In early 2023, Caltech's Engineers Without Borders (EWB) chapter announced their project to design a more resilient water supply system for Tandacato, a small rural community in Ecuador. The existing water supply system in Tandacato has experienced damage from landslides and heavy rainfall, resulting in unreliable access to clean water. Following a visit to the area this past summer, Caltech's EWB chapter has gained valuable insights into the conditions of the current water supply system and have officially signed a partnership agreement to design a new and improved system for the people of Tandacato.
Coordinated with the EWB-Ecuador office and local community partners, the trip to Ecuador consisted of two components: assess the physical condition of the current water supply system and interview members of the community to receive feedback on what they want in a new system.
"We saw areas where the water pipes were damaged and we tested the water quality of the sources," says Riya Shrivastava, a fourth-year undergraduate and EWB-Caltech co-president. "We got a feel for the water system as well as the whole geographic area in general."
During the on-site assessment of the water supply system, the EWB-Caltech chapter discovered that the damage caused by landslides exceeded initial expectations. Notably, a large ravine was created in the space that once held critical infrastructure such as a water catchment box and retaining wall. Despite an abundant supply of water from the rainforest groundwater, the mechanisms responsible for capturing and delivering water to the village are either partially damaged or entirely buried.
"Before we went on the trip, we thought the project only entailed finding a new water source and designing a solution to direct that water to the community," says Sravani Boggaram, a fellow fourth-year undergraduate and EWB-Caltech co-president. "But after going on the trip, we found that the scope was a lot larger than only figuring out where to get the water from."
This expanded scope entails installing more pipes underground and building additional retaining walls to protect against future landslides. Also, the current water supply system suffers from frequent breakdowns of the aging pipes, which have been in use for 30 years and lie beneath busy roads. To address this problem, the EWB-Caltech team not only needs to add more pipes but must also replace older pipes while devising strategies to reroute them away from the roads.
"There's also an issue of storage; they don't have enough," Boggaram says. "They have three storage tanks right now, but it's not enough for their growing population, and this project seeks to support them for the next 20 years at least." The addition of a fourth storage tank will ensure water drawn from the ground does not get wasted and will move the project closer to achieving its goal of delivering 80 liters of water per person per day.
