Contacts: Michael Campana, (505) 277-3269 Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821

June 26, 2002 UNM WATER RESOURCES STUDENTS VISIT HONDURAS TO HELP VILLAGERS For the second year in a row, Professor Michael Campana, director for the Water Resources Program at the University of New Mexico, led a group of students to a Honduran village to help build a safe, sustainable water supply system. While it might not seem like the ideal summer vacation, it was a fitting conclusion for the Master of Water Resources degree for nine students. “It was a great experience in the village of Miramar last year that we decided to do it again this year,” said Campana. “The work allowed students to apply knowledge in different situations. The value is in cross cultural and international experience and to see how other people live. It also affords students the opportunity to use their academic skills to solve real-world problems.” Under the guidance of Alex Uriel del Cid Vasquez, a Honduran water activist, Campana, along with Dr. Michele Minnis and students Louis Martinez, Jennifer Montano, Rubel Salazar, Amy Ewing and Gary Stansifer all of Albuquerque, Cody Stropki of Columbus, Ohio, Barbara Heemink of Houston, Texas, Carrie Ancell of Memphis, Tenn. and Pallab Mozumder of Bangladesh, traveled to Nueva Vida on the north coast of Honduras on a summer vacation consisting mostly of manual labor. The students traveled in two groups and spent seven days each in the village working on the water system. Nueva Vida is a village consisting of 200 people living in 40 dwellings. The village subsists on farming, cultivating the steep hills to grow corn, beans and other crops and the village has no electricity. Uriel del Cid Vasquez prides himself on working in remote locations where government agencies are reluctant to go because of the difficult working conditions. He also helps the villagers to buy-in to the project. The new gravity-flow water system was developed by Uriel del Cid Vasquez. The spring feeding the system is located about 800 meters above sea level and 400 meters above the village. Students helped dig a pit for the foundation of the 5,000 gallon tank which is protected by a concrete box. They also cleared the area to lay and bury the PVC pipe used to disperse the water throughout the village. “This type of work provides a fitting conclusion to the students’ academic careers, as it enables them to experience community water development first-hand and understand the difficulties in obtaining safe water in developing nations,” said Campana. The course, Water Resources 573, is the summer capstone course of the professional Master of Water Resources degree curriculum that focuses on a single field problem or closely-related group of problems, which the students address in detail. The students will prepare a final report on their experiences in July and August. Additionally, three undergraduates, funded by the National Science Foundation, also accompanied the graduate students to Honduras this year.. UNM students Emily Crump of Ivins, Utah, Courtney Porreca of Boulder, Colo., and University of Virginia student Kara Di Francesco of Torrington, Conn., spent three weeks onsite working on the water system and their own research projects. The results of their work will be reported at a forum at the University of Notre Dame, August 1-2. ###

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