A culture-centric & sustainable systems engineering approach: Water filtration in Guatemala´s Tzununa

Author

Allam, Mostafa M. ; Hashimi, Hiba ; Houle, Elizabeth S.

fYear

2010

fDate

23-23 April 2010

Firstpage

118

Lastpage

123

Abstract

The Partnership for University Research Abroad (PURA), a group of interdisciplinary students at the University of Virginia, has formed a partnership with Tzununa, a community on the shores of Guatemala´s Lake Atitlan, to address its water quality needs. Faced with the need for a water filtration system, Tzununa has consented PURA´s implementation of a point-of-use water filtration system. Utilizing a systems engineering design process, PURA designed a hygiene education program and selected an appropriate filtration technology to counteract the high incidence of waterborne illnesses in Tzununa. PURA emphasizes the sustainability of this project by laying the groundwork for a potential scale-up of the filtration system.

Keywords

education; educational institutions; filtration; hygiene; organisational aspects; social sciences; socio-economic effects; sustainable development; water quality; water treatment; PURA; Partnership for University Research Abroad; Tzununa Guatemala; University of Virginia; culturecentric systems; hygiene education program; sustainability; systems engineering design process; water filtration system; water quality; waterborne illnesses; Appropriate technology; Design engineering; Educational programs; Filters; Filtration; Lakes; Process design; Springs; Systems engineering and theory; USA Councils;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium (SIEDS), 2010 IEEE

Conference_Location

Charlottesville, VA

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-7519-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SIEDS.2010.5469667

Filename

5469667