Paez (peru@ewbgreateraustin.org)

Chacaya, Guatemala

The town of Chacayá, on the western shore of Lake Atitlán in Guatemala, currently confronts a significant public health risk. Historically the community of 1,000 Tz’tujil Mayans has drawn its drinking water directly from the lake, but the deterioration of the lake’s water quality has led to an increase in gastrointestinal infections. Complicating matters further, a series of massive cyanobacterial blooms on the lake beginning in 2009 have raised concerns about the community’s exposure to potentially deadly cyanotoxins. The community has requested new water supply project from the top of a volcano. We will be taking our first Assessment Trip in February 2015 to meet with stakeholders and collect information about current potable water situation.

Meetings:
Every other Friday 12:00 – 1:00 pm at the AECOM Office
9400 Amberglen Blvd # E, Austin, TX 78729, USA

You can also call into the meeting using this number below:
Teleconference: (844) 712-3247
Attendee access code: 594-165-670

https://aecom.webex.com/join/hoffmanm

 

Project Leads:
Mike Hoffman and Craig Holloway (chacaya@ewbgreateraustin.org)

Instrumentation Group

Currently working with Panama, Peru, and Guatemala to provide cost effective, simple, compact and contemporary solutions for the instrumentation needs of each project. Working to develop instruments using Open-source platform and a portal to share designs, fabrication methods and manuals.

Meetings:
Most Tuesdays 6:00 – 7:00 pm at House of Tutors
2400 Pearl St, Austin, TX 78705

Project Leads:
Robert L. Read and Brian Heligman (instrumentation@ewbgreateraustin.org)

 

Sieykin, Panama – Completed

Among the smallest and most impoverished indigenous groups in Panama, the Naso people number approximately 3,300 and are spread across eleven communities in the Bocas del Toro region of northwest Panama.  EWB-AUS has partnered with the community of Sieykin, which has a population of 400 people.  This project will support Naso self-sustenance through the improvement of their local infrastructure.

Through individual household interviews and community-wide meetings, we decided the principal objective of the project would be to reduce waterborne diseases by providing the community with potable drinking water, a reliable water distribution/storage system, health education, and eventually a safe sanitation infrastructure.

Jaboncillos Chicos, Mexico – Completed

Jaboncillos Chicos is a small community located in the Coahuila Desert, 25 miles south of Big Bend National Park. The community has limited access to clean water and had to truck in water from a nearby mountain spring. We have implemented a water distribution system involving underground piping and a solar-powered submersible pump that distributes potable water from the borehole to faucets at each home as well as to a storage tank. This was EWB-UT’s first completed project.

Mexico Computer Project – On Hold

EWB-AUS, in concert with the Rotary District 5840 Hunger Plus Committee of San Antonio, undertook a plan to install sustainable internet-enabled computers in the schools of several ejidos (rural communities) in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. These computers will help the students further their education and will be a source of information for the entire community. The prototype system was installed during January 2010 in the San Miguel ejido.  Unfortunately, due to the border violence, this project has been put on hold indefinitely.