03Apr21 EWB UCB San Fran Sect 3 Program Close out Community Meeting

03Apr21 EWB UCB San Fran Sect 3 Program Close out Community Meeting On 3 April 2021 Engineers without Borders student chapter that University of California Berkeley closed out it’s five-year program with it sister community San Francisco Del Valle, Ancon, Panamá. It’s been a long program and has been a great success. As we try to stress in our foundation small efforts can have a profound and significant impact. Often in fact in every instance it’s not necessary to expend tremendous resources to have lasting impacts. The students at UC Berkeley over five years and 10 semesters demonstrated that this is true. The installations that include storage of 48,000 L of chlorinated drinking water now see a 50% reduction in bacteria. Water storage is working. Support from community is appreciated. Among the many significant improvements in the quality of life is that over a five-year period we now see no walking for water; no time spent trying to obtain this valuable commodity. Notwithstanding, and is a direct impact from this, is that nothing is paid by these families of need for drinking water. This is a significant savings because everyone knows and no one can explain bottle drinking water is more expensive than gasoline. In these in many other ways that will be outline later, once final reports are provided, this program has been a great success. Questions from the Community and comments were well received during the video conference. Technology is amazing and the students at UC Berkeley were able to close out the program live interactively with leaders of the community. They stated overwhelmingly that they are very happy to have worked with Berkeley. Community thanked UCB for their effort; 5 years of engagement Have sadly come to a close. This university along with engineers without Borders USA came prepared with designs and money to invest; they stayed with community for five years, never abandon them and made sure that the program was completed to a high standard. What we have seen from engineers without Borders USA and the Susan chapter at UC Berkeley is rare. Foot prints made sure that the community understood that help like this does not happen often; they must take care of what was donated. Organization is still needed; funds to repair are necessary. The community must mobilize to collect funds monthly. This will allow them to purchase needed repair parts, fittings etc. Community must be self-sufficient and have funds for shocking the network making it clean and safe for drinking. All of this must be transparent and both UC Berkeley and Footprint have stressed the need for this final organizational effort. We will work with the community going forward and mentor them while they attempt to commit to this final organization and challenge. Some final deliverable items are needed from UC Berkeley and they will be provided shortly. The final O&M Manual is coming which will contain recommendations, lists of materials and other instruction as to how to operate and maintain the network. Of more interest is the. Health Report. This report is coming and will outline a five-year rolling survey. The survey looked at the same homes from beginning to end and this results will be published. You know as summarized in the first paragraph of this report the results are positive. Footprints wants to think the community of San Francisco in sector three, the students of the chapter of engineers who the borders USA at UC Berkeley and their mentors. 10 semesters have seen a like number of classes rotate through this organization and commit to a five-year program which has provided solid results. Purpose is proud to be a part of this project and looks forward to similar such efforts in the future.