3rd Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Capaderillo potential water Project

Record of Event pg 1 of 3
3rd Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Capaderillo potential water Project

Where: Capaderillo Community (40 mins from SMA)
When: Wed 5th May at 12pm
Who: Elena & Laura (Rotary), & Chela (Cedesa) + 31 adults (including 2 men) +3kids (& 2 dogs)

Purpose: Next Assembly re potential future water project in this community

There are 5 new people @ today’s meeting.
26 who have been in previous meetings (or sent representatives).

This is the 3rd community assembly/meeting & everyone was invited to say their name (first name only) to introduce themselves, this is surprisingly a very difficult task for some, who are too shy to say their first names, & introduce themselves as “her daughter” for example…

Procopio, the young kid that answered the hydraulic cycle questions last time is back again.

Chela asked for proposal for a co-ordinator – everyone too shy… she prompted them to describe what the role consisted of. “inform those that don’t understand, the reason for the meeting”, “ people raise their hands to talk, & the co-ordinator ‘gives people the word’ “… “to keep order”, “to provoke participation”. “ solicit the attendees for agenda topics”, “help analyse the issues raised”,

Elvia was proposed & she joked about proposing Tomasa for the role (Tomasa wasn’t here today!)… All voted for Elvia.

Chela then realised that we had newcomers & we should explain who we are & why we’re here for them. Essentially she gave a brief explanation that we are planning a resolution for the drinking water issue.

Elvia was directed to call for Agenda items for today’s meeting.
• Progress
• Promises/commitments
• Revise meetings of ecology & sapasma & presidencia
• Planning the next step

Chela asked those visiting for the first time where they were from. 2 were visiting from Vivienda de Abajo, they want to know more & they were invited by friend. They were asked to describe their water circumstance… Alicia – no community well, a family pozo (well) (contaminated), they are close to the school & have to carry water there. The other woman has a well but it dries up in the dry season, they have to pull the water up by hand, it’s actually her sister’s well.

Around 12 people attending today have their own wells, from 15-25 mtrs deep, the problem is these wells are contaminated. Chela explained soon Cedesa will be able to do tests of their wells, but the tests the govt has done in the past show levels of 4mg/l (VERY DANGEROUS LEVELS), & that’s really why we are all here.

Chela explained that Vivienda de Arriba & Cruz del Palmar communities came to us after seeing the success of Los Torres (in Montecillo de Nieto – we went to them), the word is spreading & therefore the solution is growing.

Chela “you are all interested in being involved in resolving your own issue, through participation & construction of your own cisterns.

Revise meetings of ecology & sapasma & presidencia
Laura (through Elena) described the process by which $$$ have now become available for the project here in Capaderillo.

Ecology has agreed to fund the project which comes with great added responsibility for this Community - this project really has to succeed. Future project funding will be reliant on the success of this project.


Record of Event pg 2 of 3

The partners will be Cedesa (organising), Los Torres tech guys, (teaching & demonstrating construction), Rotary (oversight & reporting), Ecology Green fund ($$ for the project) & Capaderillo Community (building their own cisterns)…All of this is to happen before the next rains (ie in the next 6 -8 wks).

Question Why do we build the type of cisterns we do? Why not below ground?
One of the men present asked why we build the above ground cisterns & there was discussion around this… Chela said there are basically 2 types of water tanks, above ground & below ground. She asked why we build above ground
“imagine it takes more work to excavate a hole”,

Other reasons why we don’t use below ground cisterns:
• It takes more work to retrieve the water daily from a below ground cistern (as opposed to turning on a tap).
• It is harder to keep clean, as it has to be opened to retrieve the water (bacteria/dirt is easily introduced).
• Harder to identify a leak.
• Is more likely to get slime as it is uncovered while retrieving water

We compared the process of receiving funds from the Ecology green fund (which comes largely from fines for infringements on environmental laws), versus the huge work involved in applying for & eventually receiving $$ from Rotary. Chela said it is important for them to know how many people are working on their behalf in so many different areas…

At this point there was a lot of information being transferred & people were starting to look a bit glassy eyed, Chela challenged one man, he said “I’m falling asleep but I’m still gathering all the info” everyone laughed…

Chela reiterated it’s important that everyone knows the whole team, & solidarity behind them, & that now the Municipality is responding to this call for help (as per their obligation to respond), & now they know all about the greenfund too!

It was explained that we have to come up with a full plan to present on the 15th of May to Ecology for approval, it involves responsibility, commitment & volunteering to work, it is incredibly important to get this right as it will open the door for others in the same predicament.

Planning the next step
How many cisterns to include? How many people had attended previous meetings, as part of the commitment in order to receive these materials (cisterns) was participation in the meetings.

It was decided minimum attendance of 2 of the 3 meetings was necessary to qualify to get on the list.

The next step is to start forming groups (work groups). Saul explained it is very important that those who volunteer for each group are happy to work together, & are able to work at the same time (ie some might choose weekends, others afternoons). Working together in groups if primary to the success of the project, & when the materials arrive, we don’t want people to just want to build their own cisterns & not help in a team.

The Pilot will be at the primary school.

At this point there are approx. 30 on the list, so there will be 5 groups of 6 families.

Saul reiterated how important it is to have a minimum of 1 abanile (experienced builder) in the group. Julio, one of the other men, said if there is not one per group, we can look for one to help.

Record of Event pg 3 of 3

Group 1
Cruz*
Saul*
Enedina
Elvia
Emma
Reinalda

Group 2
Timotea*
Estelo*
Maria Con.
Julia
Luz
Elena

Group 3
Consuelo
Remedios
Margarita
Juana V.
Cristina*
Maria Guad*

Group 4
Carolina*
Lucia
Adriana
Nicolasa
Francisca
Marino*

Group 5
Juana A*
Lucia
Hermelinda*
Lilia
Martina
Noema

Group 6 (pending)
Eva*
Juana R
Alicia (VdAb)
Martina(VdAb)
Francisca (1st mtg)
Herminia (1st mtg)
Pulchiria(mother)

* denotes group leaders/co-ordinators


While working with people to form groups, it was discovered that there are 7 people who would like to be on the list, but are on the “waiting list” since they haven’t attended the requisite number of meetings at this point.

Hence we now have 37 people on the list to receive cisterns.

The next meeting was to be 2nd June at 11am, but since we have since received the good news that the funding from Ecology is definite, there will be an additional planning meeting on Wed. 26th May at 11am (pre meeting at 10am)


Next Assembly in Capaderillo will be Wednesday 26/5 at 11am (10am in El Cortijo)