Water Purification in South Africa: Reflections on Curriculum Development Tools and Best Practices for Implementing Student-Led Sustainable Development Projects in Rural Communities

Abstract:

This paper presents a sustainable development project in which University of Virginia students collaborated with University of Venda faculty, Global Sustainability Club students, and local community members to address water problems in a village in the Venda region of the Limpopo Province, South Africa. The cohort’s goal was to implement a sustainable and contextually appropriate water purification and distribution system. The authors present the design and constructed process for a slow sand filtration system intended to provide clean drinking water to most households in the community. They present and analyze the successes, failures, and ethical dilemmas encountered throughout project execution. Also, the authors assess the project based on three evaluation criteria for service learning projects and explore possibilities for follow-up through the collaboration between the University of Virginia and the University of Venda. The paper ends with a reflection examining aspects of engineering community engagement projects including site assessments prior to project implementation, project timeframes, and crosscultural institutional collaborations.