An International Rotary Water Project in Támara, Honduras

Rotary New York clubs are supporting a new project in Honduras researched, developed and engineered by the College of Engineering and the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University, Ithaca New York

The lack of safe drinking water has been the number-one cause for child illness and mortality worldwide.

There are estimated to be more than 1-billion people who don’t have access to safe water. Without clean water children are exposed to life threatening cases of diarrhea from the various pathogens commonly found in poorly treated water. From a recent lab report taken from one of the communities earmarked for an AguaClara treatment plant, the drinking water that the residents are using was found to be more than 100 times above the minimum accepted levels for safe drinking water in the U.S.

The many benefits of providing safe drinking water to a community are self evident. Not withstanding the reduction of gastrointestinal infections such as diarrhea, the need for communities to accept outside solutions, create pride of ownership and financially support a common cause for the good of its residents are attainable key goals.

3,500 people with a dirty water problem, and here’s the solution by early summer 2008 ………

Four Rotarians from the Northeast and Somers Clubs went to Támara to arrange for local support and participation

See a pictorial presentation of their trip >

Download the Powerpoint version >

Robert Herber, Rotarian from the Northeast Rotary Club, Monroe Weber-Shirk, engineer and project coordinator for Cornell, and the Mayor of Támara each take turns digging the foundation for the new water treatment plant

Rotary clubs are working with the College of Engineering and the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University to install a water treatment plant serving the town of Támara in Honduras to convert sediment and pathogen-contaminated surface water into safe drinking water serving 3,500 people.

Plant completion and clean water to serve the first community of 3,500 (650 families) is realistically attainable by early summer 2008. Additional villages/towns are also being explored to build on the success of this first project.

Cornell students, Rotarians and Tamarans worked together to lay the foundation for the treatment plant

Benefits of this Project

• No electricity required; electricity is costly and unreliable
• Can be operated and maintained by local people with low education levels, no complicated processes to be learned
• Can be built with local material readily available.
• All engineering plant design is provided free of charge by Cornell University
• All local labor is used, plus Cornell students and supervision
• Cheap and easy for the community to maintain,