Imagine living in a home where water was only available five days per week. If more water was needed, then a one mile walk to the well was required to fetch it. The leaders of the village of San Juan de Concepcion, Nicaragua were incredibly grateful when they greeted the Seattle University team in December 2010. They gave speeches about how the project to replace the main water line for the town just outside of Managua had been four years in the making. Working with local engineer Raduan Dipp, the SU team was led by Steve Szablya, John Schrader and Johnny Llamas from Professionals Without Borders. They were joined by Seattle University students and civil engineering majors Mark Beggs (junior), Katie Rawson (senior) and Renee Vandermause (junior) and by Letitia Goodjoint an alumnae of the Albers School of Business MBA program.
Over 350 families in the village each agreed to dig at least four meters of length for the 1600 meter, 1.2 meter deep trench. The team also helped install a new 3-inch PVC pipe that connected a 302 meter deep well to the homes of approximately 1500 residents. “As we worked people would stop us on the road to thank us and said it was a great early Christmas present. I will always remember this experience and am already excited for the next Seattle University service project.” said Beggs. The project was sponsored by Starbucks, the SU College of Science and Engineering and by the Clean Water Foundation. See more photos here.