Washington University in St. Louis engineering students have spent the last two years traveling to the Mekelle School of the Blind located in Kebelle 05 in Ethiopia’s northern region. Guided by faculty, John Murphy and Robin Shepard, of the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, students set up tasks for each trip ranging from assessing the water needs of the school and surrounding community, to performing tests on groundwater and drinking water sources, and ultimately building a new water tower.
The purpose of the most recent trip (January 2013), was to finish improvements on the water storage and distribution system at the Mekelle School for the Blind. The engineering student team was able to connect the city water system to the 10,000L water tower which was built during their last trip.