If you notice that I am now following my own blog, please do not think that I am doing that just to inflate the numbers. I am just not good with computers.

The past two days have been long, confusing, and the most productive that I could have imagined for the project. Guatemala is a beautiful country that is now developing its industry to better serve their people. The first thing that I noticed after I stepped off the plane was the green all around us. Guatemala City is located in the valley of lush mountains and the a few volcanoes. The first thing that our Professional Engineering Mentor noticed, Tom Van Dam, was the newly improved roads with a white topping technique just recently developed. He was able to decipher the age, material, and construction technique from just looking at the roads. I just agreed.

Anyway, we first picked up 150 plastic buckets with a cover and spout in Guatemala City. One of the common mistake with water treatment projects is that they put so much emphasis on the treatment system and nothing on what happens afterwards. Safe water storage is essential or  else the users will re-contaminate the water and become sick once again. Our guide, Ernesto, was especially talented at negotiating the acquisition process. He put his trust in us to bring safe drinking water to the village of Socorro, so we put faith in him to help us. And he did, wonderfully.

In Socorro, the four construction workers were waiting to show us their building techniques. We arranged for another NGO to loan them a steel mold, into which they pour concrete to form the outside shell of the concrete biosand filter. They made a very cement rich mixture, reinforced the filter with chicken wire, and did a good job tampering the concrete with a hammer. We made some suggestions about curing techniques, such as covering the top with a moist clothes and burlap or plastic bag to ensure a nice moist environment. Concrete gets its strength from the water, so the more the better. We also suggested adding a chemical to speed up the concrete setting process and allowing the workers to build two filters a day instead of one. 

From the non-engineering side, we were very well received by the people of Socorro. They are both enthusiastic and capable. Tomorrow we will begin educating the social workers and the mothers of the households on how the filters work and get the first filters running in the elementary school, which starts this week after months of "summer" vacations. We are more confident than ever that this project will benefit the people of Socorro. Our successes are their successes, which are the successes of Guatemala, which are the successes of all of us.

Hasta luego,

Peter

The moment has arrived

We leave for Guatemala in just a few hours. I am still not sure what to expect, how I should react, what I should do first, and how it will all end. We have a lot of momentum on our side and the people of Socorro are ready to learn and utilize the new water treatment technology. I'm nervous about being unable to communicate with them effectively or not at all, I'm worried about them being able to understand all the complexities, I'm hoping everything coming together. But I know that weeks of preparations have led us to this point and we won't waiver at the last second.

Initial Blog

Hello,

My name is Peter Maraccini and I will be your guide into the exciting world of international service projects. Five student from the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign will be traveling to Socorro, Guatemala to initiate the implementation of 150 biosand filters. A biosand filter is a simple, point of use water treatment technology that removes harmful microbial contaminants in raw water.

Socorro, a village of 450 people, is located in the Bocacosta region along the volcanic slopes of the highlands in southwestern Guatemala. Microbiological surveys routinely show high levels of contamination in river water used as the drinking source. Decontamination by boiling is economically and logistically impossible because burnable wood is expensive and not abundant. The medical NGO in that area, Wuqu' Kawoq, has routinely seen a very high prevalence of acute and chronic diarrheal illnesses, as well as soil-transmitted helminthes infections and subsequent malnutrition. They routinely find high levels of giardiasis, amoebiasis, and round worm infections on fecal exams. In the first months of winter rains, diarrheal rates exceed 75% of the child population. Efforts have been made to solve these problems medically, but a more sustainable solution is required.

We are excited to finally relieve the very large burden that the community of Socorro has been carrying. We leave Monday, December 28th and will be blogging and documenting our experiences of the entire trip. Please continue to follow this blog and visit us at https://wiki.cites.uiuc.edu/wiki/display/cleanwater/Home.

-Peter