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.

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 Vallos
2. Santos - In charge of Construction of Plant, Los Vallos
3. Antonio - Las Juaguas
4. Francisco Valladarse
5. Pedro Antonio Gomez
6. Euaristo Garcia de Ciudad Espana

Representing APP was 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 ____ from Ciudad Espana who asked us to return to monitor their water source. _____ from the Centro de Salud of the 4 Communities asked to leave him with a turbidimeter, and chlorine residual scale to monitor the water as well. We talked a bout 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.

Tamara
As of Wednesday 12.3.08 very little water has been arriving to the plant. Antonio, John and Tamar went to the Junta de Agua's weekly meeting to discuss; data collection, the students visit, the posters for the plant, and planning for Saturday's meeting.
• We have been expecting that the Junta would be responsible for inputting plant monitoring data into electronic format, for Antonio to pick up on a monthly basis. However, similar to the struggle we have had in Ojojona, the data is frequently not ready and has missing days. Since the Junta are all volunteers and dedicate a lot of time to the project as it is, we came to an agreement that we would be responsible for putting the turbidity and chlorine data into electronic format, but that the data would be compiled weekly at Dany Meza's house ready for pick up. We also had time to discuss the importance of having more than one person (the operator) taking chlorine and turbidity data in the community to ensure accurate data. A few members of the Junta thought Carlos (the operator) might be faking some data. We have no reason to believe this, but it would be good to discuss with him again the importance of accurate data collection.
• America and Antonio have plans to find homes for the visiting Cornell students in January the following Wednesday (12.10.08) afternoon. The Junta is excited to meet the new students.
• Posters have been made to explain how the plant functions, how the flow controllers work, and what turbidity is, to display on the walls of the water treatment plant. The Junta will review the posters to make sure they are clear to first time visitors to the plant.

On Thursday 12.4.08 John and Tamar went with Dany Meza, Moncho, Raphael and ____ from the Tamara Junta de Agua to the Chorera to clean out the source. By measuring the flowrate at the first pressure breaker, we discovered to flow was 108gal/min.
We got the plans for the entire system which was built in 2005 by CESAL to review with APP. We assume there must be a leak somewhere further down the line. We checked the first 3 pressure breakers, and discovered in the 1st one that the tube is not completely submerged in water, so it is very possible that air is mixing in the pipe at that point.

On Saturday 12.6.08 the official handing over of the plant to the community will take place with Rotary Club members, the Junta de Agua of Tamara and community members. The official manual of how to run the plant written by Carol, John and Antonio will be handed over to the operator as well.