By: Estefania Martinez,
Contributing Writer
Haitian Senate President Mr. Simon Desras came to the Prep campus to present engineering students with two Heart of Haiti awards for their water purification invention, LiTres, which has helped the Haitian people since the 2010 earthquake. The Heart of Haiti award recognizes 11 entities each year for significantly contributing to Haiti.
Mr. Desras visited the Prep campus to watch a presentation on “Operation Gulliver International,” a project sponsored by engineer teacher Mr. Claude Charron that highlights the school’s desire to focus on daily crises of the world, such as clean energy.
As part of the project, engineering students developed a generator that purifies water, which is called “LiTres.” LiTres is a water filtration system that is able to filter and purify water without releasing any toxins into the environment. It also purifies the water without using an outside energy source. The project does not use any wires but is mechanical which is where the clean energy comes in. This device uses three filters. One is a semi permeable carbon filter and the two others are sediment filters, the last one being a bacterial filter. The system cost approximately 500 dollars and there is currently one machine made and planning to be sent to Haiti. It is expected to become a mass-produced machine in the future, but is currently in Phase Two of three phases that they hope to accomplish. This machine will be used to deal with the problem of polluted water in Haiti and will help Haitians have a source for cleaner water. Currently, the old system is operating at a home in Haiti where it supports about 300 orphans.
The Engineering Department began building this system in 2008. When the prototype was ready to be sent to the pediatric hospital where it would help many, the earthquake struck. The students then had to work to redesign their machine. The hospital had fallen and most of the people who would of benefit from the device were dead. Therefore, work began to build an even better water filtration system.
Phase One included the research and development of the device, which led to Phase Two which involves working on LiTres to make it marketable. Phase Three, the final phase, seeks to expand the production of the machine to generate interest in international markets. Many students involved in the project spoke at the event for the Haitian dignitaries, including Gulliver alumna Alexis Wong, who was directly involved with the manufacturing and patenting process of LiTres.
Youri Mevs, President of the Haitian Economic Development Foundation, Managing
Director of the WIN Group, and a Gulliver parent, spoke of the significance of the creation of LiTres.
“If you just build one machine, or even consider someone else’s plight, then you are on the right, my friends,” said Mevs.
One problem that surfaced during the development of LiTres was the limitations of electricity and energy sources. Engineering student Paolo Sacco who is part of the LiTres project suggested using a car for the wheel energy while another student suggested burning the sewage to create electricity. Currently, engineering students are working to finish the energy source dilemma and solve any additional problems they are facing.
“Many schools have engineering programs, but not many have engineering programs with a heart,” said Mevs, leaving students with final words of encouragement and hope for the future.
Engineering students are currently working on further developing LiTres, with future plans to help a village community in Nigeria.
