torres
For spring break, Israel Torres (Northeast Magnet, 2024), traveled to the rural community of Azacilo, Bolivia, with Wichita State University’s Engineers Without Borders chapter. He was joined by three other student members, faculty advisor Dr. Jacob Mendez, and the Responsible Engineer in Charge, Dwight Hanson. Their goal was to gather data required to formulate a sustainable, long-term solution to improve community access to safe drinking water, especially during the dry seasons.
Israel worked closely with community members to assess the existing water system. This process involved testing water in every home, taking flow measurements, mapping the infrastructure with GPS, and identifying potential improvements to improve water reliability. He also worked with the community to better understand their needs and priorities moving forward.
“𝐵𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑇𝑟𝑖𝑝 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑇𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝐵𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑎 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒, 𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑂’𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑦 𝐹𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑊𝐵 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑡 𝑊𝑆𝑈 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑟.”
