During the summer of 2018, 9 of DEID’s members traveled to Madagascar to work alongside the community of Manantenina in the design and construction of a gravity pipe network system. Upon arrival, students learned that the source that the designed was initially used for was no longer viable. During this time, students spent time learning about current water infrastructure practices in the community (and surrounding communities) while continuing to work on identifying a new source and creating a new design.
During our 9 weeks in Madagascar, we found a new source that would work viably for 2 communities neighboring each other (Manantenina and Mandena), worked with the community to understand Malagasy approaches to water (especially in the northern SAVA region, where we were located), and eventually finished the design of a 5 kilometer long gravity pipe network that has been made available to the community. Currently, our team is working on negotiating with contractors in the community in order to best understand how we can implement this system sustainably.
