Cuatro Comunidades

Construction is going well. We have entered into our 5th week of construction, and we are ahead of schedule. The walls for the flocculation tank are nearly complete, and they are putting in the foundation of where the tables for the chlorine barrels and sulfate barrels will sit. There are 7 people working daily under the supervision of Santos. Engineer Wil Serano is at the site at least 3 times a week and in communication with Santos daily to make sure he understands the plans. Overall we are very happy with the progress of the construction.

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On Friday 12.5.2008 we had out first training day with the Junta of the 4 Communities. We first gave a presentation about general information on water quality, relationships with water borne diseases and then practiced what how to measure turbidity, chlorine and pH. In attendance were:
1. Jorge - President of the Junta de Agua, Los Bayos
2. Santos - In charge of Construction of Plant, Fiscal of Junta, Rio Frio
3. Antonio - Las Juaguas
4. Francisco Valladares - Potential Operator
5. Pedro Antonio Gomez - Potential Operator
6. Ebaristo Garcia - Health Promoter in Ciudad Espana
7. Manuel - Health Promoter in Rio Frio
The attendance list and presentation can be found here

Representing APP were Antonio, Wil, John and Tamar.
The beginning of the day started with each person sharing a small story regarding their memories of water from childhood. The entire presentation was filled with lots of questions which made people feel comfortable and gave a sense that everyone was learning new things. Overall we were very pleased with the results. The participants had to take a small test at the end of the day to prove they had learned the main concepts. Also gratifying was the presence of Ebaristo Garcia from Ciudad Espana who asked us to return to monitor their water source. Manuel from a Health Center in the 4 Communities asked us to leave him with a turbidimeter, and chlorine residual scale to monitor the water as well. We talked about the importance of having more than one person sampling the water source to ensure more accurate results, so it would be a great idea to have a log in the health center.

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