Water Harvesting Education Program in Los Platanos

Over 30 participants attended the 3-day Water Harvesting Education Program  (February 20-23) in Los Platanos. The participants were from the communities of Los Platanos, Vergel de Guadalupe & San Cayetano in the municipality of San Luis de la Paz in the state of Guanajuato.

This was the first time Rotary Midday of San Miguel de Allende & CEDESA have visited this community; invited by volunteer community organizer Lucha Villafuerte & Father Zesati to help provide solutions to the contaminated water in the Independence Aquifer.

On day one of the program, between singing, dancing & eating, the participants learned how important water is to life & how to avoid contaminating water in the way they use water . Participants were astonished to learn that only 2% of water on Earth is suitable for human consumption & resolved to use it wisely. The ‘grandmothers’ in the group spoke to us about how they used water long ago which caused the group to reflect on the wastefulness of modern-day usage.

Day two was full of dynamic activities focused on how water in these communities became polluted & how this affected health.  The day started with participants creating a mural of their watershed & learning where their water comes from. They discovered there were three types of pollutants; chemical, mineral & biological, some of which they have control over & some they do not.

The promoters showed photos of adults & children with various stages of fluorosis & arsenic poisoning (fluoride & arsenic both contaminate local water supplies), which caused much discussion. A guest from a nearby community shared the problems her own community is experiencing; the tap water is highly contaminated & has caused several cases of cancer, kidney failure, & death. She reported the municipal government denies that the health problems are caused by city water. She is working with a committed group of 8 concerned citizens to help bring awareness of this serious issue. She heard about the work of Rotary and CEDESA & came to seek help and resources.

Day three of the program began with an original song & sketches about why we shouldn’t drink or cook with tap water. CEDESA & Rotary Midday member, Lee Carter, got in on the act with a humorous role play about a community rallying around clean water for their children.  The participants concluded that harvesting rainwater in cisterns was the best solution to their problem. They were enthusiastic about starting cistern building the following week.

At the conclusion of the 3-day prog. the participants agreed the problem of contaminated water is everyone’s problem & they will work together to build cisterns & to spread awareness in their communities.

Eighty-one cisterns are in the process of being built by communities in the San Luis de la Paz area.

Submitted by: Wendy Coulson (Rotary Peace Fellow/Curriculum Developer)

Ready for a Top Hat: Salitrillo Cistern Project

Day Three - 16th September 2016

It’s been two days since my last visit and I can’t believe the progress the build team has made. Not only has the concrete base of the cistern been set, but the walls of the cistern are up, and the metal work for the “gorro” or cap is laid out on the ground.

At this stage, you can see just how massive the finished cistern will be. Four workers are busy inside the cylinder applying the next-to-last coat of concrete. 

Cement is applied first in one direction (horizontal), then after a short period for layer-one cement to set up, a second layer is overlaid in the opposite direction (vertical). 

The bidirectional application makes for tough and water-tight walls. I am amazed to learn that, when full, the walls flex. Okay, the walls don’t actually bulge, but the ferro-cement expands dynamically under the weight of the water.

The “masa” or concrete mud for the gorro is mixed at a ratio of four parts cement to one-part sand, and significantly stiffer than the walls because the wet mix is applied directly to the metal mesh without the aid of plywood backing.

The gorro is equipped with an access door to permit maintenance on the interior of the cistern. 

And the exterior of the cistern is fitted with a clever, but commonsense water level gauge. A clear plastic hose will be connected between the water spigot at the bottom of the cistern and a narrow diameter pipe protruding from the top of the cistern. As the interior water level is drawn down, there is a corresponding drop in the water level in the transparent hose.

Recommended cistern maintenance consists of two primary elements: 1) yearly brushing of interior walls, and 2) if the catchment roof surface is of any material other than concrete or tin, then it must be repainted annually. 

Next stop, the final finish work.

Guest post by Roger Brudno.

Launched! Salitrillo Cistern Project

Day One - 13th September 2016

When Lee Carter and I arrive, the Salitrillo cistern build team had already laid out a base layer of chicken wire. As a first-time visitor to a cistern pilot, I’m excited to learn the basics of ferro-cement cistern construction.

Once completed, the cistern will hold 12,000 liters, harvesting enough water during one rainy season to serve all of the potable water needs, both drinking and cooking, for a family of 6-8 for a year.

It turns out that the metal structural elements of the cistern walls form a kind of layer cake—a layer of chicken wire folded over a layer of heavy-gauge iron mesh, then covered with a second layer of chicken wire all woven neatly together. Or rather, a layer cake that rolls up into a cylinder to create the walls of the cistern which are then set on a concrete base and lined with a temporary barrier of bendy plywood designed to support the application of an exterior coat of concrete until it dries.

Members of the community are hard at work weaving the chicken wire together under the watchful eye of Señor Abel, a technical expert from CEDESA in charge of teaching community members the basics of cistern construction. 

What stands out for me right away is the ratio of women to men in the work group: most of the team consists of women. And it’s obvious, that the team is already a well-oiled machine. Tasks are carried out with little discussion and a light-hearted atmosphere prevails.

This Salitrillo Pilot is cistern number 48 out of 319 cisterns funded by the Rotary Club’s recent Global Grant (GG1524911) and implemented in collaboration with CEDESA and COCIRA. 

It’s the first cistern for this little community of just 52 families. A total of eight cisterns are planned for Salitrillo. Once the core group is trained, they will cooperate to assist their neighbors with subsequent cisterns. Señor Abel from CEDESA will then make weekly visits to monitor progress and ensure quality-control.

Guest post by Roger Brudno.

Charco de Araujo, San Diego de la Union June 21 to June 23, 2016

After many meetings & lots of hard work on the part of CEDESA, COCIRA, UCCANG & Rotary under the guiding hands of Wendy Coulson; our expert in curriculum & adult teaching methods, the first five modules of the education program were presented in Charco de Araujo. 

The program is very hands-on & participatory so it is much more than just a presentation.

There was much enthusiasm among the participants with several persons proclaiming that EVERY person in the community should have an opportunity to learn all of this!

Overall, we are very pleased. We are now teaching at Boca de la Cañada in San Miguel & next week Wendy & I will meet to review & talk about revisions to the curriculum & also the manual which is in its "almost final draft" form. 

I will let the photos tell the story. Enjoy - Lee

New Grant Funded for 319 more cisterns

In May of 2016 a new water harvesting grant was funded to construct 319 more rainwater harvesting cisterns in the Independence Aquifer. 

The grant is supported by 25 different groups including 12 Rotary clubs, 10 Rotary Districts, The Rotary Foundation, the San Miguel Community Foundation, The Lotus Foundation and Fondation Coup de Coeur. 

As always, we are working hand in hand with Centro de Desarrollo Agropecuario (CEDESA) and the two grassroots rural community development organizations COCIRA (Consejo Ciudadano Rural de Agua - San Miguel de Allende) and UCCANG (Union de Comunidades Campesinas del Norte de Guanajuato - Dolores Hidalgo, San Diego Union and San Luis de la Paz). 

CEDESA supplies the expertise in organizing and technical matters, the Beneficiaries provide the labor and Rotary supplies the materials and project administration.

We are adding a new education program for the project beneficiaries. The CEDESA promotors will be our teachers. They already know immense amounts of information about water and our problems here in the region. Many completed the dimplomada given by Dr. Marcos Adrian Ortega of UNAM in 2009. 

Our goal is to help them impart this information in a structured way that will create the best learning environment possible. Wendy Coulson, a specialist in curriculum development, is helping us with the program.