Does a Standards-First Infrastructure Design Neglect Community Context?

Engineers acknowledge the necessity of considering the community context for long-lasting, sustainable water infrastructure designs. Contextual Engineering contends that designs cannot simply consider the economic, political, cultural, educational, and mechanical influences of a community but must develop from the local context before any technical decision making. This work-in-progress illustrates the significance that considering international standards before the local context has on a rural community water system design. This research offers an ethical comparison of technical outcomes by directly comparing a contextual engineer's design with the community and a senior engineering team's design consulting to the community through an organizational proxy. Preliminary results illustrate that not only are the design outcomes significantly different in components, the standards-first team could not adequately adjust their designs to consider the long-term maintenance and local constraints of the project.