Engineering students featured in new documentary film

A new documentary film, entitled "Water for Mulobere," features science and engineering students who are part of the University's student chapter of Engineers Without Borders that traveled to Uganda to install a solar-powered water pump at the Hope Integrated Academy. The documentary was produced by the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment.

During the summer of 2009, a team of up-and-coming engineers helped bring clean drinking water to an African village. As part of an Engineers Without Borders project, the University of Minnesota student group installed a solar-powered water supply system for an entire school and its surrounding community in Mulobere, Uganda. Beth Anderson, video producer with the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment, was there to capture the story on video.

"I hope that by seeing the documentary people will realize what a problem the lack of safe drinking water is around the world," said Anderson. "In the case of this particular community in Uganda, if a student has to spend hours each day collecting water or becomes sick after drinking unsafe water, the result is less time spent in school."

The goal of Engineers Without Borders is to help create a more stable and prosperous world by partnering with local organizations and NGO's to provide necessities such as clean water, power, sanitation and education to communities around the world. The University of Minnesota chapter that traveled to Uganda included undergraduate and graduate students from the Institute of Technology (soon to be called the College of Science and Engineering) and the School of Public Health.

The documentary was produced by the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment and the Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment (IREE). The Institute and IREE also provided funding for the Uganda project.