Hasta Pronto Socorro

We´re done!!!

We have done all that we could have done during the trip and now we are ready to return to the U.S. and its bountiful supply of snow.

The things we have accomplished:

• Taught approximately 30 families about the filters and proper hygiene 
• Taught the social workers about the filters and proper hygiene, who will then teach all of the remaining families
  
• Taught the teachers about the filters and proper hygiene, who will then teach all of the children of Socorro
• Corrected some construction practices of the biosand filters (using a rubber gasket and clamps on the bottom, using additional vegetable oil and clamps on the mold edges, and covering everything with a moist towel and a black plastic bag)
• Took water samples from local taps
• And most importantly, we gained the trust of the community and grew a little bit ourselves!!!

This has been an amazing trip and we are already planning our return. The people of Socorro will benefit from the gift of clean drinking water, our project team has already benefitted from Socorro´s kindness and willingness to open up and share with us their culture, and hopefully other projects will benefit from using some of our project methodology.

I am so proud. Of the entire team, of Socorro, and especially of our work together. So proud.

A Message the Children of Socorro Can Bring Home

Have your kids ever learned something at school and were so enthusiastic about it that it had to be done at home?

Well today we met with the teachers and the principal of the elementary school in Socorro where approximately 180 kids attend school every day. They were very welcoming of our message and even more so of the gift of the seven biosand filters that have been donated to the school, one for each grade from preschool to sixth grade. We are also providing material sets with pictures illustrating proper hygiene practices, uses and maintenance of the filters, and proper water storage. The GOAL: if parents neglect the filters in the home, the kids will push them, through gentle but continuous nagging, to follow what they learned in school.

Kimberly Parker and Alyssa Sohn introduced two card games through which the kids can learn about proper sanitation practices and germ transmission routes. With these, the kids will be more aware of what is causing their illnesses and will change their everyday habits.

Fortunately, a mayor of a nearby city stopped by to see if the school needed anymore desks, which he donates annually, and had an opportunity to speak with the concrete filter construction workers. He was very pleased to see the positively growth in the area and the workers happily explained their construction practices with the mayor.

It is all about the kids. With clean water and good hygiene practices they will grow and prosper to be healthy, happy, and humorous (I just wanted another H-word).

Interest for Biosand Filters Grows in Socorro

Today I am more proud than ever of the project and the project team. In front of an audience of fathers, mothers, and children of the community, after much uncertainty and doubt, after years of waiting and no help, we presented the solution to their water problems.

We are about mid way through our trip in Guatemala and today we unveiled the the biosand filter to all of Socorro. We talked about the use and maintenance of the filters. We emphasized the benefits of washing hands and other good hygiene practices. We discussed the importance of the continual use of the filters for long term health benefits of the community. But most importantly, we did all this in front of a very interested and receptive audience.

Ofelia Romero, a graduate student of the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was a huge component of its success. Her Mexican background, fluent Spanish, and ability to connect with people gained favor and trust from many mothers in Socorro. Afterwards, many had questions and approached the biosand filters to see how they worked and all were asking when they would receive their own.

All the kids at the meeting rushed outside to get paint from Alyssa Sohn, Emily Van Dam, and Tom Van Dam to put their hand prints on the biosand filters that are being donated to the local elementary school. Everyone was all smiles when all was said and done.

I cannot begin to express how happy I am. Today has been a great day.

Education - A Vital and Enriching Component

The educational component of the project has been a major success. Ofelia Romero, Alyssa Sohn, and Kimberly Parker have been working with two social workers, Mayra and Cata, to educate and motivate the people of Socorro to fully take advantage of their new water treatment system.

Simply giving a family a biosand filter does not ensure that they will use it or use it properly. The education team has been busy teaching the mothers of the community, who will be the most common users of the filters, about the importance of filter use, maintenance, and safe water storage. This is taught using several tools, including posters, packets, games, and demos.

The kids often crowd around their mothers during the instruction. One of the most enjoyable parts of the trip thus far was when the kids showed the education team the proper hand washing techniques that they had just learned. Their cheer and interest reinforced our belief in the project.

Mayra and Cata will soon be taking over the education portion once our project team leaves Guatemala. Yet, after watching them teach what they themselves had just learned and how they connect with the community members, we are more than confident that our project is in good hands.

First Big Obstacle for Project Implementation

While it may not seem like a big problem to some, a fast flow rate through a biosand filter reduces the efficacy of contaminant removal and its overall benefits for its users.

The Guatemalan workers and the U of I project team were perplexed why the first biosand filter that we implemented had a flowrate of 45 second per 1 liter rather than 60 seconds as is recommended. A partner of ours, Forrest Kendall of Servants 4 Him, suggested that it could result from a multitude of reasons. Not enough sand in the filter to slow the water flow, too coarse of sand, or poor source materials. The U of I project team worked with the Guatemalan workers to figure out the cause and the best solution.

Finally, after putting our heads together, we discovered that we could arc the internal tube in the biosand fitler, thereby providing more space to add sand to the filter. We will also wash the sand media less. Washing the sand removes organics from the source sand but also removes some of the finer material. We were most likely overwashing the sand causing the finer sand to be removed and thereby increasing the water flow through the sand.

We will be testing our solution this Sunday with a newly constructed filter. Both the local expertise and our engineering knowledge contributed to the solution. But without working together, we would never overcome this problem.

Concrete Trouble Shooting in Socorro

The implementation of the concrete biosand filters is going great. We are working with a group of concrete workers from Socorro who already have a lot of experience is their profession. However our presence, specifically that of our old (just celebrated his 49th birthday) U of I graduate and concrete expert Thomas Van, have lead to the slight modification of some construction practices that are going to make a big difference in the long run.

First, the issue of curing. Concrete material gets its strength from the water while it is curing. The cement and water react to generate the matrix that holds that concrete together. When we first arrived, the workers were filling the set concrete filters with water, however the outside of the filter was exposed to the elements. Simply soaking a large cloth in water, laying it over the filter, covering it with a black plastic garbage bag, and letting it cure for 15 days will ensure that the concrete filter is stronger and less likely to crack in the future.

Second, we noticed a trend that at the edges of the square concrete filter and at the edges of the top the concrete was cracking. We at first had multiple hypotheses. First, that the vegetal oil that they used was flowing to the cracks and edges thereby preventing the concrete from fully setting. However, they use very thick vegetal oil and thus that flow would not happen. Then we that that rodding, in addition to the vibrating generated by a rubber hammer, would help the concrete consolidate at the edges. However, the day after we thoroughly rodded a filter the problem remained. Finally, we realized that the edges of the mold were not completely sealed and thus the smaller concrete materials were leaking out of the mold leaving larger aggregates at the edges. The larger aggregates led to the cracking edges that appeared on all of the filters. Therefore we will be buying C clamps to close the opening and improve the structure of the filters.

While the problem solving is confined to a finite system, our engineering knowledge will lead to a better filter and prolonged progress for the people of Socorro.

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