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Students from the Technion-Isreal Institute of Technology are taking their expertise to the front-lines in the battle against poverty and human suffering. As members of Engineers without Borders (EwB) a small group of 15 students traveled to Meskele Cristos in Ethiopia to assist a school with no source of clear water. 

We tend to take it for granted in the west, but imagine if your child went to school all day and couldn't find a sip of water when they were thirsty? Or a source of clean water to wash their hands? Water insecurity is a massive health and safety risk that has a direct impact on quality of life and there are many in the world who simply go without.

The Technion-Isreal students were determined to relieve that hardship for the students at Meskele Cristos. Over a two year period, the group worked with local residents to design and constructed a self-replenishing safe drinking-water system for the school utilizing natural resources. 

The ingenious system makes use of the school's rooftop to collect rainwater. A series of collectors and filtration tubes sterilize the collect water making it potable, and store it in large reservoirs. The system collects enough water during Ethiopia’s rainy season that there is more than to provide for an entire year's worth of the school's water needs.

More than 600 students now have clean, safe, and hygienic water. A measurable, palpable improvement  in their lives, and one will only ripple outward from there. 

EwB works towards lasting progress, for long-term improvements. The Israeli students worked hand-in-hand with local residents, even creating a engineering club for children at the school, to teach them how to maintain and operate the system. Those residents and students will take that knowledge with them, making sure the water collection system works for years to come and perhaps even assisting other areas with similar projects. It isn't just about fixing one problem, it's about providing people with the knowledge and skills to solve many problems. 

This isn't the first time Israeli students have made a direct difference in the fight against water insecurity. In 2014, students from Tel Aviv University carried out a similar project iin Tanzania. The students built a rain-collecting system in the village of Minjingu where the drinking water had become too contaminated to safely drink, providing water for more than 400 schoolchildren.

As a desert nation, Israel understands the importance and value of water. Water scarcity has always been a concern for the Jewish state, dating back to the earliest days of the Zionist movement where it was a major policy point. Providing clean water to a growing nation of millions when you're in the middle of a desert is no easy task.

However, Israel has risen to that challenge. Israeli innovation in the fields of irrigation, water desalinization, and purification of waste water are second to none. They've been dubbed the "water superpower" of the tech world and the number one go-to source for water relief.

Israeli water tech has been at the forefront in alleviating several of the highest profile emergencies of the past decade. They provided water purification tablets for Syrian citizens suffering during the recent civil war where most of the nation's drinking-water became contaminated. Israel provided filters and purification tablets to Sri Lanka when it was suffering from rampant flooding earlier this year, spoiling their regular water sources. Even America has sought Israeli expertise when it comes to alleviating the drought in California. 

Water is the lifeblood of a nation, and Israel is doing what it can to help those in need.