IDEAS professionals are practitioners in a variety of fields, including engineering. For over 14 years, Chris has worked in small, rural villages in China, providing clean drinking water for entire communities. The impact that this water has is life-changing! Check out the report below on his latest project:

"The village water project is now complete!

Prior to this project, residents (mostly the women and elderly) would hike over rough, mountainous terrain to get their two buckets of water a day from a contaminated source. Residents would stand in line at a small trickle of water as it took time for each to fill their buckets. Now, they step out their doors and have access to clean water all year.

At a nearby village, the school principal talked about their water supply.  Their existing water system, while supplied by a good mountain spring, doesn't provide adequate water for their daily needs.  We were able to hike to the spring and walk the pipeline and identified a few problems.  We've created a new project to improve the spring intake structures, solve some piping problems, and increase the size of their storage tank.  All of these improvements are relatively inexpensive, but will greatly improve their water quality and quantity.

A couple of years ago, in yet another nearby community, the school principal approached us asking for help with their water supply and we're finally in a position to help! This elementary school provides an education for about 300 students.There's an existing water supply providing water to both the village homes and the school, but since the school is at the end of the pipeline, they never receive water. The existing system is also in need of repair which exacerbates the situation. As a result, the school cannot provide an adequate lunch for these students. They can only provide some boiled eggs and boxed milk.

At the same time, the education department is constructing a new cafeteria building at the school, but it doesn't include a water supply. We plan to provide a new, dedicated water supply for the school, which will come from a mountain spring about 2 kilometers from the school.  We'll improve the spring and pipe the water underground to a new water storage tank on the hillside above the school.  The water will serve the school kitchen, cafeteria, and hand wash stations.  The result is that students will receive more nutritious meals and have clean water to drink!"

Chris' account is one of many similar impact stories from our IDEAS community. Men and women are using their professional skills and love for people to bring hope and transformation every day!

How can you leverage your skills, passions and education to serve and help others?