Local Rowan student spends spring break helping town in El Salvador

April 15, 2008

It was definitely warm weather and pleasant scenery where Karl Martensen, a 22-year-old senior studying civil engineering at Rowan University, spent his spring break. However, luxury took on another form on this trip. Martensen's bed was a two-inch-thick foam mat, his bathroom was a hole in the ground, and the shower-a cold, polluted river.

The New Milford native had all of his comforts in knowing he was part of a group that spent its free time reaching out to help a town that has no clean, potable drinking water and suffers from illnesses associated with consuming the polluted river water.

From March 14 through March 22, Martensen and six other members of the Rowan chapter of Engineers Without BordersTM spent their time assessing La Ceiba-a town that is home to 463 people in El Salvador, Central America.

EWB-USATM is a non-profit organization committed to designing and implementing engineering projects in developing communities around the world. Such projects include renewable energy, clean water supplies and sustainable enterprise development. The organization's volunteers also include individuals with backgrounds in business, journalism, health and education, according to the organization.

The town currently relies on a polluted river and shallow, hand-dug wells as its main source of water. The exhausting labor of gathering water for daily use takes many hours, and water is scarce in the four-month-long dry season each year.

The town's dilemma became apparent to Rowan EWBTM when a Peace Corps volunteer reached out to the members. In May 2007, Martensen and several other Rowan EWB members traveled to La Ceiba for the initial assessment, which consisted of land surveying, water quality testing, and interacting with community members to understand their needs.

Through that trip, members of EWBTM learned that because the townsfolk ingest the unsanitary water, as many as 34 children have died, and much of the town population has suffered intestinal and digestive illnesses.

During the latest trip, Martensen and two other engineering team members performed a detailed survey of the land and recorded hand-dug well data throughout the community. In a town meeting, Martensen presented the details of the project design and the intentions for the water purification and transportation process.

Martensen also went on a tour with the town's new water committee and showed them where the team proposed the best location for the well and tank.

"The best part about the trip was playing soccer (actually American football) with the kids. They aren't normally allowed on the town's playing field, but they were permitted since we invited them to play with us. Almost every morning, the kids of the community would ask us if we were playing that night as we walked by their houses," Martensen said.

"I am passionate and determined to complete this project and I know my team shares that passion," he said.

Rowan's EWBTM chapter currently is working on another project with a community in Senegal, West Africa, in an effort to provide it with clean drinking water. The group hopes to travel to this village in the summer. Past Rowan EWBTM projects have included developing a potable-water distribution system in the Honduran community of Mataderos and installing a water distribution system in Pateung, Thailand.

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