Engineers Week this month: EWB is ASME's legacy project

Emily Smith
ASME NEWS

With engineers around the world celebrating Engineers Week, February 20–26, and others trying to figure out ways to protect against devastating natural disasters such as the tsunami, ASME's EWeek legacy project has become even more meaningful.

Last year, ASME partnered with Engineers Without Borders to organize teams of student and working members, acting as mentors, to work on projects around the globe. As the lead society in EWeek 2005, ASME designated its work with EWB as its EWeek legacy project.

Last month, a team from the University of New Hampshire wrapped up a three-phase project to bring drinking and irrigation water to an agricultural tribe of people living in the hills of northern Thailand. Another ASME partner, BP, contributed funds to cover transportation costs. A video team led by ASME Public Information also was on hand to film the work as part of a documentary that's being done on engineering efforts organized through Engineers Without Borders.

Ben Nichols, an ASME student member at UNH who traveled to Thailand last month to work on the project (see "EWB experience leaves a lasting impression" in November 2004), reported in an e-mail that three new bridges were built for transporting water across ravines. His team also installed a new pipeline directly to the village for irrigation, home and bathroom use, and conducted tests on the drinking water system. All tests for bacteria, nitrates and nitrites were negative.

"The villagers now have about 10 times the irrigation water they used to, which means they don't have to pay people to pump water to their agriculture fields," Nichols wrote in the e-mail. "Needless to say, they were very happy to have us."

 

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