Who We Are

Group 1

Left to Right. Top Row: Chris Morrow, Junior Bazile, Brian Arwood, Mark Koopman, Andrew Uehlin. Bottom Row: Lanka DeSilva, Jeewon Parks, April Agne, Jeremiah Haswell. (Missing two students: April Nabors & Justin Moman.)

Every human deserves to have access to safe drinking water. With over 20% of the world’s population still using unsafe sources of drinking water (according to the World Health Organization and UNICEF), humanitarian organizations (such as Engineers Without Borders) have been implementing sustainable engineering related projects, including safe sources of drinking water, to communities throughout the world.Illnesses and deaths caused by consuming unsafe water continue to cripple families and communities in developing nations, such as the communities we are focusing on in Peru. The project we will be implementing in May will improve the lives of hundreds of people, and the education we provide will help to improve health and hygiene for generations thereafter.Water Well

Contaminated well, May 2007

Hygiene & Sanitation in PeruMillions of people around the world lack access to clean and potable water. A significant obstacle to this is not only access to a potable water source but also keeping it clean as contamination can easily occur by improper water storage and handling.1 There are multiple approaches to improve hygiene; many are simple easily implemented and culturally acceptable2. One approach is hygiene promotion; specifically the promotion of hand washing with soap (HWWS) at three junctures: before eating, after using the bathroom (defecation), and after cleaning up a child who has defecated. Every year more than 1.5 million children die due to insufficient hygiene and sanitation practices3.WHO has estimated that diarrhea accounts for approximately 3.0% of the deaths by all causes worldwide, among children under five years diarrheal diseases represent 15% of all deaths4. HWWS has been shown to reduce morbidity from waterborne diseases and diarrheal diseases. Poor hygiene and sanitations have been shown to contribute to ill health and poor nutrition in young children5-6. It has indicated that HWWS can reduce diarrheal disease by 30% which demonstrates the efficacy of simply washing one’s hands after using the bathroom and before eating7-8.

Additional research has shown that hand washing alone may be more effective than basic hygiene education interventions and that implementation of these techniques has been shown to reduce the burden of diarrheal disease9.In Peru, 15% of children under five years suffer from diarrhea and a majority is in rural areas like the rain forest and highlands. After an extensive PubMed search on the existing literature, it has been determined that few studies have been done to observe and calculate the prevalence of HWWS in Peru.5 More specifically in the village of Llanchama, a rural community in the rainforest which is located about one-hour drive from Iquitos, in Peru, the population lacks sufficient sanitation and adequate sources of clean water. The two wells which are located on community property are not functioning and are in a state of general disrepair. The lack of consistently available clean water has caused the inhabitants to become reliant on shallow catchments for their daily water needs. The water from the catchments is of poor quality and has been found to have significant contaminants such as fecal coliforms, Giardia and intestinal parasites. Even when the water is sometimes available, its proper use and the hand washing practices are of interest. Preliminary data obtained from a May 2007 survey of the Llanchama inhabitants revealed that approximately 30% suffer from frequent diarrhea or stomach illnesses.10 The high rate of stomach illnesses and diarrhea, the close proximity of the animal pens to water sources coupled with the lack of proper disposal of human feces indicates an urgent need to assess behavior regarding hand washing and hygiene practices.

Meet The Bloggers:

April Agne

April Agne

I was born and raised in upstate New York with 2 younger sisters. I have a BA in Biology and Spanish from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro where my family & I have lived for the past 8 years. Currently, I am a grad student in the School of Public Health studying International Health. When I receive my Master’s degree, I want to work around the globe with the poorest of the poor to improve their quality of life. On a more personal note, I have a great love for apples and maple sugar candy. I love to travel and hike. I am an avid cyclist and commuter who rides several thousand miles a year.

Brian S Arwood

Bryan S Arwood

Hi everyone! My name is Bryan Arwood and I am from the community of Headland in south-east Alabama. I just received my Bachelor’s of Science in Biology at UAB. My areas of study include freshwater ecology, environmental toxicology, and water chemistry. I currently work with the CAWACO RC&D council as a water chemist. In addition to these interests I have a great interest in field botany and a love for Ben and Jerry’s Willie Nelson peach ice cream.

Lanka DeSilva

My name is Lanka DeSilva and I am senior at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. My focus of study is Civil and Environmental Engineering. Born in Toronto, Canada, I have lived in the state of Alabama for nineteen years, and attended the Vestavia Hills school system.Some of my interests include playing the violin, tennis, and gardening. I am highly interested in understanding the human impacts on the environment, specifically the tropical rainforest. It is my intent to foster a deeper understanding of the human impacts on the world’s ecosystems through my pursuit of higher learning as an Environmental Engineer.

Jeremy Haswell

Jeremiah Haswell

Jeremiah Haswell is a graduate student at UAB from Ozark, AL. He received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UAB in 2003 and is currently finishing his MS in Civil Engineering / Engineering Management. Jeremiah works as an engineer for Southern Company in their Research and Environmental Affairs department. His focus areas at work are fossil power plant efficiency and renewable generation. Jeremiah recently got married in November to Lindsay Greer from Hoover. They live in Homewood with their weimaraner, Hope.

Mark Koopman

Mark Koopman

Mark was instrumental in the formation of EWB at UAB a few years ago and served as it’s first president. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Health Engineering from UAB in December, 2007, studying a new materials system for water purification. He also has an M.S. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from UAB, working in the Materials department for many years with Dr. Krish Chawla, and is currently employed as a Research Assistant in the Physics Dept. with Dr. Yogesh Vohra’s group. Exploring a bit of the world’s vast array of cultures and ecosystems, with a cullinary adventure every now and again, help break up the academic routines of school and research. He will continue his research on the degradation of residual antibiotics in water as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard later this summer.

April M Nabors

April M Nabors

Hi! My name is April Nabors and I’m from McCalla, Alabama. I graduated from Samford University last May with a Master’s of Science in Environmental Management. I am currently working towards a PhD in Environmental Health Engineering as well as working at the Birmingham Water Works. As far as my interests go I enjoy the simple things such as a beautiful sunset or taking my dog, Zoe, for a walk. I also love to learn, travel and even somehow manage to find time to paint. I hope to learn a lot from my experience in Peru and plan to use the knowledge gained from this opportunity in many future endeavors.

Jeewon Park

Jeewon Park

My name is Jeewon Park and I am a 22 year old UAB undergraduate student majoring in civil engineering. I was born in Seoul, South Korea, and now I live in Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.A. Currently, I am an intern working for the City of Birmingham Dept of Planning, Engineering, and Permits. My interests include traveling, reading, music, hiking, ecology, numismatics, knitting, tennis, art…etc. I like to watch all types of documentaries, and I absolutely cannot live without my iPod. Peru will be my second time to visit South America. The first visit was to the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. My goal is to go to every continent—I have Europe, Africa, and Antarctica left to go!