Day 2 - February 19

Today we spent the day in Hyderabad. It is a very large city, and we spent the morning sorting out a few errands. Ram had several guests during the day and we met some EWB-Australia members and later in the day met a representative from BREDS (Bapuji Rural Enlightenment and Development Society). This NGO works with marginalized groups in the Srikakulam District of Andhra Pradesh (approximately 10 hours north by train from our current project location) and was extremely interested in finding out more about EWB and whether we could assist them with some of the technical problems that are facing the communities that they are serving (ie., the lack of safe and stable water supplies). Their mission appeared to be in line with EWB's and we encouraged her to submit an application for assistance through EWB-USA's website. She also invited us to visit to their office in Pathapatriam for a tour of the communities that they are working with. This is something that we would love to do; however, we are unsure that it would be wise because of the limited time that we have during this implementation project. If we have extra time (as the result of a delay, etc), it would be great to take her up on her offer and reach out to other NGO's working in AP.

We did have a setback regarding our project. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear as if the translator that we had sorted our prior to arriving in India is going to work out. We were supposed to leave on the train to Ongole tonight, however, we have had minimal contact with her. We are currently in the contingency planning phase and are looking to use another translator that a previous EWB-LA member used while he was in Ongole. So this has set back our departure date from Hyderabad until tomorrow evening. Despite the delay, we plan to utilize this time wisely and work out any minor details remaining for our project. We also plan to go take a look at a reserve osmosis (RO) project that Ram is currently working on. He has installed several RO units in various villages around Hyderabad and is looking to install several more. These villages have large concentrations of fluoride in their water supply, and these units are apparently relatively easy to use and replacement parts are available locally. We would like to see these units in action, because RO is an excellent treatment option; however, it is generally not appropriate for use in villages in developing countries because of the cost and maintenance involved. Also of interest to use what is done with the waste brine that is created.