Newswise — Atima, HONDURAS – In a few months, nearly every home in this modest Honduras hilltop town will have safe, clean drinking water, thanks to a water treatment plant principally designed by Cornell engineering students.
The Atima plant, under construction, is the eighth project of AguaClara, Cornell's international small-scale water treatment design team that has been working since 2005 in Honduras, where 60 to 70 percent of people do not have access to clean water. So far, AguaClara plants serve about 25,000 people.
“Every one of the AguaClara facilities continues to provide safe drinking water,” said Monroe Weber-Shirk, senior lecturer in civil and environmental engineering and AguaClara team leader. “This is an amazing accomplishment in a world of failed development projects.”
AguaClara's longstanding partner is Agua Para el Pueblo, a Honduran nonprofit organization that offers technical expertise and education to help municipalities implement water treatment systems. A previous generation of AguaClara students invented an automated design tool that has greatly increased the efficiency with which students can generate basic designs for new plants. Improvements are constantly being made on the tool, and Weber-Shirk says it is a key reason why AguaClara plants can be scaled to fit individual communities.
EDITORS: Please note that Monroe Weber-Shirk, leader of the AguaClara team, is available to be interviewed in Spanish and English.
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