The Journal News (Westchester County, New York)
April 28, 2008 Monday
Rockland engineer to help Ugandan town get clean water
BYLINE: Hema Easley
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 3A
Not many researchers get to see the product of their labor helping real people in real life. Joseph Zambito, a me-chanical engineer from West Nyack, is one of them.
Next month, Zambito, 24, will travel with a team of engineers to a farming community in Uganda to install an engine that uses biofuels and is able to produce electricity, pump water and press the oil that it needs to run. The trip is sponsored by Engineers Without Borders, a nonprofit humanitarian organization that works in developing communities worldwide to improve their quality of life.
“I’m really excited,” said Zambito. “When you think about helping others, people usually donate money. When you actually go to those you are helping … it feels incredible.”
Zambito was studying for a Masters degree at Manhattan College in the Bronx last year when he overheard a teacher discuss a project involving biofuels with another student. Zambito was intrigued.
He signed up for the project called Bio Engine Longevity Tests, or BELT, and over the last year has been working to extend the life of the engine that uses oil from jatropa, a locally grown vegetable, instead of the more polluting diesel. In addition to the longevity tests, Zambito has been one of the main designers of a system that makes the viscous jatropa oil thin enough to run the engine.
Called a multifunction platform, or MFP, the engine is being used in several countries in western Africa to help communities reduce time spent in repetitive tasks. The 800-pound single-cylinder engine allows for different attach-ments that can be use to mill, grind, expel oil, pump water and generate electricity.
With more free time, adults can do other work to generate income, and children can go to school.
The team - Zambito and three students from Columbia University - will leave May 17 for Soroti, a district located in the northeastern part of Uganda. The community has 840 families, with 40 farming cooperatives, and for the last 2 1/2 years has been struggling with rebel insurgencies, regional conflicts and cattle raids.
An MFP is already in place in Soroti but needs to be replaced by one that can run nonstop for a longer period. In Soroti, where residents grow jatropa, the engine will be used expel oil from jatropa seeds, and as a backup power gen-erator in the town school.
It will also help reduce the workload for young girls who walk several miles to get clean drinking water and then walk back with water-filled containers on their heads.
While the team is in Soroti, they will try to bring drinking water into town by using a pump that gets power from the MFP engine.
“Whatever time we can give them so that they don’t have to bring water to their home, means that more children can go to school,” said Zambito.
While there is currently only one MFP in Soroti, Zambito and his team are hoping to bring more to the town. Zambito estimates that 20 engines will be able to light up the whole town.
LOAD-DATE: April 29, 2008
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Zambito, Joseph (MC????) to help Ugandan town get clean water
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