News Article

For the third year, students in the Gonzaga University School of Engineering and Applied Science senior design class have been asked to participate in an international development project sponsored by a $10,000 Environmental Protective Agency grant. This year’s project involves designing a water management strategy for low-income housing surrounding Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.

The project, which began in September and ends in May 2007, is part of the National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity, and the Planet. GU seniors studying civil and mechanical engineering are collaborating on the project with the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology, Pennsylvania State University, Tetra-Tech, and Engineers Without Borders-USA. If implemented and replicated, the project could provide significant health and economic benefits to more than 600,000 residents of Kigali and those around the city. Further, the design will be modular, scaleable and easily adapted to similar climates and topographies.

In Kigali, there currently is virtually no treatment of water or wastewater. This project would develop a sustainable and inexpensive plan for water treatment that would be better suited culturally to Rwanda, an energy and capital-poor country, than a more traditional power and capital-intensive water treatment plant. At the end of the school year, the project calls for the plan to be implemented by village administrative corps and engineers.

For more information, contact Gonzaga University civil engineering Associate Professor Brad Striebig via e-mail or at (509) 323-3530.