AguaClara Engineering Trip to Honduras
Twenty-one Cornell students in the AguaClara program spent two weeks of their winter break traveling in Honduras and learning about the sustainability of various drinking water treatment technologies. The AguaClara team has developed a series of water treatment technologies that do not require any electricity and that are able to transform highly turbid surface waters into safe drinking water. The team at Cornell partners with Agua Para el Pueblo in Honduras to implement the Cornell technologies. While in Honduras they traveled over 1400 miles with many of those miles on dirt roads. The team visited five communities with AguaClara water treatment plants and two communities where AguaClara plants are on schedule to be constructed this year.
Sedimentation Tank Hydraulics Team Develops Tank Design
The Sedimentation Tank Hydraulics team is working on designing a new tank that has optimal geometry for floc blanket formation. However, floc blanket is currently not part of existing AguaClara plants. In past years, the team was successful in forming floc blankets in labs but failed to form them in full size plants. They believe it is due to the geometry of current sedimentation tank design. Team leader Anna Lee says, "We are still working on designing the sedimentation tank. Our schematic drawing and the autocadd drawings of the model will be part of our first reflection report." To view the Sedimentation Tank Hydraulics reports visit the team page.
AguaClara's Spring Benefit Concert
The biannual benefit concert was a great success, thanks to the participation of local artists Alan Rose & the Restless Elements, Julianna Richer Daily, Larry Lin, and Pouria Pezeshkian! Special thanks to the Nines for hosting this event once again. For those that missed it, photos are available on AguaClara's Picasa page here, and of course we encourage everyone to come out for the concert next semester.
Volunteer Opportunities
AguaClara is currently taking local volunteers! As of this semester, the team is open to individuals willing to help out with any aspect of the project. Teams are involved in a variety of tasks and range from Foam Filtration Research to the Design Team. Those without significant engineering experience are welcome to participate and learn more about AguaClara and the water filtration system. Additionally, they are welcome to participate on the Outreach Team which works to spread the word about AguaClara both locally and globally. Projects include updating the website, planning fundraising event, creating promotional materials, and contacting potential funding sources. Volunteer opportunities vary in length of time commitment and every participant will receive a certificate at the end of their commitment as verification of their contribution to AguaClara. Anyone interested can contact Rosa at rm497@cornell.edu.
The annual AguaClara benefit concert was held on April 7 at the Nines in Ithaca. We raised over $400 towards the Honduras trip next semester!
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