5th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

Record of Meeting pg 1 of 3

5th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Where: Daytrip – La Campana & Sosnavar near Jalpa (via Rd. to Queretaro)

When: Thurs Aug 14th 2008, 9.00pm – 5pm (including 2 approx 1.5 hrs Comida)

Who: Bob Leonard, David Bossman & Laura Stewart & Enrique Hernandez Perez, Julio, Norma & Julian for FAI.

Purpose - SMA Rotary has tasked Bob, Enrique & Laura with defining the “needs” & determining the best proposal, for a major water Project involving the writing of a competitive grant for approx. US$100K.

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.

FAI have been working in the area of conservation, environmental & ecological awareness for nearly 20 years. They have worked closely with marginal communities to improve their environs & living conditions. The world bank funds FAI in the areas of water, energy, food, health, education, crafts & nutrition.

Detail of visits:

We all met at the FAI office on Hidalgo, where Julian kindly drove us to the first community, La Campana. On the way there Enrique told us that PEASMA had been working with approx 30 schools to build stone water breaks, which helps prevent erosion (more on that later) We arrived in La Campana where we met with the Sub-delegado – Tomas Oviedo Bustamente.

In La Campana

Tomas & his wife invited us to lunch, they provided a lovely lunch of tortillas, beans, guacamole, egg, salsa & sodas. His wife was very shy & did not come out to eat with us. Their house was very basic inside, there was only a bed & a few very sparse furnishings.

Tomas told us:

He estimated the village has approx 250 families, but also thought there were approx 1200 kids, & 3000 people in total - we need to confirm the numbers.
FAI started working with the village approx 3 yrs ago, in that time they have built 8 little dams (bordos) for irrigation purposes
Last year was the first year that the big dam lasted all year
They have been building tranques of stone in order to slow the water flow, & capture silt/earth so that plants grow & the area stays moist.
They have a new well drilled by Sapasma approx 4 yrs ago (the old well ran out of water),
The new well is 350mtrs deep
They pump the water from the well up the hill in 4 inch diameter metal pipes to a holding tank (deposito) high above the village, the water is then gravity fed through 3 inch pipes to ½ inch pipes to each of the houses.
tank capacity is approx 4mx4mx3m (approx 50k litres)
They refill the tank 2x per week, ie are using approx. 100,000 litres per week
The water is for domestic use, not for drinking, although some may boil it or add chlorine & drink it, mostly they buy garafons of water.
Water hasn’t been tested yet
Record of Meeting pg 2 of 3

5th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Delgada’s name is Hermina Orlalde
Families pay $20 pesos per month, this helps pay for the electricity
the guy that maintains the pump gets $100pesos each time he runs the pump.
Not aware of well reducing in level
2 types of land owners in this village, some own just the land their houses are on, others own that plus land for growing food.

Our observations

The village is very lush, green & well kept
The crops are well tended,
They are only growing maize & beans
There is a large tank at the telesecondaria – not connected to rain collection
No-one is catching/collecting rainwater – the water pipes empty off the roof straight into the mud, even if there is a large container nearby.

Definition of needs by Enrique re La Campana

They need:

More education & training re the conservation of water, ie that it is a precious commodity
More dry toilets, currently only 10 in the village (the rest use flush toilets, wastes 5 litres every flush) dry toilets provide fertilizer, prevent groundwater pollution by faecal matter & are simple to build & maintain.
Access to drinking water, the water they have is for domestic use, not drinking
More water for irrigation, cultivation purposes (currently have a restricted growing season.

Action

NB Bob said he would make prints of the photos of Tomas & his wife & give them to

Them

Next Stop

We stopped at a section of land beside the Jalpa road that FAI had been working on – with the people of nearby villages.

They have installed “presas filtrantes” dam filters, these are essentially rock water breaks placed every 100 metres. They serve several purposes

To slow the flow of water
To retain sediment
To allow plants to naturally grow in the sediment/silt
Allows water to sit longer thence having a chance to recharge the aquifer
This is a simple method of regenerating the ecosystem, with the moisture & silt trapped, plants naturally grow, even throughout the dry season, hence providing food for grazing animals as well.

These mini-dams are maintained annually before the rainy season.


Record of Meeting pg 3 of 3

5th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Next village visited was Soasnavar (according to spelling on side of school)

Here we met with Rogilio Olalde & Primitino Vevetz (sp?) who were happy to discuss the water system in their village.

They told us:

Just 4 months ago (before well was put in) they had no water – previous well had run dry
Sapasma just drilled them a new well, approx 250mtrs deep.
The villagers had to pay $3000 pesos (US$300) per family for the drilling of the well (total approx US$60k)
Approx 200 families in the village
They pump the water from the well to the holding tank
Holding tank estimated !0,000 litres capacity
Water is then gravity fed from the holding tank via pipes to each of the houses
Water is only pumped once a week, Fridays, & people must store the water for use all week.
They have no drinking water, water is for domestic use only
They currently buy garafons of water for drinking (or boil the water in rare cases- if they cant afford to buy the water)
No-one in this village has toilets.
Families pay $50pesos each week for water (from the well)
They pay approx $500 pesos per month to the person that operates the pump – the rest of the money is to go to electricity & chlorine (not sure if it is in liquid or gas form)
There are 2 groups of people in the community, those environmentally aware & those that don’t care, estimated 50/50.
There is a govt. program that tells the people of the communities not to drink water from the wells
They have not had their water tested yet.
NB it is interesting to note that when people say Potable water they more likely mean water for domestic use, not for drinking. Drinking water is likely described as agua para tomar, or purificado.

Comida

We all regrouped for a de-brief at a restaurant in town. Julian couldn’t make it. Eugenia met us there. David Bossman kindly paid.



There was a lot of cross conversations for example - where we should look next, what we can offer, how we can justify projects in villages that already have access to water (albeit that they can’t drink), nothing concrete.

There were no decisions made, at this point.

Next meeting is timetabled for

Thursday 21 August 9am at FAI – with Enrique