Civil Engineering Students Bring Clean Water to Zimbabwe Hospital

Reliable clean water is essential at Karanda Mission Hospital in Zimbabwe, where Cedarville University engineering students are designing a water treatment system for drinking water and sterile surgical use.

Cedarville University students design clean water system for Zimbabwe hospital

Matthew Shiel of New Hope, Pennsylvania, Lauren Kolodsick of Lake Orion, Michigan, and Caleb Weaver of Hudsonville, Michigan, are developing the system as part of their senior civil engineering design project.

Karanda Mission Hospital needs reliable clean water for patients and surgeries

Located in a rural region of Zimbabwe, Karanda Mission Hospital serves approximately 75,000 patients annually and performs nearly 4,000 surgeries, making reliable access to clean water essential for those who live on the hospital's compound and for patient care. The hospital sources its water from a nearby river, where an existing system treats the water using a multi-barrier method. But during Zimbabwe's rainy season, increased runoff kicks up sediment, filling the water with higher amounts of suspended sand and silt.