"Support Mechanisms for Sustainability of Community Health Projects in Arada Vieja, El Salvador"

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) at Tufts University is a student-run organization that seeks to find and implement sustainable solutions to problems facing communities in developing countries.EWB affords students a first-hand experience with project research, design and construction.Equally important, students gain an understanding of the necessity of support mechanisms to sustain a project.Since the fall of 2005 the chapter has developed a relationship with the community of Arada Vieja in central El Salvador, and through collaborative efforts sought to improve access to and quality of the community's drinking water.Operating on the university campus and in Arada Vieja, students worked with the community to install a hydraulic ram pump, rehabilitate a pre-existing spring box, and construct a slowsand filtration system.The long-term sustainability of the project will rely on the support mechanisms that have developed throughout the course of the project.The community water board, the partnership between the EWB chapter and the local Non-Government Organization (NGO), and interpersonal relationships between individual students and community members provide a critical structure for the future maintenance of the water system.