The Green Earth Institute (GEI) (www.greenearthinstitute.org) is a non-profit established in 2002 to promote nutritional health and environmental sustainability. GEI is seeking a volunteer with hydraulic engineering expertise to help with water and irrigation issues on its 60-acre farm in Naperville, IL.
GEI is largely financed through the sale of organically-grown crops on its farm in Naperville. In order to support its irrigation requirements, GEI has contracted for the installation of a new water well and is planning for a rainwater harvesting system and a 25,000-gallon water storage cistern to be installed in 2010. Drilling the new well is scheduled for mid-February 2010; weak water volume is expected, so a multiple-source system, drawing frm the well, from rainwater, and from a small creek is under consideration. Additional storage, through building a larger cistern and/or adding an above-ground storage system may be needed. GEI is seeking a volunteer with hydraulic engineering experience to advise the Executive Director on system design and estimating expected pressure and flow rates through the system in order to determine the proper pump configurations for drip and spray irrigation systems and to determine associated irrigation schedules that can be supported by the anticipated water supply. The volunteer would be directly assisting the Green Earth Institute as this is not an EWB program. If you are interested in volunteering or have questions, please contact Ron Niehaus at research@ewb-chicago.org and Steve Tiwald at stiwald@greenearthinstitute.org.
