From February 17-March 22, two members from EWB-San Francisco Professionals Chapter, Kimberly Gupta and Deepa Gandhi, and a member of EWB-Los Angeles Professionals Chapter, Mike Posey, will be traveling to Andhra Pradesh, India to construct a water station in the small coastal village of Jalamma Palem. This water station will consist of the following elements: a water tank, a sink structure for washing, and a new roof structure over the sinks and water tank. We will also equip the roof with a rainwater catchment mechanism that will fill the water tank with rainwater during the monsoon season.
There is also a water quality element to this project, which I am personally very excited about. We will to construct an artificial wetland to treat the greywater discharge from the sink structure. We will also train the villagers to use SODIS, a mechanism that uses solar disinfection to inactivate E.Coli in drinking water. We believe that SODIS is an effective and sustainable method to treat the particular water quality issues in this village. However, to be sure we will perform a series of water quality testing to further characterize the source water quality and ensure that SODIS is a treatment mechanism that in fact works for Jalamma Palem.
Project History for the SFP Chapter
The EWB-San Francisco Professionals Chapter initiated the Tsunami Disaster Relief Project in 2005, and our team has been working since that time in the Prakasam District of Andhra Pradesh, India. Coastal fishing villages in this region were heavily impacted by the tsunami, and relief efforts have brought to our attention the basic necessities that were lacking in these villages even prior to the tsunami - especially their access to safe and reliable drinking water and proper sanitation. To date, our project team has accomplished:
- Conducted water quality testing to characterize the chemical and biological nature of local potable water sources
- Repaired existing wells and also installed 13 new bore wells with hand pumps in the village of Voolapalem.
- Established a maintenance committee in the village to oversee the continual operation of the wells and ensure access to potable water.
1 comment:
Wow the project seems very interesting and EWB seems very lucky to have such an asset!
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