Environmental Engineering professor, Dr. Karl Linden, and his students continued their work in water sustainability development and sanitation projects in Peru this past summer. The projects partner CU-Boulder faculty and students with two Peruvian universities, local organizations and disadvantaged communities in Peru. Research trips were conducted to assess the success and sustainability of the water and sanitation infrastructure in small rural communities. Teams consisting of both CU-Boulder faculty and students and students from Peru universities spent time in the communities conducting water quality analysis, structural inspections, and interviewing local citizens to learn about the water and sanitation needs and desires of the communities. Research results and recommendations were shared with local organizations to help them to continue to improve water and sanitation programs.

CU and local high school students also benefit from the sustainability project. Student design projects in Professor Linden’s Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) course at CU-Boulder include designing a low-cost household water filter and an ecological sanitation latrine based on the Peru community feedback. The research also is shared with students at Centaurus High School in Lafayette through a weeklong water treatment design challenge and class presentations to give the high school students exposure to engineering challenges in the developing world.

 For more information, visit the program page at http://outreach.colorado.edu/programs/details/id/75