#Cuatro Comunidades
#Tamara
#CCC Study
#Atima

Cuatro Comunidades

We hope to have the plant operating by the end of next week. Tuesday 3.03 we started making the linear flow orifice meter and finished the installation of the floc baffle modules. Because of previous problems with the chemical barrels leaking, and concerns about their durability, we decided to make the chemical storage recipients out of brick and cement, similar to standard hypo chlorinators. We are just waiting to find out how we can protect the concrete from the aluminum sulfate, which is an acid.

You can see up to date photos of construction here

Tamara

Friday 3.06 we spent the morning in Tamara. Antonio continued with the training of Jose Luis, the new part-time operator in Tamara, and Justo, one of the potential Cuatro Comunidades operators. Construction of the adobe house near the plant for the operator is advancing. The walls are nearly completed. We were disappointed to hear that the operators had been without chlorine for one or two days. Jose Luis said they had been requesting chlorine from the water board for a week. America, the treasurer of the water board, said the chlorine was on its way. The operators probably should have ordered the chlorine with more anticipation, but the lack of response from the water board is also concerning.

CCC Study

Monday 3.02 Tamar and Antonio put on a practical training session in Zambrano for the SANAA technicians who will be participating in the study. Originally, we had planned to do the 2-month study to evaluate the effectiveness of the flow controllers in 5 communities northeast of Tegucigalpa that were already chlorinating. With the help of SANAA technicians already making weekly visits to the communities, we would monitor their current chlorination practices for a month. Then we would install flow controllers in three of the communities and monitor their chlorination practices using the CCC.

At the training session, the technicians said they would no longer be making visits to the communities originally proposed due to lack of funding. They proposed choosing 5 communities in the municipality of Lepaterique, an hour west of Tegucigalpa. Four SANAA technicians are currently working intensively in Lepaterique and would be able to make visits to the selected communities at least once a week. The only drawback to this region is that very few of the communities are currently chlorinating. In some of them we would have to start from scratch. While this was not the original plan, we have decided to go with it. Two or three communities will begin chlorinating with the AguaClara flow controller, and two or three will begin or continue chlorinating with the traditional method. After a month of monitoring, all communities will switch methods and monitoring will continue for a month. At the end of the study, all communities will have been exposed to both methods and each community will choose which method it wants to continue with.

Thursday 3.05, we went to Lepaterique with Angel, one of the SANAA technicians. We visited 4 communities, Rodeo, Guayabal, Son and Jicaro to socialize the project with members of the water boards. In all four communities we met with members of the water board and visited the tanks to see how the flow controllers could be installed. We were unable find any of the operators. While we are somewhat concerned as to whether the operators will be able to devote enough time to the project, we were very encouraged by the enthusiasm of the SANAA technicians. Aside from our study, promoting chlorination in Lepaterique is already a priority for them. A final goal of the project, assuming the AguaClara flow controllers perform well, could be to install flow controllers in all of the 26 communities of Lepaterique.

We also met with the health promoter in Lepaterique, who will collaborate with the monitoring part of the project. A meeting is planned in Lapaterique for Thursday 3.12 to present the project to the mayor, health personnel, the water board association, and other NGOs working in the municipality.

Atima

The mayor from Atima called this week. They had a community assembly a couple weeks ago and the community is very interested in an AguaClara plant. We will send him a letter of cooperation to revise and sign, in order to start a formal process of looking for funds. He also plans to send a delegation from Atima to Tamara and the Cuatro Comunidades to visit the plants.