MWI Offers Haiti Expertise In Lieu Deerfield-Made Water Pumps

By ELIZABETH ROBERTS

It has been 10 days since Deerfield Beach and the city's nonprofit Haitian American Consortium began gathering food, equipment and baby items at the city's fire station 4.

Of particular interest, the group said in a written statement, is equipment such as trucks, backhoes, bobcats, agricultural tools, generators, water pumps and water filters.

One Deerfield Beach company in particular is up to the task. In the heart of Deerfield Beach, MWI Corp., as it is known, has been making pumping equipment for 40 years. When New Orleans was under water last year, MWI's temporary pumps won it a contract of $26.6 million.

With much of Haiti under water now, the company stands prepared to donate travel costs and the services of a technician should anyone purchase the equipment as a donation.

"We've already had so many donations go to Haiti that we don't donate water systems anymore to Haiti," said Danielle Londeree, an environmental engineer who with her father, David Eller, co-owns MWI. "We'll donate if the country doesn't have one and the organization that wants it is well known, and able to get things done, and get back to us on how the system is running."



Londeree said MWI donated five water systems about a decade ago. Three of them are operating in the south of Haiti, on the opposite side of the island from the flooding. Another is on its way.

One system was purchased by the city of North Miami, which has a significant number of Haitian residents. That system is going in the north of Haiti, courtesy of a dual citizen who is acting as a liaison, Marc Jaques.

That leaves Londeree and MWI to focus on a separate relief effort with the city of Miami Beach. A boat is headed for Port au Pax carrying rice, beans, corn meal, oil and other supplies.

"They had a lot of flooding there as well," Londeree said. "And that is where Marc is from."

Source: Sun-Sentinel.Com