18th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

Record of Meeting pg 1 of 2
18th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Where: Part I – El Cortijo Hotel at the turnoff & Part II at Los Torres Community –School kitchen
When: 22nd January 2009 10-11am & 12 – 1.45pm
Who: Part I – Holly, Chela & Benigno – CEDESA, Bob & Laura (Rotary).
Part II - Jose Miguel (delegado), Magdalena, Hilaria, Ma (delegada), & other commuinity members. 39 women, 2 men & 7 kids. Following is a summary I created by email on 23.1.09 for the records.

From: Laura
Date: Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 10:31 AM
Subject: Update re community meeting at Los Torres of 22.1.09
To: Gary
Cc: Bob , Holly

Hi Gary & Bill
Here´s an update, summary of the meeting yesterday.

There were some interesting discoveries.

The meeting was well attended, there were more than 40 people there, but just short of a quorum of 45 (being that there are 91 families).

We thanked them for collecting the survey information about the families, & family groups that wanted cisterns. We explained that the information they gathered enabled us to calculate the size & quantity of cisterns required for each "family group".

They had this information about the Sapasma new well.
• the Major Jesus Correa had visited about 10days ago to celebrate the drilling of the well & that he had told them that the water was pure & perfect for drinking.
• Sapasma has not told them how much they are going to have to pay for the well
• Sapasma will return in approx 15days to begin work on providing water by pipe to each house (they don´t know the cost)
They had not been told the results of the testing by Ecology that the fluoride level is 2.0mg/l
We mentioned this to them, not wanting to discredit what the major had said, but that it was still a high level of contamination & Chela has said that they will carry out further tests at the UNAM lab. at CEDESA when they have access to the well.

Cedesa had bought sampling bottles to take water samples but the well is covered so we were unable to get a sample at this stage.

They were all very happy to be receiving water on tap (who wouldnt be?) & we wanted to clarify if this meant they would no longer be interested in participating in the construction of cisterns since they would now have a source of water (however contaminated).

They all said that that the quality of water was still important to them, & that they would be willing to participate & learn how to build the cisterns, but that there were others (not at the meeting) who may not be interested if they have water on tap.

As a result of this we decided to call another assembly for the 4th Feb at 12pm at which all of the people present will decide to be "in" or "out" of the project, & those that are "in" will commit to teams & begin the demonstation stage.

The meeting with Enrique Nuñez at the Presidencia is scheduled for 28.1.09 at 11am, I am hoping they (Sapasma & Ecology) will clarify for the community the situation regarding the water testing.

So, in summary, after the meeting on the 4th Feb we will have a definite idea of the size of the project. Until then it would be speculation.




Record of Meeting pg 2 of 2
18th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee


Bob & Holly, please add any comments/info I may have missed.

Gary, should we advise our Rotarian partners of this update? or wait until after the meeting of the 4th Feb?