Student with one of three sedimentation tanks for the rainwater harvesting system.

RISE Up Student shares her experience about collaborating with Illinois University to Provide Stormwater Collection System as Part of a Resilience Project in a School in Cataño, P.R.

Hello! I am Rocío Sotomayor, a 5th year civil engineering student at the University of
Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus (UPRM) and part of the second cohort of RISE-UP.
Last summer, I had the opportunity to participate in a Research Experience for
Undergraduates (REU) with the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). The
Disaster Relief and Resilience (DRR) program was created to develop infrastructure
projects that would provide resilience to communities in Puerto Rico. Together with five
other students, three from UIUC and two others from UPRM, we worked on a resilience
project in a school in Cataño. The project consisted of developing a rainwater collection
system for different uses. At the moment, we developed it as part of the irrigation
system, but for future plans, we hope that the collected water can also be used for
drinking or sanitary purposes. Understanding that water is essential for a full and
healthy life, being able to develop these types of systems that withstand these extreme
atmospheric events is essential for communities in Puerto Rico to become more resilient.


For me, this program was very important because I was able to expose and practice my
(limited) technical knowledge in civil engineering and resilience in a focused and
materialized project. I was able to witness the power of infrastructure as a method of
social change when we generate it from a multidisciplinary perspective and incorporate
all stakeholders in the project. During the summer, I was able to work in the lab doing
water analysis, do the system design, and visit the community. Having these different
facets throughout the project, I think was essential to understand how the project should
be from a technical perspective, but also from what was needed and could be
implemented in the community.

Categories: RISE-UP