1st Exploratory mtg 8.8.2008

Record of Meeting pg 1 of 2

1^st Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Where: FAI Office, Hidalgo #13 SMA

When: Friday Aug 8^th 2008, 10am - 11.30am

Who: Bob Leonard, Laura Stewart & Gary Peterson(part meeting)(Rotary SMA)

Eugenia (PEASMA), Silvia, Enrique, Carlos (FAI), Julian Gaxiola (UICN)

(FAI= save the children), PEASMA (environmental organisation) UICN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)

Purpose - SMA Rotary has tasked Bob & Laura with defining the needs & determining the best proposal for a major water Project. This is the first step towards writing the grant for approx. US$100K of competitive grant.

Rationale: As part of the process of defining the “need” we will meet with as many people as possible that are directly involved in the provision of, or are aware of the need for the provision of, safe drinking water solutions to marginal communities.

The team at FAI have been working on this (& other ecological, environmental & conservation) issue(s) for almost 20 years. Likewise has the team of PEASMA for a shorter time. They have been involved in a” hands on” way, working directly with affected communities.

Discoveries/discussion/decisions:

At this point we identified the issues as:

Communities with

• No access to water (ie water is trucked in from any available source – potentially contaminated dams & streams, contaminated pozos* etc)
• Water from pozos – containing various contaminants (natural & introduced)
• Water from streams, rivers or lakes (most likely contaminated)
• Water from pozos – where water level is reducing & not replenishing fast enough to keep up with demand.

*a pozos is a well.

The PEASMA & FAI team brainstormed & came up with 6 communities they believe would be good “project partners” for the following reasons –

• They have water issues ie have a “need”
• They have a working relationship with them already
• They are likely to be receptive to outside assistance/involvement
• They have demonstrated their motivation to learn & help themselves in the past
• The govt. is currently providing no direct assistance with their water issues

The Communities decided on initially are

1. La Campana (near Jalpa)
2. Sosnavar (near Jalpa)
3. Pena Blanca (on road to GTO, no water, only river)
4. La Venta (road to Dolores)
5. El Nina de Atocha (no water, using neighbours’ – near Coral de Piedras- road to Qto)
6. Tierra Blanca (largely indigenous community, needing water for subsistence crops)

Cont.d Record of Meeting pg 2 of 2

1^st Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

There was much discussion across a variety of associated topics. Some points raised were -

1. 60% of villages have drilled pozos (the govt’s previous solution), as a result the aquifer is hugely diminished, the water being used is 100’s if not 1000’s of years old & is not replenishing.
2. FAI & PEASMA have been installing dry composting toilets in the villages (more than 600 of them to date) in order to prevent contamination of groundwater from sewage seepage.
3. Many communities have demonstrated their willingness & eagerness to learn & to change when educated with the issues & possible solutions.
4. Some programs have been implemented where by the receiving village becomes the Starship village & must then demonstrate & replicate their successes for other villages, hence spreading the success.
5. The national water institution is called CAN
6. Each State has their own commission of water, eg in this State (Gto) it is Sapasma
7. Each village has a Committee de Agua Potable, who are tasked with maintaining supply of potable water to the people of the village, for which they are paid (an estimated) $8000pesos per month, for things like electricity, maintaining cuotas, pipes etc. It is questionable about whether the money gets spent for the right purpose.
8. FAI & PEASMA have worked with numerous villages in many regions – the results have been mixed, some very cooperative & receptive, others not so. The region of Allende has historically been difficult to work with, Tierra Blanca & Victoria (for example) have been great, & Dolores has been OK.

Note to Board Members – request for guidance in this matter.

It should be noted that there was discussion re payment of consultancy fees for the FAI & PEASMA people involved in the project. They indicated that they would invoice Rotary for the time spent – at this point, driving Bob & Laura to the villages, introducing us to key stakeholders, assisting with identifying the need etc.

This is a point that needs to be clearly specified from the outset, as SMA Rotary does not have ready funding for this, & it would ultimately be contingent on the success of the grant in December, we would be out of pocket if the grant application is unsuccessful. Payment for services would be expected in an ongoing fashion, so we will need to work out how we will fund this. We will need to apply to the board for guidance in this matter.

Next steps:

Meet at FAI 9am Thursday 14 Aug. Enrique (FAI employee) , (& Julian) will drive us to one or more of the communities.

Meet at FAI 8am Friday 15 Aug. Carlos will drive us to Tierra Blanca (no. 6 on the above list of communities)

On both visits we will take notes, photos & discover their need.