Published in the Charleston Regional Business Journal
Local company brings wastewater treatment plant to Honduras
By: Shelia Watson
A modest two-story building in West Ashley houses
the corporate headquarters, testing facilities and consulting division of
General Engineering Laboratories (GEL). On the front of the building, the company
motto reads “Meeting today’s needs with a vision for tomorrow.” Behind the
building, several employees including CEO George Greene are laboring to meet
the needs of hurricane-ravaged Honduras. Inside, President Molly Greene is on
the phone with the Air Force, trying to secure transportation for supplies and
personnel.
Stories out of Honduras, which bore the brunt of
Hurricane Mitch for four days, tell of war-like devastation; buildings and
homes destroyed, roads washed away, and rivers filled with human corpses and
the bodies of animals where residents get their drinking water.
More than 11,000 people were killed as a direct
result of the hurricane. At least again that number are expected to die in the
aftermath from disease, dehydration, and starvation.
The Greenes’ concern for the people of Honduras
began several years earlier when their daughter, Jeni, worked in the capital
city of Tegucigalpa as a teacher through an Episcopal Church mission. When
Hurricane Mitch hit, Jeni contacted associates in Tegucigalpa and found out
some of their needs. First on the list was drinking water.
“What they need is water, food, and medicine,” says
David McNair, GEL’s vice president of business development. “We’re talking
basic survival here. The infrastructure is completely gone. No roads, no
houses, no stores. Everything is gone.”
Fortunately, safe drinking water is something GEL
can provide. The company’s labs test more than 200 water, soil and air samples
every day for both industrial and federal clients. In addition, GEL’s
consulting division provides environmental and civil engineering services,
including development of wastewater treatment facilities, monitoring of air
emissions, and environmental regulatory compliance.
The company’s consulting division met immediately
to devise a plan to bring water to the Hondurans. It was determined that simply
shipping bottles of water was not enough. The Hondurans needed a way to purify
their existing water supply. The
decision was made to utilize a basic water treatment unit that can produce
clean water at a rate of 10 gallons per minute.
Six of the units were quickly constructed to take
to Honduras, and several more have been requested.
Meanwhile, George Greene sent a company-wide e-mail
inviting interested employees to attend a meeting about the Honduras project.
Half of GEL’s 250 employees attended. Nearly a third of those volunteered to
travel to Honduras to install the units and train the residents to build more.
The twelve selected for the “first round” of trips spent their lunch breaks at
MUSC for immunization shots.
McNair praises the cooperation of local industries
that have come forward to donate additional supplies. “So many companies have
responded overwhelmingly to requests for [food, clothing and building
materials],” he says. “For example, we called Piggly Wiggly to ask if their
stores could be distribution sites. They said they would do anything they could
to help.’ Then (president) Buzzy Newton called back and said, ‘That’s not
enough. We want to do more.’”
Piggly Wiggly ultimately donated two semi-trailer
loads of food.