Engineers Without Borders Project Approved!!

TAC Decision – Pittsburgh Pro – Ecuador, Tingo Pucara – Tank/Pump:

Technical Design – Your technical design is CONDITIONALLY APPROVED as outlined below.

Electrical – Project approved on the condition that chapter will not take action in the event that the electrical company doesn’t come through.

HASP – Approved, with comments incorporated from the attached HASP Review.

The last hurdle has been cleared! Although other parts of the Tingo Pucara Development Project have already started moving, the Pittsburgh Chapter of Engineers Without Borders had been awaiting official approval from the national office.

All EWB projects undergo a very structured assessment, design, reporting, and approval process. The Pittsburgh Chapter had been stuck in the design phase for the past two years and had not reached a strong enough consensus to put together a final design report. In 2010 work slowed down, volunteers lost interest, and the future prospects for the project looked grim. At the end of the year we picked ourselves up, dusted off the cobwebs, and decided for one last push - as hard as we could. We secured a funding promise from the Mayor of the province in Ecuador, followed that up with a matching grant from the non-profit organization Builders Beyond Borders, and promised final designs on this project that we were not 100% sure was even possible.

Agreement to fund the project, November 2010 - EWB Members, Peace Corps Volunteers, the Mayor of Pujili, the Director of Builders Beyond Borders, representatives of the Ecuadorian Ministry of Agriculture, and Tingo Pucara community members

We put our necks on the line, and that fear of failure is what ultimately drove us to work so quickly. By November of 2010 we had submitted a Preliminary Design Report to the national office of EWB. EWB was stunned at our rapid progress and said they eagerly awaited our next report, the final report - the Pre-Implementation Design Report. These reports are massive undertakings, including technical designs, technical drawing packages, technical and non-technical writeups, analyses of project sustainability, budget estimates, and checks on community involvement.

It is an understatement to say that all of the Pittsburgh EWB volunteers were reaching the point of burn-out when the Christmas break arrived. We failed to submit our Pre-Implementation Report by the December 18 deadline, and knew our chances of beginning construction over spring break had just been crushed. After a good rest over the holiday break, the team re-grouped in January, and re-focused on finalizing designs and reports. Fueled by the addition of a couple professional engineers from the Pittsburgh area, the team made huge strides. We now had final designs, funding for 100% of the project costs, a well-organized Water Committee in Tingo Pucara, and a contract with local Ecuadorian Engineers for oversight of construction of our the water system during the coming summer. All we were missing to move forward was approval from the organization which legitimizes our work, and gives us the volunteer status that allows us to solicit tax-deductible funding - Engineers Without Borders.

Presenting final designs to EWB's Technical Advisory Committee is known to be a daunting task. The statistics say that only 5% of projects that pass over their desks receive approval on the first attempt.

We received that approval today, Thursday, March 10th, on our first attempt! Our project officially received approval to proceed with construction from the EWB Technical Advisory Committee, which is comprised of Professional Engineers from various engineering disciplines. This has been three years in the making and everyone, from the city of Pittsburgh down south to the Ecuadorian Andes, can now breathe a giant sigh of relief, content with the assurance that water will be flowing in Tingo Pucara before the end of the year.

AAAAHHHHHHHHHH..... Life is good.

Below- Community President Cesar thanking everyone for their help and asking us to try to finish the project THIS YEAR.

Below - Surveying of homes earlier in the project.

Below - Kids in Tingo Pucara Singing a song at night, in the hand-made "Chosa" teepee structure.

Ecuadorian Update!

Construction has begun!

Builders Beyond Borders team members digging trench and laying pipe - the first days of construction of the Tingo Pucara Water Project!

From February 17-28 Pitt Engineering students as well as Rob traveled to Tingo Pucara to host the first visit of the forty members of Builders Beyond Borders - one of the major project funding partners.

The Builders Beyond Borders Group (35 high school students and 5 adult advisors)

It was a great high altitude week as the engineering students took the lead on construction matters and got to take their designs from paper to reality.

From freezing mornings with pounding altitude-induced headaches to days filled with work digging trenches for our pipeline, until the nights around an indoor campfire to stay warm- it was a great time with the people of Tingo Pucara and Builders Beyond Borders. By the end of the week we had installed more than 1/2 Km. of the distribution system that the engineering students had designed.

On our last day we installed the first faucet at a home, ran water through our newly-laid pipeline, and had a faucet-opening ceremony. It was quite emotional seeing all of the hard work and sweat pay off in such a simple way - clear water coming out of a faucet (pictures on their way from Builders Beyond Borders!). The community members said a prayer and blessed the faucet. It was nothing short of a dream come true for them, and I have never seen them happier. When the whole group left on the last day at 3 AM, we were followed by some ever-grateful Ecuadorians on a motorcycle, honking and yelling, who followed us for the entire hour long trip until we reached the paved road.

Rob with one of his God-Sons, and his mother

George Beane, Peace Corps Volunteer and on-the-ground project coordinator with community members sporting the SWAG graciously given out by Builders Beyond Borders.

But the week wasn't only filled with work, as Andrew (a Pitt Engineering student who helped design the project) and myself (both members of the RUNFORTINGO Marathon team) got a little high-altitude training at 12, 600 feet one morning. Notice that Andrew is running with a stick and I have rocks in my hand. Suffice it to say that dogs are not friendly animals up in the Ecuadorian Sierra, and we were lucky to have escaped with our lives(unless Pitt lawyers are reading this, in which case the rocks and sticks are because Andrew and I stopped to play some stick-ball along the way).

More Pics and Posts to come- we are working on consolidating the mountains of pictures and videos we all took while in Tingo Pucara. But I hope this helps invigorate the fundraising efforts! We are running for a real cause - one with names and faces. And we are going to make this project a reality.

One last update: An artist friend of Rob's has agreed to hand-draw a design for the RUNFORTINGO t-shirts that all team-members will be sporting on race day! If you have any inspirational pictures of Tingo, Ecuador, the Inca, water, or anything else related - send it my way. RTG6@pitt.edu