Where: Los Torres Kindergarten.
When: 24th February 2009 1.30pm – 3pm
Who: Benigno (Cedesa), David Gillis (Videographer for CEDESA), Laura (Rotary). George & Anne Stewart (Laura’s dad & Stepmum) & approx 25 men & women & 10 kids.
Purpose: Today is the 2nd day of the demonstration of the building of a 12,000 litre cistern by CEDESA (Funded by SMCF Grant). This will enable the community to build their own cisterns when the large Rotary Project is initiated.
The community had previously divided into 4 groups of 11 with a commitment that at least 2 people from each group should attend each of the 4 day sessions, to learn the entire process of building a cistern & the roof & piping system that supports the collection & storage of rainwater.
Summary of the day
The day had started at 10am as planned & they had made huge progress by the time we got there.
Since yesterday,
the cistern pad had been poured
the cistern wire cylinder was in place
the plywood form was “chocked” to the inside of the cylinder.
they had begun cementing the 1st outside layer
While we were there we observed (& photographed)
women helping mixing the concrete & carting it to the men to “slap” up
men slapping the concrete onto the wire form
women serving drinks & food to the workers (& kids)
we interviewed on camera several of the men & women, my Spanish is not good but we asked them to talk a little about the project & scarcity of water etc.
We left around 3pm
NB we were not able to attend the 3rd & 4th demo days.
At the next meeting I attended I took additional photos of the project now that it had been completed.
The roof had been rimmed with bricks, with a concrete moulding on the inside angle to remove the sharp 90degree angle where the brick meets the roof (for ease of cleaning)
The roof had been coated with a natural impermeable substance.
The pipes had been attached both sides of the roof, feeding back to the cistern.
The cistern had been completed, with lid, overflow pipe, fully lined, low gauge with tap for cleaning purposes, tap around ½ mtr from bottom (to reduce sediment), & external clear tube to monitor the depth of the water contained. (see additional photos).
Photo album available at the following link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lauramex/LosTorresPilotProjectDay1?feat=directlink
