Members of Engineers without Borders are preparing another project dealing with water conservation in Guatemala. Dr. Neal Eash and Dr. Forbes Walker (soil scientists) introduced the idea to the group after the two took a trip to several communities in Guatemala. In a report they made after the trip they give descriptions of all of the areas visited along with health and agricultural problems. La Fortuna, one of the communities visited by Dr. Eash and Dr. Walker along with other UT staff, was picked by EWB with the guidance of Walker and Eash to be the community to consider first because of its water issue. Dr. Walker and Dr. Eash state in their report that it is important to deal with the water issues before dealing with agricultural issues.

La Fortuna has no potable water. There have been attempts at piping water from a spring 4 kilometers north of La Fortuna but that failed as the summer rains demolished the pipes. There is also a nearby stream as well as rainwater collection systems on several houses but the stream is dirty and the rainwater collection systems are low in volume. Dr. Eash and Dr. Walker presented a possible solution to EWB in the fall of 2006. The solution consisted of designing water collection tanks that would be used to collect enough rainwater during the six month rainy season in order to provide a sustainable amount of water for the community during the dry season. EWB immediately accepted the task to help this community. Since last fall EWB has been meeting working on the design and implementation of this project. Roughly fifteen students ranging from soil science majors to engineering majors are planning on going to La Fortuna in May of this year to test out their design. If everything goes as planned EWB hopes to make this project a continuous one for years to come.