Cuatro Communidades
On Saturday 10.18 was the 'Groundbreaking' event of the plant in the Cuatro COmmunidades. Present to sign the contract were Arturo Diaz representing APP, Oscar Rivera of CESAL, Alan Montenegro representing the Municipality and Tamar signed on behalf of Monroe. About 60 people from the community came, most of which were present at the first presentation we gave to the community where they voted in favor of the plant. Since there are about 250 homes in total, we were slightly disappointed with the turnout. Our next steps are to strengthen the water board to represent each of the four communities more. We are planning to visit 'Aldea Bonita,' and 'Rio Frio,' to have more presentations to explain more about the plant. Speaking with some of the attendess on Saturday, they explained that since many houses were not present at the initial meeting, they are still not on the same page and do not fully understand the plant's benefits.
Ojojona
On Monday 10.13 the Ojojona Water Board accompanied us to visit the Tamara plant. From the Board Julia and Martin came, and all three plant operators, Juan, Alexis and the newly hired night operator Jimmy came to Ojojona. We first had a meeting with Danny, America and Moncho. Afterward we toured the plant and had lunch together. We felt that is was a highly positive experience to unite the operators, and we hope to take a trip to Marcala in the late November.
Tamara
On Thursday 10.16 we visited the plant to obtain pH and temperature data on the plant.
Honduran Students from UNAH
Mechanical Engineering Students working from the Universidad National Autonoma de Honduras have started the assignment for their product design class, fabricating the float valves for the flow control molules.
Ing. Guadalupe Nunez the professor in charge of
the student project, reported on Monday 10.20 that the students are already advancing on the fabrication of the float valves. The Honduran university students are presenting their proposal to build the float valves the first week in November and are supposed to have a product by the end of November. They have set up an e-mail account at: im418unah@gmail.com for contact with the students from Cornell.
New Communities
On Wednesday 10.15 Antonio and Tamar visited Morocelli, Valle de Angeles, Valle de San Francisco. Morocelli was where a plant was initially designed in 2007, but the Water Board had issues that prevented going through with the project. We let them know we are still available when they are ready.
In Valle de San Francisco, we spoke with the Vice President and scheduled a meeting on November 6th to present about the technology.