The foundations of EWBNZ were laid in 2006 when a group of eight engineering students called PULSE, led by student Holly Corbett and engineer Craig Omundsen, undertook a water scheme design for World Vision in Vanuatu.
The PULSE[2] group then completed an assessment programme of village-managed water schemes in Samoa in 2007.
These trips inspired another group to form in 2007 called CREW[3] led by student Haydn Luckman.
Their work in Samoa included collaboration with the local community to install water tanks, and design and construct a new wharf.
Since 2009, it has been run in conjunction with EWB Australia's Design Challenge[8] and has focused on communities within places such as the Mekong Delta in Vietnam (2013) and the Gorkha District in Nepal (2015).