Juan Gonzalez Site Visit – Pilot Cistern

Today Tony DeCrosta and I traveled to the Juan Gonzalez to check on the progress of the pilot cistern and to arrange the delivery of the rest of the materials for that project which consists of 16 cisterns and 4 Rotoplast installations. 

We had been informed by the community that they wanted us to try to deliver the balance of materials, especially the chicken wire so they could begin the weaving of the wires to form the cylinders.

After a bit of confusion in getting to Juan Gonzalez we finally arrived. Juan Gonzalez is definitely “over the hill and through the woods”. It is about four miles off of the main highway down an unmarked road and across a seasonal river that had been unpassable only a few weeks ago. 

We arrived to find the pilot proceeding exceptionally well. The final plastering was being done on the inside of the cistern under the guidance of our teaching construction worker, Filiberto. They planned to put on the top cap later in the day. 

There were about 8 women and 2 men working and offering much advice to me as well. It is a lovely group of people with good humor and great pride in what they are accomplishing. Consistently it is the women who do the bulk of the work in these projects.

Upon arriving I determined that I had gotten confused over the total number of cisterns being built and had arranged the deliver for 14 more cisterns when, in fact, there are 15 more to be built. Fortunately I was able to reach Hierro Comercial to have them load the additional materials on the delivery truck. Hierro Comercial sent out the delivery truck late today.

Upon leaving as we were going down the four wheel access only road we "ran into" three woman carrying a very heavy cooler loaded with freshly made tamales. I stopped and offered them a ride and they said they were happy to be walking and they were taking the tamales down to the school to feed the kids. They eagerly offered us a few tamales which we more eagerly accepted. A beautiful and delicious finish to a beautiful day in the community of Juan Gonzalez.

This project includes the installation of four Rotoplast (prefabricated cisterns of 1,100 liters each) in Juan Gonzalez. This happens at times for older persons, generally living alone who cannot physically participate in the cistern construction but who have participated fully in the community’s organization for the project. 

Most times, they are also living in a house that has a roof too small to collect enough order over the rainy season to fill our standard 12,000 liter cistern. In Juan Gonzalez, three prefabricated cisterns have been included in the project for this reason. 

At Juan Gonzalez there is a fourth Rotoplast for a member of the community that will participate fully in the construction process but who plans to move houses in about one year. Thus, portability of the cistern is necessary and after much discussion by the project participants we decided this was the best alternative available to handle that situation. The Rotoplast and PVC materials cost $1,900 pesos vs $5,700 for a typical cistern.

Reported by Lee Carter, Rotary San Miguel Midday.

La Banda / Montecillo de Nieto - Pre-Project Planning Meeting -

Tony DeCrosta (Rotary), Saul Juarez (CEDESA) and I traveled to La Banda today to get the second project started for our Global Grant 1422619. The pilot cistern in Juan Gonzalez is being completed this week.

We met at the community center in La Banda. After introductions of everyone in attendance, we talked about the process that had been followed by the persons in these two communities to finally come to the top of the list of those waiting for the Rotary water harvesting project. 

The families involved have done other projects through CEDESA and COCIRA during these two years which included dry toilets, stoves to replace open fire cooking, backyard gardening, and bee keeping. I asked about why they wanted to build cisterns and, in addition to concerns about fluoride contamination, they discussed water quality as it related to the obligatory chlorination of the SAPASMA well.

Next we discussed the importance of viewing this project not as a onetime event to work together, but part of a lifelong process of teaming up to make permanent and sustainable change in their community. This project is just one more step toward improving many aspects of their lives through their own initiative. Water without contaminants is just one step to improving health. Nutrition, relationships, cooperation, and mutual assistance by capitalizing on individual’s strengths are some of the future steps to be considering.

It was decided that the pilot training cistern would be built at the Primary School in Rancho Nuevo La Banda as it is equidistant between La Banda and Montecillo de Nieto. Saul reviewed with the participants their obligations by being a part of this project: 1. Participation in the construction of the pilot is mandatory. 2. Each group must have a qualified construction worker (albanil) on their team. 3. They must form work groups and help build all cisterns within their group. Building the cistern independently by the family only, is not allowed.

In Montecillo de Nieto, there are 8 families and they will all work together as one group. That group consists of: Hilaria Ramirez who is the person responsible for the overall communication within this group and with CEDESA and Rotary as needed. Her telephone number is 415.xxx.3273. Ana Gabriela Jiménez Jimenez is the “second” responsible and her telephone number is 415.xxx.7486. The rest of the group are Liliana Jimenez Damian, Alejandra Morales Jimenez, Angelica Jimenez Jimenez. Fabiola Pastor Ramirez, Maria Cruz Jiménez Balthazar, and Mayra Mirela Pastor Blanca. They will report next week, who will be the albanil to work with them.

In La Banda we will be building 10 cisterns in addition to the pilot cistern. (Total for this mini-project is 19 cisterns.) The Banda group will divide into two work teams as follows. Ma. De los Angeles Ramirez Vasquez was elected to be the overall responsible person in coordinating La Banda. Her phone number is 415.xxx.7246.

Group 1: Reina Ramirez Vasquez, group leader (phones: 415.xxx.0206 and 415.xxx.9420). The rest of the group includes Ma. Carmen Vásquez Ramirez, Concepción Vásquez Caporal, Ma. Elena Ramirez Vásquez and Maria de los Angeles Ramirez Vásquez. The albañil to work with the group is Marcario Ramirez Robles.

Group 2 consists of Ines Ramirez Pastor, responsible with no phone but borrowing the phone of Francisca Ramirez Blanca 415.xxx.3608. The rest of the group includes Carolina Ramirez Ramirez, Ma. Anna Gonzalez Ramirez and Catalina Ramirez Pastor. The will inform us who will be the albanil at the next meeting.

Following this we discussed the timing of this project relative to the upcoming harvest and Christmas obligations. I had been informed this morning that our primary supplier, Hierro Comercial of Dolores Hidalgo, would not be able to receive the special order chicken wire required for the cisterns until the first week in December. They had also called around to many other distributors to see if they could get the wire elsewhere with no luck. Getting this wire has always been a big challenge in our past projects. 

Hierro Comercial is delivering the balance of materials to Juan Gonzalez this week and they said if there was sufficient wire to do the pilot in La Banda that they would deliver those materials. It turns out that there is not additional wire available at this time.

After much discussion, it was decided that unless the wire could be available within 15 days that it would be better to wait to begin the project until after Three Kings Day on January 6, 2015. ie since the wire is not available, we will wait to begin in January of next year.

I have subsequently talked with Hierro Comercial and I will be providing them with a list of communities and estimated number of cisterns that will be built in early 2015. If there will be a price increase in any of the materials, particularly we normally have price increases in the wire, we will look into pre-paying for those materials so that Hierro Comercial can stock pile the materials in December to be used in January through March of 2015. Hierro Comercial has been the provider of 90% of the materials over the past 7 years and proven themselves to be a trustworthy partner in these projects. Because of that long standing relationship, I am comfortable that prepaying for materials to avoid price increases is a good decision in maximizing our use of funding for this project.

Following the meeting, we had a nice late lunch provided by the members of the La Banda group.

Reported by Lee Carter, Rotary San Miguel Midday