John Dracup, Intrepid Engineer

As a volunteer for Rotary International, John Dracup, Professor of the Graduate School, designed a water system on the barren landscape that is Remba Island, Lake Victoria, Kenya.

Dracup is the Project Manager for Rotary International, an international humanitarian organization. Participating in this strictly volunteer effort means that Dracup donates all work as well as pays his own expenses. He has just returned from a trip to Kenya the first week in February. This was his fourth trip to Kenya to work on the project.

The goal of the project was to supply 10 liters of clean water per day to each of the 10,000 residents of the Island, or a total of 100,000 liters per day.

Dracup's design includes 3 10,000 liter clean water tanks that sit on a 1-meter platform, a 5-meter tower that holds a 10,000 liter raw water tank, and a building to house the water filters (see photos below). The water will be pumped from the surrounding lake and distributed via 8 kiosks on the island.

 

    

 

The project began when Partners in Community Transformation, funded by UCSF, built a clinic on the Island to treat the residents infected with the HIV virus. The Kenyan government would not staff the clinic until a clean water system was available. Rotary Int'l joined with two local committees to work on creating the necessary water treatment system.

 

The water system will greatly reduce intestinal diseases, especially diarrhea among the children.

Phase II of the project will include building latrines and providing school uniforms and books for the school.

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