Water Warriors
Those who know this area of the world agree: This is not a project for the faint of heart.
High in the Andes Mountains of Peru, the Q'ero Nation are among the last remaining descendants of the Incas. One community lives in Chua Chua, more than 14,000 feet above sea level among rugged terrain. For many generations, they have farmed the land for food and raised alpacas, which feed on grasses and drink from local springs. Alpaca wool is their livelihood — used to create richly hued, handmade hats, scarves, jewelry and textiles that are sold at market.
Learn more about the Stevens Engineers Without Borders USA team members who traveled to Peru.
But over the past 15 to 20 years, the springs have become dryer, the snowcaps on the mountains melting. The dry season now stretches longer, bringing a scarcity of water for agriculture, the alpacas and the grasses they eat. In the brown mountains of the dry season, alpacas become malnourished, some dying. Many farmers have lost alpacas, threatening their economic well-being and way of life.
When Stevens’ Engineers Without Borders USA chapter learned in fall 2023 of a project with the Q'ero to address water insecurity in their community, they jumped at the chance to contribute. Selected by Engineers Without Borders USA in late 2023, the Stevens team got to work, with a first group traveling to Peru to complete assessments in summer 2024. Most students continued work on the project for more than a year, as a second travel team returned to the country this past August to build a new developed spring system.
They have now more than doubled the flow of water to a nearby lagoon, which means more water for the alpacas to drink. Working closely with the community of 150 people, the students did this under challenging conditions, from working without electricity or cell phone service to fighting altitude sickness to feeling the pressure to succeed in a project two years in the making.
“It’s definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” says 2025 traveling project lead Savannah Isacson ’27. “It was having faith that everything would work out ... I am so proud of my team.”
The teams could never have achieved early success with the project without close collaboration with the Chua Chua community and many mentors, they say.
“The Q'ero are a very kind and generous people,” says chapter president and construction lead Will Franznick ’26. “We’re in partnership with them ... we get to be a small part in their proud legacy.”
Linda Tello, president of the NGO Whole Earth Engineering and a mentor who accompanied the team and has long worked with the Chua Chua community, says that everything from a challenging climate to limited resources has made this a project only for the strong and resilient. Like the people of Chua Chua.
“The students were all warriors — challenged on these trips in many ways: physically, emotionally and psychologically,” she says. “The students had an opportunity to recognize the importance of their chosen field on the world, and how fortunate they are to have an experience with the Q'ero — integrating modern and ancestral knowledge — on a project that will positively impact this indigenous community for years to come.”
More than 100 students — some now alumni — have had some involvement with the project, with about 30 core team members, says Vince Menichelli ’26, 2024 project lead. Their faculty adviser is Stevens Associate Professor Marouane Temimi, Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering. Engineering, computer science and quantitative finance students contributed engineering design and construction know-how, budgeting and social media savvy. They fundraised — the estimated project cost is just under $5,000 — with the Chua Chua community paying 5% of the project cost. The students covered their own travel costs.
The Stevens students met six days a week for almost two years, with biweekly meetings via Zoom with Chua Chua community members in Peru and EWB mentors; WhatsApp messages to and from Peru; numerous submitted reports.
“It’s more time than I spend on homework,” says Isacson, a lead on the design process. “You have something fulfilling you. It helped build a community.”
“I think that a lot of us have an innate desire to serve,” says Franznick. “A lot of people want to see that their time at Stevens is spent in a way that’s meaningful.”
“It was a chance to reset from the loudness in the world, to re-humanize,” Menichelli says. The number of thriving alpacas and the community’s income from its goods in the future will be indicators of the project’s ultimate success, he notes.
In the Flow
A student team of five first traveled to Peru in the summer of 2024 to meet community members, learn about their lives — aided by translators — build rapport and, importantly, get buy-in and feedback for the project. They identified natural springs and conducted water flow, land survey and soil porosity tests, all to inform the design and construction of the project.
Months leading up to the August 2025 trip were filled with meetings late into the night to finalize the design and scope of the project. The Stevens team, with community and mentor input, came up with a design that included a spring box and catchment system with an outflow and overflow pipe, constructed on the site of an active spring and connecting to a nearby lagoon where the alpacas drink. The goal was to increase and improve water flow from the spring, minimize water dispersion in the soil and provide a water storage system.
“Their input leads the discussion,” Menichelli says of the Q'ero. The community suggested a particular type of piping, for example, which will last longer and endure the challenging climate conditions, and concrete for a longer-lasting, more resilient structure.
Six Stevens students landed in the city of Cusco this past August to begin an 18-day journey that included eight days in the remote Chua Chua community. Students stayed within the community; their work site was an hour hike up the mountain.
With laborers hired from Chua Chua, the Stevens team quickly located an active spring. Before excavating, the community performed a traditional ceremony that included despachos — an offering of candies, drinks and coca leaves to Pachamama, Mother Earth, asking for permission to dig into the ground.
While Stevens students helped with some excavation of the spring, most labor was done by paid local workers. “We were way ahead of schedule before the end of the trip,” Franznick says. “They were incredibly hard working.” Children and senior citizens lent support. A “maestro”— a local contractor — led most of the construction while the Stevens team helped with oversight, interviewed community members and did land assessments for the second phase of the project — the construction of a new lagoon, slated for mid-2026.
Construction of the spring system this past August went quickly. Workers with pickaxes dug deep into the ground to the spring. Piping was installed and connected to the spring box, a retention area made of concrete that stores the water. An outflow pipe then guides overflow water to a nearby lagoon, where the alpacas drink. In the end, the flow rate increased from 3 liters per minute to 7.5 liters per minute.
When the Stevens team left Peru on August 26, the project was about 80 percent complete. The community planned to pour a concrete lid on top of the spring box, with a goal of completing it by late September. The Stevens team taught community members to maintain the system, and the residents will continue to measure the water flow and send updates.
‘A Circle of Giving’
The August trip has laid a foundation for the follow-up trip in 2026. This fall, the team received a $15,500 grant from Engineers Without Borders USA that will fund construction for the final phase of the project, which will close out by December 2026. The Chua Chua community is hoping to use the Stevens project as a pilot, to remediate other springs in Chua Chua and surrounding Q'ero Nation communities, Isacson says.
“These students are motivated beyond belief,” says Uma Lakshman, president of Engineers Without Borders USA, New York Professional Chapter. “They are motivated to do good. They show up to everything, and they have drive and initiative ... they are setting an example for other student chapters.”
As satisfying as it was to see the water flowing better, students say it was moments shared with the people of Chua Chua that stood out.
Students and community members didn’t share a language; Chua Chua residents speak mostly Quechua. But they shared a special dinner of alpaca meat cooked for hours in embers of a fire and drew pictures and played soccer with children from the community. Through translators, they had conversations.
When asked what they dreamed of, members of the Chua Chua community responded overwhelmingly: an education for their children. And keeping the traditions and identity of the Q'ero alive in the world.
During the Stevens students’ visits with the community, the strong bond of family and the reciprocity — of helping each other, always — was striking, they say.
“It’s a circle of giving,” Isacson says. “They’re the happiest, most selfless people.”
Neighbors call each other brother, Franznick says. “They really taught us so much,” he says. “Human empathy and love for neighbor. Seeing a community that loves each other, you don’t see that as much in the U.S.”
Sitting around the fire late one night, led by community guide Ruben Apaza Quispe, students discussed the meaning of life and what they’d take from the experience.
For Franznick, “All of us are human beings. In our heart, we are in common.”
– Beth Kissinger
Learn More about the Stevens Engineers Without Borders USA chapter at Stevens.edu/EWBInfo
Photos from Peru
