Students engineer solutions in remote corners of the world
Virginia Tech students learned about water quality in the remote Himalayan mountains of Nepal during a three week long trip to improve irrigation.
Students work with local villagers to "throw" cement to the designated work area. Photo by Briana Bittner for Virginia Tech.
Students in Service Without Borders experienced the complexity of engineering agricultural solutions in a remote village in the mountains of Nepal, where ease of access to materials takes months of planning. Even getting to the site itself was a feat.
After months of planning, four students from the College of Engineering and two advisors from the College of Natural Resources and Environment set off in May on a 17-plus hour journey across the globe where they then took four planes and a 3-mile hike to reach their destination: the village of Dhumba. They were accompanied by Lynn Resler, professor in the Department of Geography, and Tom Hammett, professor in the Department of Sustainable Materials, who also incorporated a Nepal trip into Service Without Borders 10 years ago.
Dhumba has seen many changes over the years, from earthquakes and severe weather that fundamentally changed village life to improvements in infrastructure. For the last 10 years, students and faculty in Service Without Borders have been aiding the village in building and improving their irrigation channels, taking them from hand-dug channels where water retention was poor to cement channels where the water flows more freely and is retained successfully.
“This work is important because the water is not easily accessible to communities lower down in the area. Directing water to these places while maintaining the natural flow helps irrigate crops, which is a large part of the villagers’ income,” said Maggie Scarborough, a junior majoring in biological systems engineering.
Working in the village, one of the first challenges students faced was the location of the channel. The topography of the village does not always allow for a channel to be dug on flat ground. Large sections of infrastructure have to be built on the side of steep hills where the natural gravitational pull can be used to bring water down from higher up in the mountains. Trees and other vegetation are also obstacles to maneuver and something students had to take into consideration for this project.
“The terrain here is rugged. We're up at 11,000 feet in one of the most rugged and deep river valleys in the world, so just getting people and materials here to complete the work is a challenge,” said Nate Foley, a junior in biological systems engineering. “On top of that, we were working on the side of a steep cliff. Last year, we were more on a plateau, but as we moved closer to the water source and higher up into the mountains, the rugged terrain made getting materials to the top difficult. One way we adapted was to be strategic about where materials were placed as we were preparing to dig the channel, along with creating new paths that while longer, were safer to navigate than a steep walk up.”
Additionally, the use of modern machinery was not an option. The villagers and students had to improvise by doing everything by hand.
“Usually, when completing big projects like an irrigation channel, there’d be a cement truck that would do part of the work for you. But when we came to Nepal, the villagers had this big mound of gravel that they had to mix into cement and were doing it by hand,” said Sophia Irizarry, a senior in aerospace and ocean engineering. “Without heavy machinery, there were just two guys to shovel and mix the cement. We learned a lot about how they handle construction in such a remote and rugged part of the world. You just embrace that they will do things differently and be open minded to the differences.”
Students were quick to adapt to the many challenges that accompanied building the channel. The process was involved, intricate, and arduous. Students applied what they learned in the classroom to develop real-world solutions for the irrigation system in Dhumba.
From a hand dug trench to a completed concrete channel that served a local orchard business, students on the Service Without Borders trip to Nepal learned the complexity of engineering solutions in remote locations. The trip was made partly possible by the Julia K. Pryde Travel scholarship, which helped to pay for travel expenses and provide students with an invaluable learning experience. In addition to gaining unique insight into the challenges facing access to clean water, students formed lasting friendships.
“Participating in the Service Without Borders project in Nepal empowers students to expand their global perspectives, build cross-cultural understanding, and develop leadership skills,” said Lynn Resler, professor in the Department of Geography. “By engaging in meaningful community service, they not only contribute to positive change for local communities but also grow personally and professionally, preparing them to be compassionate and effective leaders in an interconnected world.”
