The chapter has been and is currently involved in projects internationally, nationally, and locally.

 While our primary project is currently the irrigation canal in Maesera Kilema, Tanzania we are currently partnering with East Chicago Central High School in their work with the Mandaka Demonstration Primary School near Maesera.

Current Projects:

Maesera Irrigation Canal:

The current primary international project of the chapter is the rehabilitation of an irrigation canal in the village of Maesera, Moshi Rural District, Tanzania. The canal is approximately 80 years old and is in need of major repair, as portions of the canal have eroded to the point of threatening the agricultural and domestic water supply of the village. The chapter is currently providing technical expertise relating to the repair of the canal's junctions, as well as educating villagers on how to better maintain their canal by demonstrating common repair work such as concrete hole patching and erosion control. Click here to learn more...

Past Projects:

EWB-Valpo Kenya Project (2004-2008)

For decades, the community of Nakor, in the Turkana region of Northwestern Kenya, has been severely impacted by drought. Its drinking water supply had been primarily extracted from shallow, open wells and there was no long-term water storage for crop irrigation.

Gene Morden, M.A. in Agriculture, sponsored by Christian Missionary Fellowship International (CMF), brought this project to the attention of EWB-USA in 2003 through Mark Reiner, EWB-USA Director of Civil Resources. The project arose from the missionary work of Gene Morden and his family in this area of Kenya since the mid-1990s. Initially, CMF helped provide food assistance to the villagers.

EWB-Valpo made three visits to this area (2004, 2005 and 2006) installing eleven windmill-powered water systems with the help of the local Turkana villagers. The drip-line irrigation systems feed multiple community gardens which produce 4-5 crops each year and generate bartering material for the local villagers to acquire additional animals (primarily camels and goats and most recently, donkeys) and of other types of food grown elsewhere in the area.

The Morden family requested that EWB-Valpo return to this area in 2008, as the winds had virtually stopped during the daytime for the first time in recorded history, greatly compromising water production for drinking and crop irrigation. Also, several other windmills had become disabled due to broken or missing mechanical parts. EWB-Valpo decided to retro-fit several of the under-functioning units with solar pumps and panels. Additionally, the Chapter constructed a merry-go-round powered system that harnesses the power of children’s play to pump water for garden irrigation.

Follow this link to view EWB-Valpo's video from the Kenya Project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtW52ZgUQD4&NR=1

2010 Implementation/Assessment Trip (February 27, 2010 – March 13, 2010)

Accomplishments:

• Installed a gate-lifting mechanism onto an already existing steel gate at the canal intake structure.
• Installed adjustable gates and repaired the deteriorating concrete floor at the 2^nd and 3^rd canal junctions to facilitate the distribution of water throughout the village. *
• Repaired two breaches in the concrete wall of the upper portion of the canal
• Obtained elevations using differential surveying methods and cross-section dimensions at numerous points along the upper mile of the canal.
• Estimated flow rate value by obtaining water velocity measurements with the use of float rods.
• Obtained other engineering data to aid in the design of future canal implementation projects.
• Conducted an assessment of Junction 1.
• Conducted a preliminary assessment of the failing piped-water system.

 *  The gates were successfully installed by the EWB-VU chapter, but due to a lack of quality drill bits and surprisingly hard steel, all of the necessary holes for the adjustable gate design were not drilled.  The villagers completed this task within five weeks of EWB-VU’s departure.