Like
a billion other people worldwide, the villagers of the fishing
village
of El Barril in Northern Baja had no access to clean drinking water.
That was until a team of students from the UCSD Graduate School
of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS), formed
the “IR/PS Baja Development Project” in the spring
of 2003 to help the villagers construct a basic water purification
and distribution system. With the assistance of local San Diego
businessman Jim Jameson, the students tapped the expertise of hydrologists
at the Scripps Institution
of Oceanography to check the water quality of the wells. The measurements
for the new water system were completed in the spring and the community
broke ground in June 2003. The students, who include former Peace
Corps volunteers, Angela Hogg, ’04, Neil Mendenhall, ’04,
and Joe Bassett, ’05, hope the water project will serve as
a model and
catalyst for additional development efforts in El Barril. 
Contributors to Cliff
Notes:
Karla Devries, '04
Evelyn Hsieh, '05
Jessica Megill, '05
Darren Posey, '05 |
