17th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

Record of Meeting pg 1 of 1
17th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Where: Los Torres Community – house across from School
When: 9th December 2008 10-12pm
Who: Holly – CEDESA, Bill Fisher (Patronato Pro Nino), Laura (Rotary). Jose Miguel (delegado), Magdalena, Carolina, Tere, Ma, Elena, Carmela, Cesaria (Maria Concepcion couldn’t make it, her deaf daughter’s school day)

Specific Project determined: We are now working on the Los Torres project
to fund individual water collection systems for each household in Los Torres. We have verbal funding agreed of US$60K combined, from our North American Rotary Partner clubs.

Purpose of the Meeting -
To collect the information the mini commission had gone door to door to collect.

Lower Community
There was a list of each group of families
1 per page
Some weren’t home,
They had 13 groups, 3 maybes (counted as yes for the purpose of calculation) & one widow said no, they spent 15 minutes explaining the option to her, but felt she didn’t understand that she didn’t have to build it herself.

Upper community
They have collected info, 1 page per family & have estimated roof size.

Comments from the people surveyed
Many had wanted to do this already, but don’t have the resources, some have been using large buckets.
In general the response was very enthusiastic & willing.


We thanked the women for a great job well done & took the info to collate into a spreadsheet.




Next Assembly 22 January 12pm
Presidencia meeting 28 January 11am

16th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

Record of Meeting pg 1 of 2
16th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee
Part 1 & 2
Part 1
Where: Hotel El Corijo Turn-off to Los Torres
When: 4th December 2008 10-11.30am
Who: Chela, & Holly – CEDESA, Bill Fisher (Patronato Pro Nino), Laura & Bob (Rotary)

Specific Project determined: We are now working on the Los Torres project
to fund individual water collection systems for each household in Los Torres. We have verbal funding agreed of US$60K combined, from our North American Rotary Partner clubs.

Purpose of the Pre-Assembly Meeting -
co-ordinate with CEDESA the topics & goals of today’s assembly.

Points to cover during the Assembly
* What Rotary can offer (ie cisterns for individual water collection)
* Is this something LT is interested in – as a community.
* How the labour for the building of the cisterns will be organised (ie by family or community team or…)
* We can offer the option for the families to build larger cisterns than those * provided if they fund the larger size themselves.
* By the end of the assembly would like to have a community committee appointed that can co-ordinate between CEDESA, LT & Rotary

Assembly Purpose:
This assembly was called by the Leaders of the community of Los Torres so the community could discuss what Rotary can offer & whether they are prepared to participate & in what form.

Part 2 Assembly 4.12.09
Where: Los Torres Community – School Kitchen Shelter
When: 4th December 2008 12pm – 2pm
Who: Chela, & Holly – CEDESA, Bill Fisher (Patronato Pro Nino), Laura & Bob (Rotary), Ma Jesus (Delegada), Hilaria, Maria Lucia, Maria de Conception, & others,
In total 22 women, 4 men & 7 kids from the LT community.

Summary of the assembly
The meeting was scheduled for 12. At about 12.30 some women & children started to arrive & mill about.

Unfortunately the meeting co-incided with a surprise visit from DIF, (the equivalent of Social Welfare), who were conducting a door to door survey on the state of each family’s house re the programs they offer. Mothers were all staying in their houses to not miss DIF.






Record of Meeting pg 1 of 2
16th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Some of the programs DIF offers are
Piso firme (replacing dirt floors)
Casa different (they provide materials family builds the house)
Stove upgrades (adding flues to stoves)

Eventually more women arrived (see total above)

Chela discussed:
The definition of Assembly v meeting
There are 92 families, so this was not an assembly (as planned)
The meeting can look at & discuss issued but not make decisions on them for the whole community as there is not a majority represented.
They named the person that would co ordinate for the meeting.
Role of co-ordinator was discussed.
“co-ordinar el trabajo de hoy”
- Directs the dialog
- Directs the people to be quiet while others speak
- Directs discussion, not too argumentative.
- Keeps the meeting calm
- If people wish to speak they must raise their hands
Chela pointed out that they are learning how to co-ordinate their own meetings.
Maria de Jesus (delegada) was appointed today’s co-ordinator.

Chela “ask your compadres what we are going to talk about today”
“who remembers what we talked about at the last assembly?”
- agua
- construction of cisterns
- pipas (the filling of tinacos)
- also about the study of quality of water
- the quantity of water required
- decision on how much each family receives
- a commission went to Sapasma – what did they discover
- also speak about toilet options

A mini commission was formed
8 women,
4 for the top community, (Carmela, Carolina, Cesaria, Elena)
4 for the lower community (Maria de Conception, Magdalena, Ma Jesus, Tere)

They will go house to house to determine
- number of families
- number of roofs needing replacement material
- size of roof
- can they do the work themselves or will they need help

They will report back at the next meeting on December 9th at 10am
Next Assembly 22 January 12pm
Presidencia meeting 28 January 11am

15th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

Record of Meeting pg 1 of 3

15th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Where: Los Torres Community – front yard of a private house across from School

When: Saturday 22nd November 2008 12pm – 2.15pm

Who: Chela, Benigno & Holly – CEDESA, Bill Fisher (Patronato Pro Nino), Laura (Rotary), approx 50 women & 8 men (including the leaders Ma, Hilaria, Maria Leova, Maria Concepcion, Jose Miguel) from the Community (innumerable kids!).

General Project Purpose - SMA Rotary tasked Bob & 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.

Specific Project determined: We are now working on the Los Torres project

to fund individual water collection systems for each household in Los Torres. We have verbal funding agreed of US$60K combined, from our North American Rotary Partner clubs.



Assembly Purpose:

This assembly was called by the Leaders of the community of Los Torres so the community could discuss (& be made aware of) the issues they all face regarding water. Scarcity, fluoride contamination, municipal water deliveries, included.
The women “leaders” of LT visited CEDESA on the 7th November (see previous report). During the meeting they asked Chela to help facilitate this assembly.
Summary of the assembly

We arrived approx 11.30 & (as always) were immediately invited to a table brimming with tortillas, rice, beans etc.

The meeting was scheduled for 12. At about 12.30 some women & children started to arrive & mill about.
Around 12.50 Chela started the assembly. She improvised a white board from a table upended with large sheets of paper taped to it.

1st - the crowd was asked introduce themselves individually, ie say their name. People were a bit shy but all eventually said their names

Chela introduced CEDESA & its purpose & moved straight into discussions about fluoride contamination & who knew about it. Around 50% answered they had no idea, some knew it caused teeth problems, 1 woman told of her children crying at night with pain in their bones (& 3 others echoed her), they asked if that could be a symptom. (action – Laura to research this question)
Chela asked people to join in & forced interaction – the crowd was involved.





Record of Meeting pg 2 of 3

15th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Chela made the following points:

It’s important that you get organised, become informed & find solutions
Fluoride is common here, it’s poisoning you, you need to think about your kids
You future is in your own hands
Do you want a future of life or death?
(to which someone jokingly responded “at least we’ll all die together”)
Your teeth are “manchado” (stained)
Little by little you are getting sick?
How many of you eat “instant lunches”? (some – not many)
How many of you drink coke? (a lot – but interestingly it’s probably less harmful than the water they’re drinking!)
Eating naturally is better

She spoke about the difference between a meeting & an assembly. With their input she defined the 2. She asked for a count of heads. Approx 50 women & 8 men, & since the community has 91 families, (approx 33 families were not represented) she declared the assembly to have a majority & therefore that they were able to make decisions on behalf of the community.
Purpose of an assembly:

Make decisions
Resolve problems
Make agreement
Analyse problems (our problems & those from caused by others)

In this case the problem is water, it is a problem for everyone, men, women & children.
She asked them - (& the crowd answered – with prompting) -

are we (Rotary & CEDESA) affected by your problems – “no – this problem affects you!”
who will help solve this problem? – “you need to look at what you can do for yourselves, work on the problems & solutions”
one of the men was invited to talk about the situation he said “we have to work together to solve the problems”
Can you wait to solve this? “no – it’s urgent”
Do you want to be sick? “no”
You need to collaborate & solve this immediately & for the future, the future of your kids is in your hands.
They all agreed they need to be part of the solution & not expect 1 person to solve it for them
Are the people in San Miguel drinking contaminated water? “no”
Do you know about the level of fluoride contamination in your water? “no”
Bacteria & fluoride are both in the water, bacteria is easier to control
It’s important to have healthy water for your body & your life




Record of Meeting pg 3 of 3

15th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee
One woman spoke up & said “ they told us not to drink the water from the pozos, only drink from the water in the tanks that the trucks bring (some add chlorine drops, some boil the water), but they always run out. Some families don’t have water containers by the school for filling & when they get to the tanks they are usually empty.

Chela suggested they visit Sapasma & ask them to bring more water because there are many families here that are without.

She worked on Demand - calculations

Currently the delivery of less than 1 truck of water per wk is insufficient.

She asked how much water each family used.

3 different women with different sized families spoke up & they used quite different amounts per person.
They settled on an average of 5 ltrs per day per person for drinking & cooking (nb this is much higher than average use – our family for eg only uses around 3 ltrs max per day for this, although we drink other liquids than water)
Delegado said 450 people in the community (we have stats that say 434)

450 x 5 litres per day (or 35 litres per wk) = 16,000 litres per wk needed.

They have 2 tinacos of 5000 ltrs (& 2 of 1500 ltrs at the school) so close to the capacity they need.
They agreed they would visit SAPASMA & ask for more deliveries.

Note/comments:

We (Rotary & PPN) have already been to Sapasma on behalf of LT (& to the presidencia), we were told the resources to provide & deliver the water were not there.
The community is approx 45 minutes by truck from the main highway – which is 20 minutes from SMA. The trucks do deliveries to other communities on the way & so often can only deliver a partial truckload. There is also a shortage of trucks, & in the rainy season it is sometimes impossible to get through.
LT to Control their own water supply is a better solution.
The rain is there (in the season) why not catch it?
The information re the fluoride contamination was a “sledge hammer”, we (Rotary) had been reluctant to bring them the news of this. Chela did not hesitate.

I had to leave the meeting at this point. After I left a small group was appointed to visit Sapasma & ask for more water.

The next assembly date was set for Thursday 4th December 12pm

(Rotary & CEDESA will meet at 10am – at the “el cortijo” beside the highway turnoff, to discuss the project & it’s direction & the agenda for the next assembly, for a co-ordinated approach)

14th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

Where: The Presidencia at the Municipal Buildings at the Glorieta beside the road to Los Rodriguez
When: Thursday 19th November 2008 2pm-5.15pm
Who: Enrique Nunez Martinez + 1 other (Secretario Technico – director of directors as we understand it), Ernesto Lopez (engineer Sapasma), Don Patterson + 2 others (director & engineers Ecology Dept), Chela Martinez, Benigno, Holly Yasui (CEDESA), Jose Miguel (Delegada of Los Torres) + 2 others, 4 members of the Montecillo de Nieto Community (Los Torres neighbours). Judy Fisher (representative from another NGO Patronato Pro Ninos), Laura Stewart (Rotary SMA midday),

General Project Purpose - SMA Rotary tasked Bob & 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.
Specific Project determined: We are now working on the Los Torres project
to fund individual water collection systems for each household in Los Torres. We have verbal funding agreed of US$60K combined, from our North American Rotary Partner clubs.
Meeting Purpose:
Judy Fisher instigated this meeting. She had had an earlier meeting as she described as follows:
I DID MEET WITH SALUD PALACIOS AND ENRIQUE NUNEZ (THE PEOPLE FROM THE PRESIDENCIA WHO ORGANIZED THE MEETING THE 19TH.) AT THE FIRST MEETING, ENRIQUE STATED THAT THE GREY WATER TRUCK FOR THE BATHROOMS AT THE SCHOOL CAME FROM AN ORDER FROM ECOLOGIA AND THE WATER FOR THE TINACOS CAME FROM SAPASMA. FOR THESE ORDERS THE PRESSURE DID COME FROM THE PRESIDENCIA, OFICINA CIUDADANA.

During the earlier meeting Enrique had suggested calling a meeting of all parties involved with the provision (or potential provision) of water to Los Torres. So that information could be transferred & a plan of sorts achieved.

Summary of Visit
We all met at the Presidencia & introduced ourselves. The entire meeting was in Spanish. I am not fully fluent & asked for clarification from Judy & Holly on points I thought I had missed.

Ecology Dept
Don Patterson led the meeting & talked in general about what the Ecology Dept does, ie environmental conservation, tree planting programs, water conservation efforts, the installation of water collection system at a clinic in San Augustin, & the planned implementation of more water collection systems in 9 more communities at a school or clinic level.

Points to note
 a study done by Ecosciences in 2006 tested over 100 pozos (wells). The tests involved measuring the levels of fluoride, magnesium, arsenic & colioforms.



Pg 2 of 3

 The study report indicated approx 20 community wells (affecting over 6000 people), contained higher than safe levels of one or more of the contaminants.
 Of these 20 communities, the Ecology Dept have plans to provide water from roof collection (on schools &/or clinics) in 11 at risk communities in total.
 This will provide safe drinking water during the school day for the children in these communities. It will not provide safe drinking water for the entire community.
 They have insufficient funding to provide these measures to all of the affected communities at this point & the inference has been that any outside help would be gratefully accepted.
 Over 50% of the pozos tested, tested positive for coliform, although no measures were made of the safe (or unsafe) levels.
 (NB A lot of this information we/Rotary already knew as we have had a lot of contact with the Ecology department regarding exactly this. We also worked with them on our earlier San Miguel Viejo project – which replicated the model that the Ecology dept had done in San Augustin).
 Don Patterson advised the communities that there was funding available for them to plant trees in their communities (the minimum average wage + trees would be provided by Ecology, but the community would have to approach & organise), the issue of how to water the trees would still have to be solved!

Sapasma is the local municipal govt. organisation responsible for the provision of water to the SMA region.

Ernesto Lopez – chief engineer (Rotary have had several meetings with Ernesto in the early stages of the scoping of this project), discussed their plans for the installation of a well in the upper part of the Los Torres community. The community has paid for a study into the feasibility of the drilling of a well in LT. Water does exist there, at a level of 180metres deep.

They are currently drilling a well. It will provide water for Los Torres & their neighbours Montecillo de Nieto (approx 15 mins drive away).
Points to note
 Sapasma did not divulge how much this will cost the people of LT or Montecillo
 The water has not been tested (is almost 100% likely to be contaminated with fluoride like the water less than 500 mtres away in the family wells in the lower community) so will likely be only useful for household & not Drinking water
 The level of the lower community wells have been decreasing at the rate of more than 1 metre per year, just from single household use. There has been no taking into account how quickly the aquifer will drop given that they plan to pipe it to the houses in 2 communities.
 Water consumption increases dramatically when it is provided on tap & does not have to be carried!
 Water consumption also increases when the consumption per family is hard to measure (ie when it is on tap with no water meter)



Pg 3 of 3

CEDESA
Chela introduced herself & her organisation’s purpose, ie to help camposinos live a sustainable existence & stay on the land.

She had some interesting questions for Sapasma about the sustainability of their approach & the extreme cost to the communities (both financially & cost to the environment). It was agreed that a combination of water supply was necessary as it’s currently not cost effective to build a cistern big enough to supply water to the entire community for all water needs.

She described the technologies that CEDESA teaches & asked the community leaders if there was an interest in – for example – dry toilets, water collection, back yard gardens, bee-keeping. They said they were very interested.

Rotary I explained that Rotary was very interested in helping in the area of Water. That we were looking to make the biggest difference to the most people for the least amount of money & briefly described our plan/project (at this stage).

Enrique said that there is a new DVD available that contains info. about communities that need help with water. He said there are many communities that have no water. I pointed out that we have tried many times with many different departments to identify these & he said this DVD would do the trick.

I will email him for a copy of the DVD.

Enrique Nunez – the presidencia representative
Enrique was very receptive & pro-active (he called the meeting!). He is high level local govt. & is very keen for all of the govt departments & NGO’s to work alongside the community to resolve any issues.

He re-iterated that the door is always open – as did the other department directors.

Enrique called the next meeting for 28th January – 11am – Presidencia office.

13th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

Record of Meeting pg 1 of 1

13th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Where: Los Torres – Health Fair (organised by Judy & Bill in conjunction with Health Dept)

When: Saturday 15th November 8am – 4pm

Who: Bob & Sue Leonard, Laura (Rotary), Judy & Bill (Patronato Pro Ninos) The patronato board, volunteers & staff & Health Department staff, Casa Volunteers & the whole community of Los Torres (& I suspect neighbouring communities)

Project Purpose - SMA Rotary has tasked Bob & 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.

Visit Purpose:

To volunteer at the Health Fair, get to know the community better, see how this day was organised & what it achieved.

Summary of Visit

We met at the Fabrica Aurora carpark & carpooled. I met Mary Caruso (medical director for Patronato Pro Nino) & Maria Aguilar & Juan Camacho – 2 Casa volunteers.

The day was a focus on health, there were various components, first priority was for the kids of the community to have fun.

Medical staff saw each of the 150 children, recorded names & health statistics.

There were 3 different “talks” for the mothers to attend, on preventing accidents in the home, diet & nutrition, hygiene/handwashing, health in pregnancy, & dental health.

The women received diploma’s for attending the talks.

The children received a free colgate toothbrush for visiting the doctor

We collated & the issued goody bags for the mothers, included were – liquid soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, thermometer, brochures on the topics.

We served beans, rice, chicken, tortillas, fruit, juice & water to approx 500 men, women & children from the community (& neighbours).

Important points

The focus was on having fun
There were 2 clowns that provided a fantastic service 1. keeping the kids entertained whilst their mums were in the “talks” but most importantly 2. to organise the children to see the doctors.
150 children were happily led to see the doctor with minimum waiting time. They were given stickers with number on them, the clowns then called for the children in groups, ie all the kids with number 1 stickers, came up to “play” with the clowns then were taken in 2’s to visit the doctor. They were rewarded with a toothbrush – which seemed like a great novelty!
There were 3 bouncy castles & soccer games going on as well.
At the end of the day there were a lot of smiling faces, they had received a goody bag, their diploma’s, information, health checks & a huge nutritious meal. They even had leftovers to take home!
Everyone agreed it was a very successful day (except Judy fell & broke her wrist very badly & had to leave before the end)!

12th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Record of Meeting pg 1 of 2

12th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Where: CEDESA Dolores (approx 1 hr from SMA)

When: Friday 7th November 8am – 4pm

Who: Laura (Rotary), Judy & Bill (Patronato Pro Ninos) Maria Jesus, Maria de la Concepcion, Maria Leova (& son), Cecilia (& son), Hilaria, (Community leaders Los Torres), Chela & Tere Martinez, Holly Yasui, Benigno & partner, & 1 other woman (from CEDESA).

Project Purpose - SMA Rotary has tasked Bob & 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.

Visit Purpose:

For the women of Los Torres to be introduced to the people of CEDESA, what they do & what they can offer. Ultimately for the people of Los Torres to decide if they need assistance to “mobilise” the community & run the water project.

Summary of Visit

The Fishers & I each drove out to Los Torres (Holly waited at the highway for us), & collected the women & children, to drive them to CEDESA in Dolores (a nearby town).

We arrived at CEDESA & met with the CEDESA team, introductions all round. We sat in a semi circle & watched another DVD, this one on the topic of water & conservation.
The discussion was then about what CEDESA does & has done by way of assisting communities to take their own issues & solutions in their own hands. Chela impressed upon the women that they have the skills & ability to be responsible for their own wellbeing & that they need not be reliant on govt. & outside organisations but better work with them towards solving issues & improving the prospects of the community.
There was a lot of discussion (all in Spanish – with Holly translating for me if I missed something). The focus was water & what the women believed the issues were: Scarcity, contamination of fluoride (see important points below), Sapasma & proposed well, river that dries part way through the dry season, cost to buy water, sporadic delivery by municipal trucks.
We had a bite to eat & a cup of tea.

Chela then organised discussion on solutions, she said that each person/family needs to be responsible for their own health, access to water etc. That they need to discuss problems & solutions & work together to solve it, & that the answers were in their hands.

The problem of water can help organise the community!



Record of Meeting pg 2 of 2

12th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

The women said they knew the issues but were unsure how to solve them & asked for help with this.
They decided an assembly was necessary & agreed that on 22nd November CEDESA would travel to Los Torres & help facilitate an assembly with the major discussion being on water issues & solutions.

We were given a tour of CEDESA viewing all of the sustainable technologies they have implemented & provide training on - dry toilets, grey water recycling, backyard gardens, water collection tanks, with discussion about the beehives & fields for crop production.

The women of Los Torres indicated they would be very interested in learning more about natural health methods, & backyard gardens (with the aim to improve the family economy) & also beekeeping.

We then drove them home to Los Torres.
Important points

In previous visits to Los Torres, we (Rotary) had been reluctant to raise the topic of fluoride contamination. The people in the community – although most were showing an obvious symptom of fluorosis – bad teeth – did not have an awareness of the issue. We were unsure how to “break the news”, considering we had no cure or solution to offer.

In the last 2 wks a dental health van- provided by Patronato Pro Ninos, in conjunction with the dept of health - has visited Los Torres & treated the children. During this time the subject of fluoride contamination has been raised & the community now has an awareness of this issue.

They are currently at a loss as to how to solve this, especially since the only source of water they can rely on, comes from contaminated wells.

Action

The Los Torres women will organise an assembly to be held at the school in Los Torres on 22nd Nov at 12midday. They will first publicise it at the forthcoming Health Fair (PPN & Health dept), on the 15th Nov & then will go door to door to explain the purpose & illicit support.
It was suggested they write the pertinent points on a piece of paper & use that as a reference when they talk to each household, in order to cover all points.

Thank you

ANOTHER 11th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

Record of Meeting pg 1 of 1

11th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Where: Los Torres Community (approx 1 hr from SMA)

When: Friday 31st October 9am – 2pm

Who: Laura (Rotary), Judy (Patronato Pro Ninos) Maria Jesus (Delegada Los Torres) Maria de la Concepcion, Silvia, Hilaria,

Project Purpose - SMA Rotary has tasked Bob & 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.

Visit Purpose:

To deliver an invitation for the women leaders of Los Torres to visit CEDESA to meet & understand what CEDESA does & can offer.

Summary of Visit

Judy & I drove out to Los Torres. We met with the women, & were invited into the Delegada’s home. We took with us a laptop to play a DVD as an introduction/overview of CEDESA.

Judy is bilingual, we talked with the women about the possibility of the Rotary Project (we are still treading lightly with this as the community needs to be responsible for driving this project so we are only making suggestions at this point, not wanting to be seen as forcing upon them a project which they believe has no merit). I should point out that all the indicators are there that they not only want this project but are happy to start NOW. (The delegada asked for this already).

We gave them the invitation from CEDESA & explained that we would drive out to Los Torres, pick them up in 2 vehicles & drive them to Dolores to CEDESA for the day. The purpose being for them to get to know more about CEDESA & what they do & ultimately for them to decide if they would like CEDESA’s involvement to solve the water issues in Los Torres.
The women were very receptive & a date was set! We would take them to CEDESA on 7th November.

11th exploratory meeting for water project

This report is in the form of an email from Judy Fisher who made the initial introduction to the Los Torres community for us, for which we are very grateful - who knew then, how it would develop!!

Hi Holly,

As I mentioned on our conversation by cell phone, the visit with Los Torres went very well today. The attendees at the meeting were the Delegado and 3 of the Group Leaders. We introduced the discussion with the topic of water because that is the theme that has been prevalent in our last meetings. They discussed what they perceive as their water issues and brought up the following:
1) No water well in the upper village; need to walk 2 hours 3 times a week for water
2) Wells in lower village sometime are dry in very dry season; and, these wells they understand are causing the dark teeth that the women have. The Patronato Dental Van has been at the village for the last week and the Dentist has been informing them of the problems of fluoride for the teeth.
3) 2 Tinacos from Patronato and large "botes" for the families in the upper community, but insufficient water trucks from the city to keep them filled
4) Contamination of private "botes"
5) Can't keep the level of cleanliness they wish to have in the home because of scarce water.

Next, we read to them the invitation from CEDESA and asked their opinion about going to a meeting to discuss water issues with other community leaders who have or have had water issues. They were in agreement that it would be beneficial to understand more since they are in the process of discussions with SAPASMA (drilling a well) and the Rotary Club (installing water catchments systems.)

Then, we showed them the DVD. At the conclusion, the Delegado said she was very interested in meeting with CEDSESA as she felt she could get help on other issues, not the least of which is cooperation from the Community for a variety of projects. We left the DVD and the Booklet for them to review again before next Friday and asked them to go over both to be prepared for the meeting.

I am attaching 2 files, one the census of Los Torres by family and the second a list of the contacts that I have for Los Torres--people in the community and contacts who are involved with helping the community.

For the meeting on Friday, November 4, we can expect 6 from Los Torres (the Delegado, the 4 Group Leaders and one 4 year old boy), from the Rotary 1 (Laura Stewart) and from PPN 2 (Bill and Judy Fisher). The community leaders did request that the meeting be limited to 10 am to 2 pm as it will take another hour to return to the community.

Laura and I discussed that she would send to you her outline of all of the facts on water in the Community so that CEDESA would have a though understanding before the meeting on Friday, Nov 7.

Should there be any further changes as to attendees, Laura and I will communicate to you very early next week.

Saludos,
Judy Fisher

10th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

Record of Meeting pg 1 of 2

10th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Where: CEDESA - Dolores

When: Thursday 23rd October 9am – 2pm

Who: Gary, Bob & Laura (Rotary), Holly Yasui, Chela Martinez, Tere Martinez (CEDESA)
Project Purpose - SMA Rotary has tasked Bob & 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.

Visit Purpose: For the project to have it’s greatest chance of success, the project team has determined we need to invest a significant amount of time in “mobilising” the community. i.e. getting them fully engaged & acting as driving partners of the project.

Rotary SMA Midday, is primarily an English speaking club & although we have the skills, expertise & experience (Bob Leonard is a world expert on Development) to implement this project, the difference in culture & language present difficulties.
CEDESA is a grass roots organisation that has been established & active for 40 years. They have a history of working with 120 rural (camposino) communities in the northern area of the State that SMA is in (Guanuajato). They have extensive training facilities & their primary focus is environmentally sustainable technologies & to assist people to thrive on the Land, & not be forced to move off the land, to the USA or subsist in urban communities.
This trip was to meet with the organisers of CEDESA & determine their suitability as mobilisation partners in this project.

Summary of Visit

We drove from SMA to CEDESA in Dolores (a nearby town), approx 1hr away. Holly is a volunteer that has been working with CEDESA to raise their profile & an awareness of what they can offer. She is bilingual & assisted with communication. We met with Chela & Tere – 2 sisters that (along with another woman, now passed) established this organisation in 1965 with a Catholic priest named Davalos.

We viewed a dvd which showed that they have been very active over the years, 1stly increasing literacy from 5% of the community to over 80%, & then helping to establish schools, training communities on environmental issues, including water collection & conservation. For 40 years they have been promoting the “art of living in the country”.

We were given a tour of their facilities, which involved grey water recycling, dry/composting toilets, water collection tanks, backyard gardens food production, hives for honey production & fields for large crops production.



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10th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Currently they are hosting a diploma in water studies run by Dr Ortega of UNAM (Mexico’s largest university). It is held ever 2nd Saturday for 8 months. Included in
the course is a section on water testing & water filtration. They currently have a satellite laboratory set up to test water samples for Fluoride, arsenic, magnesium & will later test bacteria. This is of great benefit, as there is currently no access to water testing for the small communities.
The people running CEDESA are a very warm & caring group of people. They have the knack of being able to work with all strata of communities, from the indigenous people to the high level government. They thrive on empowering the people to take full control of their own issues & solutions.
Points of interest

They have “promoters” & “technicians” that visit the communities & assist with both social & technical aspects of the issues being resolved.
They have been active mostly north of Dolores but are interested in spreading their work south of Dolores in the SMA region
They are developing a new focus on the “family economy” enabling families to produce more than they need & have the balance for trade or sale.
From a Development perspective Bob believes they are “text book” examples of how to do it right.

Action:

We need to invite the women leaders of Los Torres to CEDESA to determine if Los Torres would like CEDESA’s help with this project. CEDESA (via Holly) will work on a suitable date & Laura & Judy (from Patronato Pro Ninos) will deliver the invitation.

9th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

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9th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Where: Los Torres (via Salida Dolores)

When: Monday 29th Sept 2008, 9.15-2pm

Who: Bill & Judy Fisher, Patronato Pro Ninos, Maria de Jesus (Los Torres delegada) Jose Miguel (delegada’s husband), Gary, Gordon, Bob, David & Laura (Rotary),
Purpose - SMA Rotary has tasked Bob & 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.

Patronato Pro Ninos: are a local non profit organisation. They work closely with the department of health to provide medical & dental services to the communities in need. They have a relationship with the people of Los Torres, they have been providing them with vitamin supplements to add to their tortillas. An interesting point they made is in future they would do more work before providing the supplements, to educate & inform. The take-up time would be faster then. There had been some resistance from the people that were unaware of the benefits, but the word is now spreading & the mothers are now keen to keep adding the supplements.
We met at the Fabrica Aurora & drove out the road to Dolores. We turned at the turnoff for Casa de Aves continued towards Casa de Aves & then took the right fork (with Casa de Aves to the left). We carried on a dirt road for some time with a few muddy patches to negotiate. (drive is approx 45mins from La Aurora).
2nd Meeting with the delegada.

We were very lucky to be taken to the community with Bill, Judy as they already have a relationship with the community delegada (community organiser) Maria de Jesus.
This was the 2nd meeting with the delegada on this topic. It included a bigger team to gather more information & for more of the team to see what the Los Torres scenario would involve.

Judy facilitated a Q&A session between the delegada & her husband & our team.
Points of interest

The previous meeting in Los Torres yielded a lot of information. This report covers just the additional points/information raised.

The lower community have 10 pozos (wells), family owned, some families share the water with others that don’t have a well.
The pozos are very shallow (by comparison with other communities) only 10-15 mtrs deep.
The wells were only 3 mtrs deep 20 years ago, they have to be dug deeper each year (i.e. 1988 3 mtrs deep, 2008 15 mtrs deep)
At the end of the dry season the wells are almost dried up.

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9th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee
The wells are used for household & gardens but not agriculture.
Approx. 6 wks ago Sapasma visited the village to see whether it was feasible to drill a well (in the top community)
Sapasma said the well would need to be 80 mtrs deep.
The community had to pay for the feasibility study – US$3000
If Sapasma digs the well it is supposed to service 3 communities, Los Torres, Cruz del Palmar & Montecillo de ?
The other 2 communities were not asked to pay for the feasibility study (according to the delegada’s husband).
Sapasma would apparently pipe the water to the other 2 communities, from Los Torres.
Sapasma is to return in October, with a proposal. Each family will be expected to contribute to the cost of the drilling of the well (nb in another community that community was charged US$300 per family).
It is not known if the other 2 communities – to benefit from the well – will be asked to contribute.
As mentioned in previous notes, the Los Torres mothers already meet on Friday’s at 3pm to discuss Health Department topics (from Health dept supplied Topic Cards), approx ¾ of the mums meet at 3 on Friday, the other ¼ meet on Saturday. The sessions are led by Maria Concepcion.

The delegada & her family put on a large lunch for us all including freshly made tortillas, chicheron, beans, rice & the contribution of baking goods we bought.
The team ate a scrumptious lunch, then viewed the gardens & looked at the roofs of the houses. Then we drove to the upper community to look at the school & water facilities there.

Action:

Contact Sapasma to determine their plans for Los Torres (Bob will ask Enrique to email Ernesto Lopez (the chief engineer) to ask our questions.

8th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

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8th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Where: Los Torres (via Salida Dolores)

When: Thurs Sept 11th 2008, 9.15-12.30

Who: Bill & Judy Fisher, Kitty (?) Patronato Pro Ninos, Maria de Jesus (Los Torres delegada), Laura Stewart (Rotary),

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.

Patronato Pro Ninos: are a local non profit organisation. They work closely with the department of health to provide medical & dental services to the communities in need. They have a relationship with the people of Los Torres, they have been providing them with vitamin supplements to add to their tortillas. An interesting point they made is in future they would do more work before providing the supplements, to educate & inform. The take-up time would be faster then. There had been some resistance from the people that were unaware of the benefits, but the word is now spreading & the mothers are now keen to keep adding the supplements.
We met at the Aurora & drove out the road to Dolores. We turned at the turnoff for Casa de Aves continued towards Casa de Aves & then took the right fork (with Casa de Aves to the left). We carried on a dirt road for some time with a few muddy patches to negotiate. (drive is approx 45mins from Aurora).
Meeting with the delegada.

I was very lucky to be taken to the community with Bill, Judy & Kitty as they already had a relationship with the community delegada (community organiser) Maria de Jesus.
I immediately noted that Maria’s teeth were badly fluoride damaged & she was self conscious of them (covering them with her hand when she laughed). The other women we saw also all had damaged teeth.

These are the points I discovered with discussion & Q&A with Maria (luckily Judy & Kitty were fluent Spanish speakers).

Points of interest

A percentage of the men are in the United States

Most of the other men work in SMA Mon-fri & only return for weekends

There are 2 distinct geographical regions of Los Torres – the upper (ariba) & the lower (abajo).






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8th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

The upper region – approx ½ of the community (& general community facts)

the closest community well is 1 hour walk away
they have a 5000 ltr tinaco supplied by Patronato pro nino
the municipality sends a truck to supply water every 8 days (this water is free)
the truck fills the tinaco & the people’s water containers (huge buckets with lids)
when the water runs out they have to walk to their well (1 hr each way) carting the water back with them, either by burro, wheel barrow or if they are lucky private truck.
If carting without a truck the maximum they can carry is 4 x 20ltr garrafons.
They estimated they make the trek to the well 2 to 3 times a week.(ie the tinaco water doesn’t last very long)
I don’t know the quality of the water from their well.
The tinaco has 2 big blue filters on it (not sure of their contents,) & they have colloidal silver tablet inside the tank. Patronato Pro Nino provided these & it is in their “charter” to maintain these (Judy said this was done 6mthly)
There are approx 3 dry toilets (Maria thought) in the upper region. Apart from those there are no other toilets, people just go on the ground.
There is no Comite de Agua in this community.
There are 3 mother’s groups that meet every Friday from 3-5pm, they meet to discuss topics on a set of cards provided by the Health Department, we met the woman that organises the groups (Ilaria), she estimated about 15 attend each meeting. Mostly the young mothers.
The majority of the households cook with wood stoves, most do not have flues or chimneys
They grow in their gardens, mostly maize,corn, beans, squash (& squash flowers)
There was a previous program (some time in the past) by DIF who provided them with seeds of other plants, they have run out & would like to have more. Onions would be good.
We were sitting beside a house made partly of adobe, it looked to be deteriorating on the outside (had been coated but the coating & parts of the bricks had washed away), this structure was 14yrs old.

Lower region (approx ½ of the community)

This part of the community has their own family wells.
The water has been tested & was very high in fluoride (2.4mg/l per the testing data from Ecologia).
They have only about 4 dry toilets, & otherwise go to the toilet anywhere.








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8th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

We visited the school

It has a brand new toilet block with 6 flush toilets! They are not using them at the moment as there is a leak & they can’t fix it as the cisterns are in the wall (no access) I therefore couldn’t see what litre the cistern for each toilet was.
Flush toilets are a huge novelty to these children, the majority of them have no toilet at all at home, & just go on the ground wherever…
They had a bank of 3 hand basins, the water had been turned off by the teachers as the kids had blocked the pipes up when they first got it (a week ago). Water on tap is a novelty for these kids, they obviously thought it was fun to play with it.
Right beside the toilet block were 2 1500 ltr tinacos. These had taps at the bottom (although the tanks were slightly raised) the kids were drinking directly out of the spout from these tanks, the water shot straight out horizontally at force & they kids would put their mouths in the stream & try to suck up the water as it rushed past, I would say about 20% was drunk the rest was in a large puddle that they were tiptoe-ing in to take their drinks!
There is a cistern of approx 2.5x2.5x2.5 (approx 15,000 ltrs) & a pump which pumps the water to the tinaco on the roof to feed the toilets.
The waste is piped to 2 septic tanks with a grey water recycling system
It is supposed to be piped to water the nopal orchard but the teacher mentioned they are missing a tap at the moment so it’s not working.
The school has 80 children
They have 3 dry toilets
They have small nopal orchard
A large percentage of the children had obvious fluoride damage to their teeth
There is a DIF kitchen at the school, the food is supplied by them & the mothers (a team of 4 at a time) provide breakfast & lunch to the children
the school was central, large & well resourced (they have computers & overhead projectors in the classroom – ideal for training sessions)

Other observations –

it is a small community with not many houses “dotted” around
they have electricity
the usual pepsi signs were on the tienda (they have pepsi)
there is also a kinder (preschool)
there is no secondaria – the nearest telesecondaria (satellite secondary school) is approx 40mins walk (cross country) away.

Action

Laura to get in contact with Mary Caruth (on the board of PPN) she has a lot of stats & research on this community.
Laura to contact FAI/PEASMA to see what information they can provide about this community.

7th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

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7th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Where: Sylvia’s house (From FAI)

When: Mon Aug 25th 2008, 6-7.20

Who: Bob Leonard, Laura Stewart (Rotary), Sylvia 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.

Meeting discussion

We surmised with Sylvia the situation we had found in our visits to Tierra Blanca & the communities near Jalpa. All of the have access to household water, Sapasma has supplied wells (with the financial contribution of the community in many instances), & mostly pipes the water to a central holding tank & then to each of the households. The communities mostly buy their water in garrafons or boil water &/or add chlorine drops.

The problem is not (that we’ve discovered so far at least) lack of water. The possibilities for improvements to be made in the lives of the people of these communities is

To provide safe drinking water (& so they don’t have to buy or boil it, as it is expensive).
To provide an infrastructure to distribute “dam” water for food production
To provide the materials to build dry toilets (so as not to contaminate the ground or well water with faecal matter)

Safe drinking water can be provided by:

Purifying the water
Collecting rainwater

Both of these present challenges, to collect enough rainwater to really make a difference to a whole community requires a huge cistern & system of management & distribution.
Purifying the water can be complex because of the number of potential contaminants, bacterial, fluoride etc. There are issues involved in ensuring the project is sustainable, ie that the filters are able to be replaced when need be.
Sylvia suggested a community Juan Gonzalez. (This community was also identified by Ecologia as not having a well).

It has popn of approx 294 with a close neighbouring community of Los Ortega (12 people).
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7th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

FAI have been working with this community (demonstrates co-operation), they already have 40 dry toilets, just need about 30 more to be completely sanitary.
They have shallow artesian wells for individual families but no main community well
Currently a lot of the families have to cart water up to where they live (in the higher areas).

Sylvia suggested that Rotary:

Join with Sapasma & provide a community well (the current family wells are shallow so it should not be too expensive – wont have to drill too deep)
Provide a central collection cistern & piping to the houses
Pump the water from the well to the cistern
Look at providing a water collection system as well to provide drinkable water
This way they will have – dry toilets, drinkable water & household water.
Use FAI to provide training re water conservation & the systems & drive/oversee the implementation of the project(s) estimated cost would be 1 person 2days per wk, approx US$450-500 per month, + travel expenses (bus fares) for 10mths ie around US$5000.


Action –

We need to enquire with Sapasma to see whether they have a pozo planned.

If Project is undertaken –

Work with Sapasma to draw up a contract to supply water (re comite de agua) ongoing regulations/management of water supply.
Look at less expensive method to build dry toilet (currently costs US$2000 per toilet to provide the entire structure )

6th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

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6th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Where: Daytrip – Tierra Blanca

When: Fri Aug 15th 2008, 8.00pm – 3.30pm (including approx .75 hr Comida)

Who: Bob Leonard, Sue Leonard & Laura Stewart Rotary, Norma, Carlos, Luis 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 visit:

We went to the Municipality of Tierra Blanca – in the state of GTO.

We met at the FAI office on Hidalgo, then went to Norma’s house to pick up her car as there were too many of us to go in Carlos’ car. Bob paid $200pesos, Laura paid $100pesos for the gas contribution.

We stopped briefly on the way & met with Carlos’ family that have an Ecology Centre, they have water collection & a sweat lodge there, his family are involved in the teaching of the community in Tierra Blanca, on the subject of conservation, & organic fertilisation & pest control.

We met with Luis – that works with FAI. He explained FAI began working with 12 communities in the area for 16 years ago. Their aim was to re-establish the ecosystem in the area. When they arrived there, there was very little growing & a lot of erosion & no soil. They initially worked to establish a collection base for soil, by creating stone terraces on the hillsides. They left after 10 years & have just returned again 6 years on.
FAI are very heartened to see that the communities have carried on their good work in their absence & the improvement to the environment is huge. Where there was nothing but erosion & protruding rock face, there is now a thriving eco-system of small plants & moist areas. It slows the flow of the water enough that it also regenerates the aquifer.

They have also been constructing bordos (dams) & now are faced with the issue of how to manage & distribute the water from the dams to the areas they need to use the water in. IE backyard gardens (more on that later) for food production.
Torrecitas Community

Luis took us to visit a Nopal Orchard. This was a large green house structure that covers an orchard of Nopals (prickly pear cactus) for harvest. He explained the process of producing the nopals, they are reasonably fast growing, a paddle grows in a month, & each plant (once pruned correctly) can be growing multiple paddles each month at each juncture of the plant.

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6th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Some of the facts Luis told us

The govt. (SAGARPA govt ministry for agriculture program) will subsidise these projects 50/50 but offer no training (FAI can provide training)
Sedesol (ministry for social development – Secretary desarollo de social) funds FAI training
The green house cost $200,000 pesos (US$20k) payback period is estimated to be 5 years.
Each plant costs 4-6 pesos (single paddle to plant)
16 plants per m2
Lead time between planting & harvest is 1.5mths before it produces enough to harvest
16 nopalitos per month
The nopalitos are harvested for both “seed” & sale
Market is in Qto (market is much larger than current supply level)
Plants are drip irrigated (fertiliser can be included in the water)
Irrigation costs approx 14,000 pesos (including tinacos – storage tanks)
They use cow dung as mulch (fertiliser & prevents evaporation)
They sell the nopalitos per kilo (approx 5 pesos)
Nopalitos are very high in vitamin c (especially if eaten raw), they are thought to prevent osteoporosis & are curative for diabetes
Nopolitos are “nutria-cetic” health giving plants
FAI is currently working with 450 families
Nopals wont start to grow a “baby” until it knows it has enough to completely grow it, ie if you see a baby growing, you can be sure it will grow to maturity.
Optimum temp for production is 25-33 degrees C (hence there is better rate of growth under a greenhouse than outside, but it can be grown outside – just at a slower rate)
They pump water from the river (at the bottom of the property) to the tinaco’s for storage & distribution by irrigation system
They have 3 months with no water Dec- Feb
They have created a collection pond – diverted from the river – that lasts almost the entire year.

Luis described FAI’s approach to training

Social Capital – to build a social structure, gives responsibilities & structure to the community, they form a “co-operative” working together on all of the identified responsibilities & also for bulk purchases etc.
technical know-how they teach them how to prune, fertilise, control disease etc
economical integration covers aspects such as “the market” how it works, product (definition) , production system, admin, monetary controls etc.
they also teach goals, planning, timelines & deadlines.

Observation
I noted that they had large tinacos that Luis explained they filled with water by pumping from the river. They also had a huge roof on what looked like a warehouse which had no guttering or water collection. I asked why the tinaco was not positioned to catch the water from the roof & so they could use rain water directly.
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6th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

It is not in their thinking to do that, they figure in the rainy season there is plenty of water in the river so they just use that. I pointed out it would save using the river & also save using electricity to pump the water up.
It would be a simple matter to attach some guttering & down piping(spouting) to the huge roof, especially since they already had expensive tinaco storage.

Next we viewed some more rock terraces & an example of a dam they had constructed. It was surrounded by lush greenery. Luis explained it had all been achieved by the community. They have equivalent of “working bees” & then do the same on their own land.

They have also constructed many dry toilets in 3-5 of the communities, to prevent groundwater contamination & create a source of rich fertilizer.

Luis described FAI’s intention to demonstrate/implement back yard gardens, he took us to see 2 families that have begun to implement this garden.

Backyard Garden info

100m2 is enough to produce vegetables to feed a family of 8 for 1 year
By teaching them to grow their own variety of vegetables they are ensuring the family has a healthy diet (not just tortillas & beans), this helps prevent diabetes improves their nutrition generally.
Water required is 1 litre per m2, ie 100m2 requires 100 litres daily
First they plant wheat, then plough it in to provide nitrogen rich fertilizer (this takes 20days) wheat breaks down quickly
When purchasing seed they should check the catalogue numbers to ensure they are not genetically modified seeds
FAI have been training the communities to grow 14 different varieties of veges

Requirements

Many of the communities have dams that have been built in order to collect the water for food production. Currently they have no way to carry the water to the gardens. They would need tinacos at each family for storage, a pump at each dam & pipes to pipe the water to the tinacos. They would also need to make someone responsible for each dam & the distribution of water from it.
Rough costings/estimates of assistance to 70 families wanting to grow backyard gardens.

70 families

Approx 25 dams

Need approx 25 pumps (US$340 per pump) = $8500

70 Tinacos – 1500 ltr = $100 70x100 = $7000

Tubing/installation etc 70 x $50 = $3500

Total = $19,500

Question raised – Gary/David can you answer this?

What is the rotary definition of a building? Is a greenhouse a building or equipment?

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6th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Conclusion

It was very encouraging to see what can be achieved with good guidance & structure (as provided by FAI).
These communities are good examples of what a difference training & involvement of the community in their own decisions & sustainable projects, can make.
The opportunity for assistance for Rotary in this areas are:

contribution to a water distribution infrastructure
contribution to water storage facilities (tinacos, cisterns, storage tanks)
water collection/harvesting units for drinkable water

These communities already have household water provided by Sapasma drilled pozos & reservoirs, they (like the 2 previous communities we have visited) buy their “drinkable” water in garrafons or boil the water & add chlorine drops.

5th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

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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
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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

4th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

Where: Sapasma, (Head office opposite Liverpool)

When: Wed Aug 13th 2008, 9.15pm

Who: Bob Leonard, Laura Stewart & Enrique Orvañanos (& Cessy – Enrique’s partner)SMA Rotary. Ernesto Lopez (Sapasma, Subdirector de Apoyo Rural)
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.

Sapasma is the Municipal water organisation, responsible administering & maintaining supply of water (as directed by the Presidencia Municipal - & CNA) to communities in & around SMA

Discoveries/discussion/decisions:

We explained Rotary’s goals. Then specifically asked which of the communities (with a population of more than 150) needed assistance with the supply of or purification of existing supply, of water.



There was a lot of discussion about the feasibility & cost ‘v’ benefit of water collection systems as a total solution. Ernesto explained that most communities were unlikely to be able to store enough water for the whole year (from rainy season to rainy season) & that there needed to be tight controls over who used the water & for what purpose, for example they shouldn’t waste water on their animals therefore depriving neighbours of water.
The current method of water supply by Sapasma is to identify well sites & then pipe the water to as many neighbouring communities as it can reach. There is often dissention amongst communities as they don’t wish (or can’t afford) to share the water.

We asked if the project supplied a cistern & collection & distribution system for the rainy season (& however long it lasted), could Sapasma then truck water to them for the remainder of the season. As long as we had some form of agreement with the people in the community about the conservation & maintenance of the collection system. Ernesto thought that may be a good solution.
Ernesto showed us a map detailing all of the current Sapasma supplied sites – we asked for a copy & were told that we would need to apply in writing to the director (Alfonso) & then we would be supplied with one. It is a comprehensive map showing the entire SMA region, all communities coded by having water or not.




Record of Meeting pg 2 of 2

4th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Ernesto explained that it is essential that a contract is drawn up between the community & the project administrator – ensuring “buy in” from the community. Listing the responsibilities of all parties. We agreed that our approach would be a best practice Developmental approach whereby all stakeholders were involved in all parts of the process from initiation to completion & to ensure it’s ongoing sustainability.

Ernesto showed us a very comprehensive set of books provided by Comision Estatal del Agua de Gto, to members of communities titled

Mejores Comites, Mejores Comunidades. Website www.guanujuato.gob.mx.

They were guides on maintainance, setting up committees to administer the water systems etc, well written to the target audience.

NB They could be a source of other helpful development materials.

Terms to remember:

Comite pro obra.

Comite de agua potable

Apoyo = asístanse

Deposito = cistern/reservoir
Action

Would Enrique –, please write a letter to Alfonso Sautto asking for a copy of the map detailing “donde existen tuberias de agua potable” on Rotary Letterhead – for use in researching the needs for the water project. This would be best in Spanish…
Questions

Enrique – apologies, but since the meeting was entirely in Spanish I may have missed things…

1.did Ernesto make an arrangement for getting the information to us re the communities that have a popn larger than 150 without access (or planned access) to safe drinking water?

2. do you have any info to add, either specifically relating to the project or information for background for the writing of the proposal?

3rd Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

Record of Meeting pg 1 of 2

3rd Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Where: Department of Ecology, (Municipal offices on Rd to Queretaro)

When: Monday Aug 11th 2008, 2.15pm

Who: Bob Leonard, Laura Stewart & Enrique Orvañanos SMA Rotary. Julio Gonzalez (Dept of Ecology, “monitoreo de la calidad del agua & aire”)
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.

Department of Ecology is the Municipal organisation, responsible for monitoring, & improving the quality of, the ecology of the area of SMA.

Discoveries/discussion/decisions:

We explained Rotary’s goals. We specifically asked which of the communities, on the list of communities identified to be affected by dangerously high levels of fluoride (a list previously provided to Rotary & the reason the San Miguel Viejo water collection project was undertaken), the govt. were planning to do projects for & therefore which ones would still need assistance.
Julio identified 9 communities that the Federal Govt. have allocated funding for & 2 that the state govt. have allocated funding for.

The Federal Govt. have apparently allowed $1,270,000pesos (approx US$127k) to do the projects for 9 communities. (approx $US14k per project). (We were not made aware of the funding allocated by the state govt for the 2 projects they are funding).
One community – Guerrero has rejected the Ecology dept’s offer of a water collection project in their area, despite the fact that they have one of the highest levels of fluoride poisoning in their pozos (wells). The Cacique (unspoken boss or Don) has threatened legal action through his lawyer. No reason was given, & the Cacique has prevented it for the whole community.
Julio identified a number of communities that were not on the list for projects.

El Nigromante - has the largest popn (more than 1100). The Ecology dept believed Rotary was planning a project there so did not add it to their list. Therefore we (Bob, Enrique & I) believe it is our responsibility to add this location to the top of our list (assuming they would like to participate).






Record of Meeting pg 2 of 2

3rd Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

The other communities with recorded fluoride levels on the “Fluoride List” (that currently have no projects planned) are: (with risk category & popn in brackets)

Guerrero (mentioned above) (high) (190)
Los Torres (high) (335)
San Francisco (high) (172)
Vergel de los Laureles (moderate) (189)
Loma de Cocina (moderate) (283)
Salitrillo (moderate) (276)
Lindero (moderate) (171)
La Cieneguita (moderate) (875)
Cruz del Palmar High manganeso contamination levels (796)

Other communities to be considered are:

These are communities with no Pozos or access to water:

(popn. Figures in brackets)

Cañada de San Jose (23)
Juan Glez (294) neighbouring Los Ortega (12)
La Joyita (11)
Pinicillo (35)
La Angostura (21)
San Isidro de la Cañada (112)
Xotolar (40)
Los Toriles (166)
Los Toures II (51)

Julio gave us copies of the photos of examples of various water collection methods of the communities listed immediately above. Including shallow “wells”, small dams, sulphurous springs & “puddles”.

Julio’s contact details are:

Ph 120 4332 Mon-Fri 8.30-4. Email juliobernal@sanmiguelallende.gob.mx

2nd record of mtg 11.08.08

Record of Meeting pg 1 of 1

2nd Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Where: Sapasma, (Head office across from Liverpool)

When: Monday Aug 11^th 2008, 1.15pm

Who: Bob Leonard, Laura Stewart & Enrique Orvañanos SMA Rotary. Alfonso Sanchez (Director of Sapasma)

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.

Sapasma is the Municipal water organisation, responsible for administering & maintaining supply of water to communities in & around SMA.

Discoveries/discussion/decisions:

We explained our goals to Alfonso.

He told us that there were essentially 150 communities in SMA, 80 with water & 70 without.

He said that people believed there were more communities, but that they are really small communities or “casario’s”.

Bob enquired about Cruz del Palmar – popn of approx 1100, but with naturally contaminated wells. He mentioned they are building another well there.

He mentioned that there was essentially no surface water usage that lasted the whole year as all the areas of surface water dry up at various stages before the next rainy season.

The meeting was essentially a short one as Alfonso advised he was not the best person in Sapasma to be talking to. He advised us to make a meeting time with his engineer Ernesto Lopez.

Meeting ended. New meeting time to be advised.

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.