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CORVALLIS, Ore. - At the Oct. 10 Corvallis Science Pub, two Oregon State University groups will describe their efforts to bring shelter and clean water to people in developing countries.

Jordan Machtelinckx, emeritus president of OSU's Engineers Without Borders chapter, will discuss the challenges of providing safe drinking water to rural communities in El Salvador and Kenya. Taylor Kavanaugh, a 2010 OSU engineering graduate and representative of Beavers Without Borders, will describe the group's effort to build housing in Guatemala, Macedonia and other countries.

The program begins at 6 p.m. at the Old World Deli, 341 Second St., in downtown Corvallis. It is free and open to the public.

In much of the world, lack of access to potable water is a major public health problem. More than a million children die annually from water-related diseases, according to the World Health Organization. "Engineers Without Borders is a chance for students to combine technical and social knowledge to provide basic human needs to some of the more remote communities around the world," Machtelinckx said.

Starting in 2006, OSU students undertook the challenge of providing clean water to a remote mountain village in El Salvador. They installed a rainwater catchment system and a gravity-fed network that delivers filtered spring water to a school. In 2010, they shifted their focus to Lela, Kenya, a community of about 400 people who lack access to clean water year around. During annual droughts, they must walk for miles to reach available supplies.

Beavers Without Borders, sponsored by the OSU Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, got under way in 2010, when athletes representing soccer, gymnastics, football, basketball and other sports traveled to Alotenango, Guatemala, to build a new house for a family living in a make-shift shelter. The organization sent another group to Macedonia last spring and has plans to do construction projects in Haiti, Cambodia and Ethiopia.

Sponsors of Science Pub include Terra magazine at OSU, the Downtown Corvallis Association and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

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