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Session 1451

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING IN GUATEMALA

Joseph H. Sherrard University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Introduction

During the summer of 2001 the author spent 10 weeks in Guatemala as a recipient of a Fulbright-Hays Lectureship Award. The award was given to teach undergraduate and graduate environmental engineering courses at the Universidad del Valle, a private university in Guatemala City. This paper describes the country of Guatemala in general, the Fulbright program, requirements for the undergraduate degree in civil engineering and contents of environmental coursework, and environmental problems and potential remedies in the areas of potable water treatment, wastewater treatment, solid waste management and air pollution control.

Guatemala

Guatemala is a beautiful country located just south of Mexico, north of El Salvador, and west of Honduras and Belize in Central America. It borders both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The country is slightly smaller than the state of Tennessee and has a population of approximately 13,000,000 people. The current population growth rate is an estimated 2.6 percent, resulting in a population doubling time of 27 years. Infant mortality rate is near 46/1000 live births and life expectancy at birth is 67 years. Illiteracy hovers around 30%. Gross domestic product per capita is near $3,700 and the country primarily exports coffee, sugar and bananas. The country has approximately 40 volcanoes, 5 of which are considered active, and Lake Atitlan, one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. The jungle region, located in the northern part of the country, contains the Mayan ruins of Tikal. Many improvements in the country infrastructure make travel much easier than in years past. Foreign investment has increased markedly since 1996, after the end of a 36-year guerilla war, and many luxury hotels, restaurants can now be found in Guatemala City, population 3,000,000, and at popular tourist sites. Services and amenities for the vast amount of the population that live in the countryside are very marginal at best

“Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual conference & Exposition Copyright @ 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

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Sherrard, J. (2002, June), Environmental Engineering In Guatemala Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10189