Purdue's Engineers Without Boards wins Boeing Co award for water system

Engineers Without Borders Logo
Purdue University's Engineers Without Borders-USA chapter has been selected for an award from The Boeing Co. for developing a drinking water system at a spring for residents in the village of Papachacra in Bolivia. The chapter received a $10,000 grant from Boeing.

Students in the chapter will travel to Bolivia next summer to work on improvements to the potable water supply. The students have been working on the project for more than two years to help residents in Papachacra, a village of about 120 families located in the mountains. The Boeing grant will fund materials. The design plan involves an array of basins fed by an as-yet unused spring, and students estimate that the planned improvements will increase the water supply by 50 percent. The student chapter of EWB-USA is committed to using the problem solving skills of its participants to enrich the educational and pre-professional experience of its members while promoting community development, both locally and abroad. The Purdue chapter is one of more than 250 chapters, including university chapters on 180 campuses in the United States. Information about the chapter is available at https://engineering.purdue.edu/EWB/Contact