NASA engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville Alabama used their intellectual powers and skills to improve the lives of villagers in Iraq by helping install and test a water purification system in the northern village of Kendala.

Residents of the village had no access to clean water after the pump for the deep-water well failed two years ago. Consequently, the population dwindled from 1,000 residents to just 150. Those who stayed, carried on with their lives but had to make do with water sourced from crude shallow wells. Some had to haul water from a creek fouled by livestock.

The horrible plight of the villagers drew the attention of non-profit organization Concern For Kids. Todd Harrison, the organization's president turned to his sister Robyn Carrasquillo, an engineering manager for Environmental Control and Life Support System, or ECLSS, a project at Marshall. He then posed a challenge to a team of engineers at Marshall: Help via e-mail to install and test a new, ground-based water purification system to improve the quality of life for Iraqis struggling to rebuild their village and country.

The ECLSS system is designed to recycle air and water on the International Space Station. The projects aims to to dramatically reduce the need for frequent, costly resupply missions from Earth.

Rising to the challenge, the team fixed the pump configuration problem and guided the Iraq field team in rehydrating the resin bed, delivering safe, clean drinking water to the Kendala village for the first time in two years. Now, Concern For Kids hopes to provide additional purification units for other villages.

Carrasquillo said it best: To see our system solve a down-to-Earth problem, especially in a place where there's such a serious need … there's no greater reward than that.