The Yale Student Chapter of Engineers Without Borders chose a similar, but much larger undertaking for our second project.

The community of Kikoo, Cameroon has historically obtained water from polluted streams. These streams lie at the bottom of large valleys, where they are susceptible to various forms of contamination.  Stomach illness and dysentery are some of the biggest health problems the community faces.   

During the dry season, some families boil their water to purify it, using precious resources for fuel.   During the rainy season villagers collect clean rain water from their roofs.  Neither of these solutions provides sustainable sources of clean water for the community.

The proposed solution is a gravity fed water distribution system.  The system will feature a sealed spring water catchment box that will ensure a sustainable and uncontaminated source of water.  A network of pipes will distribute the water to fourteen public standpipes, located throughout the community.  Approximately seven kilometers of pipe will be needed to reach the entire village.  Additionally, a ten square meter tank will be constructed for storage.  Other goals include protecting the catchment area, as well as education about water conservation and sanitation. 

The community has taken an active role in bringing their project to fruition.  As of October, 2006 they have excavated the catchment area and constructed a spring box.  They have formed a village water committee to oversee the project, as well as begun to stockpile necessary materials. 

The Yale Student Chapter of Engineers Without Borders is excited to partner with the community of Kikoo and begin work on the design and implementation of the remainder of the system.  EWB-YSC will provide technical, as well as monetary assistance.  We will oversee the completion of the project over the coming year.  This includes design and construction of the storage tank and the distribution system. 

EWB-YSC made the first assessment trip in January, 2007.  A four member team traveled to the community of Kikoo to collect information necessary for the continued work on the project design. Since then we have created extensive maps of the proposed distribution system based on gps tracks and waypoints gathered from the asssesment trip. We have also worked extensively on various hydraulic issues that have arisen due to extremely flat and steep terrain, using surveying data collected during the assesment trip.

Because this project is such a large undertaking, we have broken it down into various phases. We hope to implement phase 1 of our project in the summer of 2007.  

Our previous project in El Rosario, Honduras was 100 percent supported by tax-deductible gifts. 
To accomplish phase 1 of our project in Kikoo we need to raise nearly $40,000.  

Please consider contributing.  Any support would be greatly appreciated by EWB-YSC as well as the community of Kikoo!