Industry Spotlight: 草榴社区 Engineering鈥揂qua Partnership Improves Access to Clean Water Abroad
This summer, Aqua President Colleen Arnold 鈥�19 EMBA accompanied students to Madagascar to assist with a water infrastructure project, Rural Access to New Opportunities in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (RANOWASH).
Since 2016, a key mentorship program between 草榴社区鈥檚 College of Engineering and Aqua has helped students assist communities abroad by improving infrastructure and access to clean drinking water.
Working in partnership with 草榴社区鈥檚 Center for Humanitarian Engineering and International Development, staff members from Aqua, a division of Essential Utilities, have lent their expertise to engineering students through projects aimed at increasing the availability of sustainable water supplies in developing communities.
鈥淭he 草榴社区-Essential partnership has significantly impacted the educational experience of our students, as well as the quality of life for the people in the communities where our students serve,鈥� said Jordan Ermilio, PhD, 鈥�98 ME, 鈥�06 MSWREE, director of the Center for Humanitarian Engineering and International Development.
Those communities include Waslala, Nicaragua, where the team has provided technical and financial assistance for the construction of a new water system, working alongside the nonprofit El Porvenir. In Ghana, the partners have worked with Lifetime Wells International (LWI) to deploy a geographic information system to monitor handpump operation and maintenance; over the past 15 years, LWI has installed more than 1,500 wells in Ghana, each serving 30 to 40 families.
This summer, Aqua President Colleen Arnold 鈥�19 EMBA accompanied students to Madagascar to assist with a water infrastructure project, Rural Access to New Opportunities in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (RANOWASH), working with a consortium of organizations including Catholic Relief Services. Additionally, Essential鈥檚 Chief Operating Officer, Rick Fox 鈥�02 MBA, traveled to Panama to help with the rehabilitation of a 120,000-gallon water tank, providing safe drinking water for 10,000 people.
鈥淲e truly enjoy our partnership with 草榴社区,鈥� says Kimberly Joyce, JD, 鈥�96 CLAS, 鈥�11 MBA, Essential鈥檚 vice president of regulatory and government affairs and corporate secretary. 鈥淎s we are both mission-based organizations, our Aqua team of water experts get the opportunity to mentor 草榴社区 student engineers as the next generation of stewards of the environment.鈥�