This past September, one of our club’s advisers and a former hydraulic engineering professor here at Lehigh, Dr. Richard Weisman, traveled to the Dominican Republic on behalf of our club. Hear his experience down below.
The main goals of my trip to the Dominican Republic last September were (1) to see the progress made by the Lehigh Valley Professional Chapter which is designing water supply systems for two communities in the northwest corner of the DR, (2) to meet people who are helping the LV Chapter with its projects, and (3) to visit the community of El Manantial which our Lehigh University Chapter of EWB has selected as our next project. I traveled with three other Lehigh Valley people: Bill MacNair, Julie Zeliensky, and Eddie Aybar. All goals of the trip were satisfied. The LV Chapter has designs which are being approved by a government agency. I witnessed a pump test conducted by another agency in the community of Cabeza de Toro. I was able to see the layout of the community while looking at the plans for the water distribution system and the location for a storage tank. The community members present for the pump test were very excited and highly invested in seeing progress being made. I met many people who will be vital to the success of our Lehigh University EWB Chapter project in El Manantial. This includes the engineers and geologists from government agencies, some non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), some local politicians (alcaldes), people from Rotary, and the community leaders in El Manantial. A special mention should be made of Pastor Eddie Aybar, a resident of Allentown with strong connections to the Dominican Republic. Pastor Eddie has been a key player in the success of the Lehigh Valley Professional Chapter. During our trip, he was our translator our driver, and our cultural representative. Our visit to El Manantial consisted of a community meeting with around 25 local residents, including the leaders of the village and a visit to 3 existing wells in the community. One of those wells might become our water source or we might need to have a new well drilled. There are also 3 ponds in or near the town that are used as stock ponds. Two of those were dry during our visit and one still held some water left over from the rainy season.