June, 2007 - Newsletter and Meeting Notice
Next General Chapter Meeting: Our next chapter will meeting will be Wednesday, June 13th at 7:00p at Rice University in Room 253 of the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory, which is Building 46 on the map. Agenda: 7:00 to 7:30 pm: Chapter updates 7:30 to 7:45 pm: Jose Moreira and Brian Davis will present their trip finalizing EWB-CH projects in Colonia Esmeralda, El Salvador. 7:45 to 8:30 pm: Project Breakout Sessions UPCOMING EVENTS June 23rd: EWB Training Workshop Series - Public Health and Conducting Health Surveys July 11th: General Chapter Meeting July 14th: EWB Training Workshop Series - Project Management July 19th: EWB Professional Development Seminar - Urban Issues August 6th-9th: EWB will be participating in the AAS Third International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology UPCOMING TRAVEL June 22nd-August: India: Water station implementation in partnership with Southern Methodist University EWB chapter. July 26th-August 5th: Bolivia: Health Survey and water project assessment trip PUBLIC HEALTH WORKSHOP Our public health workshop will be held on Saturday, June 23rd at Rice University in Room 102 of Keck Hall, which is Building 35 on the map. The schedule of the workshop is: 9:00 - 9:40am - The Impact of Improved Water on the Health of Communities (10 min break) 9:50 - 10:30am - Measuring the Health of Communities: Data & Analysis (15 min break) 10:45 - 11:30 min - Conducting a Community Health Survey PROFESSIONALS NEEDED One of the primary goals of the EWB-USA South Central Region is to establish a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), which reviews EWB projects. The TAC meets every month by teleconference, and views presentations by both student and professional chapters. They are the ones to approve or decline project implementations.  The time commitment is approximately 5 hours/month. We are actively seeking more professionals to get involved in this role. Professionals should be qualified in a relevant field of engineering or development work (water, sanitation, electrical, geotechnical, structural, mechanical, medical, cultural, etc.). If interested, please contact Christine Chang (christine.t.chang@gmail.com) or Russ Ehlinger (russ.ehlinger@rice.edu), our regional VPs. STUDENT MENTOR NEEDED EWB-Texas A&M University is searching for a professional mentor for their project in Transmara, Kenya. They are looking for professional mentors with experience with water systems, construction, and/or sanitation for the project.  Project Mvua wishes to increase potable water supply to 330 children and extending family members at Oloosinon Primary School by making water available to them in both the rainy and dry seasons.  This project most likely involves a rainwater catchment system, although they are also looking at alternatives for when this system will not be sufficient in the dry season. They have had trouble finding professional mentors in College Station, and would love to pair up with a mentor in the region to help.  If anyone is interested or has any questions, please e-mail Meg at megfdavis@gmail.com . LEADERSHIP TRANSITION The role of vice-president will also be transitioning this June. Jose Moreira, one of the most active members of our El Salvador Phase 1 and 2 teams, will be our new Vice President. Please support Jose in his new role!
	INDIA The India project team made its presentation to the EWB-USA Technical Advisory Committee last week and their design has been approved. They will begin their implementation trip on June 22nd and they intend to begin construction of the water stations during this trip. The team is sponsoring a student intern for the project. Bryan Shnider, an electrical engineering student from the newly formed Southern Methodist University EWB chapter in Dallas will be traveling along with AnnMarie Spexet and Christian Uehara to work on the project implementation. For more information on the India projects, please contact the project managers AnnMarie Spexet, PE (aspexet@gmail.com) or Guo-Pin Fuan, PE (gpfuan1@sbcglobal.net). BOLIVIA The Bolivia project is now preparing an implementation trip for late July - early August. The main goal of this implementation trip will be to conduct health surveys in order to establish a baseline for impact of the water project. Another trip objective is to establish a deeper commitment with the communities by providing them an opportunity to comment on the proposed design and become invested in the project goals. The team will spend time prior to and during the trip on improving the geological information on the area before beginning the drilling portion of the project. As always volunteers, especially those with water well drilling experience are always welcome on the project team. Please contact project team leader Marcos Flores ( Marcos Flores@chevron.com) with any questions. BOLIVIA - GPS UNITS NEEDED The Bolivia project team is looking for additional GPS units for their upcoming assessment trip to Cochabamba this summer. They will need the units from July 26th to August 5th. If you are able to lend your GPS, please contact project team leader Marcos Flores ( Marcos Flores@chevron.com) EL SALVADOR The Tiembla Tierra and Santa Carlota sanitation project is underway. The team is planning a second assessment trip for late July. All of our documentation is available here. Email Erin Lyons (erinklyons@gmail.com) and Sara Beck (sbeck@ewbhouston.org) if you're interested in participating. NICARAGUA Three EWB-Central Houston members traveled down to Nicaragua two weeks ago to supply water and power to a health clinic that was designed by the EWB-Rice University chapter and is currently being constructed by them with help from the community. Unfortunately, seasonal rains have delayed building construction so they were not able to wire the building or complete the rainwater catchment system. Once the construction is finished, members of the community and local contractors can complete the project. EWB-CH members may also travel on a second implementation trip later this summer. DONATE! Like all EWB projects, our projects are completely financed by donations. All donations are tax deductible. You may contribute mail or use the internet at your convenience. To donate by internet, go here. To donate by check or money order: Address to EWB-USA, but write “Central Houston Professionals” in the memo field. Send your donation to: Engineers without Borders – USA 1881 Lefthand Circle, Suite A-1 Longmont, Colorado 80501
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