Purdue students use spring break to help others

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - While most Purdue students spent their spring break combing the beaches for fun, another group went down south for a different reason.

Nineteen Boilermakers used their spring break to travel to the Dominican Republic to help create a sustainable water purification system for school children. 

They found the problem isn't water scarcity, but E. coli contamination in the available supply. 

This was a fact-finding mission that also served to teach both adults and children the importance of drinking clean water.

Purdue engineering students are working on a filtration system they hope to use there. The students say it the trip was a success.

"We met with the actual school children that were going to be implementing this filtration system and talked to the director,” Purdue junior Kelly Dyer said. “We did some activities with the kids. We made a lot of good connections.”

"It is important to introduce ourselves and introduce the project,” Grad student Angela Ortiz said. “Let them ask questions and voice their concerns regarding the project. It's a very important step to do before start any construction.”

"Water is basic. You do everything with water,” senior Taisha Venort said. “If you don't have clean water, in a school for example, then you are missing out on a lot of life skills important things."

The participants are students in schools of three schools of engineering and nursing. They are going back in August to begin building the filtration systems.