The Puerto Rico team was formed in Spring of 2019. We are The University of Colorado’s first and only domestic team! We are currently working with the community of Mulas-Jagual, in the mountains near Patillas, Puerto Rico. This community was hit by Hurricane Maria in September 2017, damaging homes and their potable water distribution system.
Our project is based on providing the Mulas community with a new gravity-based water distribution system. The community sources its water from a river and uses roughing filters, slow sand filters, and a chlorinator to purify the water. In August 2019 we completed our first assessment trip in the community where we surveyed the current water distribution and began our community partnership. We have completed an assessment trip in August of 2019 and are planning two more trips for Spring and Summer of 2020. We have been working closely with the Mulas community to try and find solutions that work for both us and the community. Our design team is using EPANET and QGIS to begin a design for the distribution system. We have plenty of exciting work, so now is the perfect time to come and get involved!