How can poorer people around the World have access to clean water?

This was the question we asked year 7 in week 5, when we had an incursion. Students of engineering came to Holy Cross from the University of Western Australia, as part of the Engineers without Borders program.

Students were gathered into groups, each representing a different country. They were given information on how to make a water filter, with a list of prices for the equipment. However, the different countries had different amounts of money given to them. Also, lots of the poorer countries only had partial instructions. The students were then asked to make a water filter, which were tested in front of the whole group. One or two groups produced highly effective water filters!

The students also got the chance to create a pipeline to transport water from one place to another.
A completed water filter:

Preparing for the pipeline activity: 

Buying materials for the water filter: