India Tsunami Project - Implementation Trip - February/March 2008

Project Status

2008-03-24T18:21:00.000-07:00

Thought I would complete my posts with an update of where the project stands as I prepare to leave India. On my last day on site we poured the concrete for the roof. The weather started to turn that evening when the region got it's first rain of the monsoon season (which should be great for helping cure the concrete, but will make it tough to continue work at the site for a while. The contractor said he planned to leave the falsework in place for about 10 days. At that point the concrete tank for the water catchment system needs to be built. Then a new concrete pad for the wash station with wash pads needs to be built. The new new electric water pump needs to be installed and power hooked up, the first flush system for the water catchment system needs to be built, and the wetland needs to be completed. So as you can see although we accomplished plenty in our time here , there is still allot to be done before the wash station is functional. I'm not sure whether or not the contractor will proceed on his own to complete these items or if another EWB team will have to be sent to direct the effort (I suspect the later). Also, I think the rain will prevent much progress for the next couple of months. So, I suspect Ann Marie will need volunteers for another implementation trip to help complete the project. I hope some of those of you who have been reading the blog and posting encouraging comments might consider making a trip yourself, if not for this project then some other EWB project. I can tell you my experience here have been wonderful and there is certainly a great need for or help in this region.

March 21

2008-03-22T01:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my last day in Ongole and it was a big one. I headed out to the site about 10:30 and was disappointed to find that no workers were there to pour the concrete for the roof. So I called the contractor who told me the concrete crew were on the way, so I decided to stick it out for a while. Sure enough around noon the workers showed up and what an interesting crew it turned out to be. The skilled jobs, like concrete finisher, carpenter, or mixer operator were all done by men, but the hard physical labor was all done by a group of 10 teenage girls. Let me tell you these girls could put any laborer in the states to shame with how hard they worked. They would carry the raw materials, aggregate , sand , cement, and water, in pans on their heads to the concrete mixer. Then when the batch was complete they would scope it into their pans and hoist it up to the roof and then again carry it on their heads to where it needed to be placed. All in about 80 degree, 99% humidity whether. Not sure how much they get paid for this kind of work but boy did they earn their money today. By the evening we had our first rain fall of the season in Ongole, so I'm glad we were able to get the roof complete. I'm in Hyderabad today awaiting my flight out for a few days of R&R in Delhi. I'll try and load up some pictures of the big pour next time I get a chance and have some final thoughts on where the project stands and my overall experience in India. Until then happy Hollie (It's a Indian festival day today where everyone paints them selves bright colors, I'll try and get some pics of that too).

Mike

Thursday, March 20

2008-03-20T04:20:00.000-07:00

Action today! The contractor placed the rebar for the roof deck. Didn't take too long to get all of the rebar lifted into place and tied, not all that much different than in the U.S. I was actually on site while the work proceeded, so I actually got to film some of it. Later, the contractor introduced me to the cement mason who will be leading the concrete pour for the roof. He told me that it was 100% for sure that the pour will happen tomorrow... or at worst the day after. Well I hope it's tomorrow because it's my last day in Ongole before I head off to do some site seeing for a few days before heading back to the states and I would hate to miss the big event.

Wednesday, March 19

2008-03-20T04:09:00.000-07:00

Well there was wasn't much action at the site today. The contractor bought the reinforcing steel needed to complete the roof deck, cut it length and delivered it to site. Tomorrow the rebar will be placed, so until then I thought you might like to see a photo of how things are currently done in the area. This photo is of a group of village women and girls washing their clothes in what appears to be a road culvert. I guess what ever water you can find is what you have to use. Pretty amazing to see how bright and clean the colors of the women's dresses stay under these harsh conditions. Hopefully, once our new wash station is completed in the village it can at least make their lives a little easier.

Tuesday March 18

2008-03-20T03:34:00.000-07:00

Finally we started work on the roof today!! After much behind the scenes negotiations the contract agreed to move forward today and erected the falsework for the roof. It is interesting to say the least, though I think pretty typical by Indian standards. First the forms for the roof deck are 2' X 3' corrugated metal pans. These are supported along the transverse joints with a rough cut 2" x 4" header board. The header is supported by a series of roughly 2" dia poles spaced about every 3' - 4'. The poles are attached to the header by nailing a small board (1/2" X 4" about 1' long) to each. The poles rest on a footing of a similar small board in the native sand base. While maybe not what I expected it at least seems to give support to the joints where it is needed and I did field load test it by climbing up on top of the deck myself and if it can support my load (even in my reduced state after my day of illness) I guess it will work for the concrete. At least I hope so!

Roadtrip

2008-03-19T03:33:00.000-07:00

March 17
As things were slow here in Ongole I decided to take a roadtrip to see a reverse osmosis water plant in operation in a village near Hyderabad. Before I made it there however, I learned first hand just how valuable having clean drinking water can be to a community like this when I came down with a severe case of dysentery, probably brought on by drinking some untreated water. Luckily I had brought meds from the states to treat it with just in case of such an occurrence, and am completely recovered from it now, but none the less it took me completely out of action for a day or so and you can really see how this could make life miserable for villagers who have to face this challenge every day without the help of modern medicines. Makes you appreciate just how much difference you can make in a village by providing them with a clean drinking water source. Anyway back to the project tomorrow (Hint I think there will be some progress!)

March 16

2008-03-15T23:17:00.000-07:00

Well it's my 7th day in Ongole and I've been avoiding blogging for awhile for a reason, we've made no progress on the project. I have been told time and time again that work would begin but it never has. Needless to say this is very disappointing. I have been given a number of excusses why work is not proceeding that I will not detail here, but obviously I am not happy with the lack of results. On the other hand I have had pleant of free time to see the sites in Ongole.

Gift Ceromony

2008-03-15T03:54:00.000-07:00

Day 25, March 13

2008-03-13T03:00:00.000-07:00

After a couple of slow days in Ongole we had some progress today. Ram our India - Rotary liaison made it down to Ongole today from Hyderabad and we went back out to the village to meet with the builder Mr. Karuna and the villagers. We discussed what needed to be done to complete the project and Mr. Karuna agreed to start tomorrow on the roof slab which should be complete before I leave Ongole with any luck. The villagers seem excited about the project and were very happy to have someone there who could tell them what was going on in their own language! I presented them with a gift from EWB a volleyball and net and received a bag of peanuts which they were busy harvesting when we were own site. Ram, Mr. Karuna , and myself headed back to the larger village where Mr. Karuna works from and sat down and had tea and Ram negotiated the payment for the cost of the project. Everything went well and Ram and I said goodbye and had my driver take us back to Ongole. We were moving along quickly on the 4 lane toll road and things were really starting to look up right until we hit the motorized rickshaw! Being in a car we got the better end of the deal, the rickshaw ended up on it's side in the ditch, but luckily no one was hurt in either vehicle. Our driver however must have feared for his life as he hopped out of the car and hightailed it out of there leaving Ram and myself to deal with the locals. Things got straightened out and we caught a ride to the bus stop and rode the bus to Ongole. Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!

Day 22, March 10

2008-03-11T02:20:00.000-07:00

Well after a long and interesting train ride from Hyderabad the B-team has arrived in Ongole. that's me Mike. First off I want to say thanks to the A-team, Kim and Deepa, for all their hard work and congradulate them on a job well done, well at least partially done that's where I come in. I got into town early yesterday morning got my hotel room and found my driver, but not before I took an unexpected detour by getting off at the wrong train stop (something I had been warned about repeatedly but still manged to do!). None the less after figuring out where I was I met some very friendly folks in the train station and enjoyed a short comuter train ride to Ongole. Once in town I had the driver take me staight out to the village to see the site for myself. Things looked much as I expected from Kim and Deepa's report. Only work that could be done at this time was backfilling the outflow pipes which I began and villagers picked up on and finished up. Unfortunately I think they were very interested to know when the roof work would start which I was not able to comunicate to them since there was no interpeter and I actually didn't know since I had not met the builder yet. I know this was a great concern to them we even took some villagers back into the closest larger community to find an english speaker but I am sure the message never got through. At this point I was exhuasted after a long night of travel and then a hot moring of work on the project, so I asked the driver to take me back to Ongole, but not before he insisted on making another stop at a local mission where the pastor was a good english interpeter. I had a nice lunch with him and was able to clear some things up with the car service. Finally back at my hotel I met with the builder and agreed to the quantities he needed to get to finish the structure. He said it will take him 2 days to gather material and will start work on the roof on the third day. Which will give me a couple of days to recover from today, boy do I need it!

Day 20 - Saturday March 8 - Final day for Kim and Deepa

2008-03-08T01:27:00.000-08:00

Today we are in Hyderabad. We met Mike and handed over the project to him. So today will be my final post, and Mike will take over the updates as time allows. Deepa and I go our separate ways tomorrow - she will go to her family in Ahmadabad and I will go to meet my friend Cosmina in Bombay. We are both looking forward to some relaxing down time!

Thanks to everyone for reading and for all of your support. There are many more stories to tell and we look forward to seeing you all on our return home.

Day 19 - Friday March 7

2008-03-08T01:08:00.001-08:00

Today was our last day on site. We managed to get all of the piping for the wetland placed and connected. So basically all of the piping is in from the edge of the proposed pad location to the end of the infiltration gallery. The inlet and outlet of the wetland has been backfilled with the large gravel (completely covering the collection and outlet pipes). Approximately one foot of small gravel has backfilled in what will be the wetland bed itself (this is the area the reeds will need to be planted in). We did not want to completely backfill the wetlands because it would be extremely difficult down the road to dig through 2 feet of small gravel to plant the reeds (the reeds need to be planted after the station is up and running otherwise they will die).

Since we did not have a translator, we called a friend back home that speaks Telagu so that he could inform the villagers that today was our last day. We also told them that Mike would be coming to finish up the project, so they are expecting him on the 9th or 10th. It is unfortunate that we could not communicate with the villagers over the course of the project. Not only would we have liked to tell them about the project and provide education about water quality and maintenance of the facility, but also to get to know them and learn more about their lives. They were very kind people and I can only hope that this project makes their lives better at least in some small way.

The villagers gave us beautiful flower lays (spelling?) upon our departure. It was a bittersweet departure as we would have liked to see the project through to completion; however, at the same time this has been an exhausting experience.

Tonight we take the train to Hyderabad.

Day 18, Thursday March 6

2008-03-07T07:04:00.000-08:00

Today was an exhausting day. It is a holiday here in India, and one that is especially celebrated down here in Andhra Pradesh. That being said, it made us feel somewhat guilty having the villagers work all day, as we needed their help to trench and get the piping ready for the plumber to make his connections. In the end, it was a long day, but we did it! All of the piping is cut and ready for the plumber to connect tomorrow. We also had a mason on site to install the precast concrete rings that we will be using for the settling basin (at the inlet of the wetland) and the valve pit (for the ball valve at the outlet of the wetland). The mason also needed to install some steel mesh and concrete to give the rings a bottom. He also made holes in the precast rings for the necessary piping.

Tomorrow we will work on backfilling the wetlands. We will try to accomplish as much as possible as it is our last work day in the village.

Day 17 - Wednesday March 5

2008-03-05T04:55:00.001-08:00

First of all, I just wanted to say thanks to the folks at EBMUD for all your support - it is so nice to see all of your supportive comments when I am feeling down. Special thanks to Mitch for all your comments, not to mention that special delivery that you sent me via Dave C. before I left. Also, you are awesome for looking up UPVC specs - seriously, I could use your expertise on all this stuff here :).

So today was a pretty busy day. This morning we got the Silpaulin that will be the wetland liner. We spent the first part of the day trying to level the wetland and ensure that it sloped in the correct direction, which was no mean feat as we don't have alot of equipment. So we spent over an hour surveying the wetland, and then figured out where we needed to dig. Again, since we don't have a translator, it was very difficult to try to tell the villagers what we wanted them to do (and why we were doing it). So we figured the best way to do it was to show them. So we started digging and smoothing out the area. The villagers caught on pretty quickly, and promptly took the shovel out of my hands. Once we got the ground sloped correctly, we put down the PVC liner. We spent the rest of the afternoon putting down the first layer of soil, and then starting the 2 foot berm around the perimeter of the wetland. This took quite some time as the villagers carried the rocks to us one plate full at a time. After several hours, everyone was too hot to continue and we halted work for the day. Tomorrow we plan to head out to the village very early to complete the berm and install the first layer of gravel for the inlet and outlet areas.

Day 16 - Tuesday, March 4

2008-03-04T06:27:00.000-08:00

Today we received approval to buy the piping for the wetlands. We spent a good part of the day finding out more about the various grades of PVC (in India there are numerous grades of PVC including UPVC, CPVC, regular PVC, etc), and there are not really stringent standards in place to ensure that pipe manufacturers adhere to government standards for pipe production. Of course, our first concern is that we use a pipe that is non-toxic and also will be relatively durable. We had originally intended to use UPVC, however, it was relatively costly and we did not receive permission to make this purchase. By 5 pm, we were given the approval to purchase Finolex PVC pipe, which we were ensured adhered to IS:4985, which is the standard for drinking water applications.

So unfortunately we did not head out to the site today as we were waiting on materials. Tomorrow we plan to head to the site first thing to start grading the wetland and laying down the liner.

Day 15 - Monday, March 3

2008-03-03T20:15:00.000-08:00

Today the excavation of the wetland continued. We laid out the location of both the settling tank and the drain and infiltration pipes. The villagers volunteered to trench for the infiltration pipeline in the afternoon. We are now awaiting the rest of our materials (silpaulin for the wetland liner and the associated piping) before work can continue.

Day 14 - Sunday March 2

2008-03-02T03:22:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the village in the morning to lay out the wetland area. The villagers helped us clear the area (there were bushes, sticks and random other debris in the proposed location). The laborers came later in the day and began the excavation. The excavation for the main body of the wetland was started today. The excavation for the settling tank and the trenching for the infiltration pipe will probably occur tomorrow.

Day 13 - Saturday March 1

2008-03-01T05:58:00.000-08:00

We received approval from the Rotary contact for the slightly larger pad size and the second bore well, which is great news as both were required to make the project successful.

In the morning, the villagers installed a second bore well on the opposite end of the proposed pad. Once the contractor's workers arrived on scene, they promptly began pouring the second half of the columns. We verified that they were level and of the correct dimensions, though the workers were also double checking the dimensions themselves with plum bobs and a piece of flexible tubing. Both the villagers and the workers were also ensuring that the pours were being kept wet. The original plan was to install the roof after the columns were installed; however, the decision was made to hold off on the installation of the roof until Mike arrives on March 8, as he would like to oversee this operation (Mike contributed to the design of the structure). We were informed of the decision during the day and it was a bit of a shock as we were not consulted during the decision making process. So the next step of the construction will involve the installation of the wetland. We are still trying to find a place where we can buy reeds; however, the language barrier is pretty extensive and I do not think people are understanding what we need. We have been to several nurseries with no luck in finding the plants we will need for the wetland. If worst comes to worst, we may need to simply have the villagers or the workers go down to the Buckingham Canal and pull out some of the naturally occurring reeds for our project.

Since the wetland construction is about to begin, we scouted the area for the best location for it. There were two acceptable areas, but unfortunately one is the site of a future road. That made the decision quite easy regarding the final placement of the wetland. We plan to arrive at the site tomorrow first thing in the morning to lay out the dimensions for the wetland. The contractor's workers will then start the excavation.

Day 12 - Friday February 29

2008-02-29T06:18:00.000-08:00

Today construction began in earnest. I posted some photos here on the blog. We met out at the site and the villagers proceeded to dig a new bore well - they were so excited to begin, that they were again waiting for us by the road. It is a fascinating process and extremely work intensive. After the bore well was dug, the villagers then proceeded to excavate for the footings. The masons (these are the contractors worker's) then began to fill the excavations with concrete and rebar. All of the concrete mixing took place by hand with small shovels- it was extremely tough work, compounded by the fact that these guys are working in 90+ degree heat with high humidity. The villagers worked to help the contractor and brought jars of water from an existing well (that is approximately 30 feet away) to the masons for the mixing process.

After the footings were laid, the form work was placed around the rebar frames for the columns. The first four feet of the columns were poured today. Things are going very fast at the moment and we are absolutely thrilled to finally be in full swing with construction!

Day 11 - Thursday, February 28

2008-02-28T05:42:00.000-08:00

Today we received formal approval from the collector. This means that we have the necessary government approvals, which is fantastic! So we went out to the site and checked out the new location more closely. The villagers were waiting when we got there and they were so excited to begin! We called the Rotary donor, as he needed to give us permission before we could actually start doing any work. He agreed that we could progress at this new site and gave us permission to call the contractor. So we laid out the footings and discussed (ok, I use the term discuss here very loosely - we still don't have a translator, so we just basically made a bunch of gestures and said ok and somehow eventually we were all on the same page regarding the location of the new bore well). The villagers began digging a new bore well immediately when we agreed on the new location and they were almost finished by the time we laid out the footings for the columns (I will post some photos tomorrow because I have limited time on the internet today). We laid out the footings with string and a square (makes you miss some of the equipment we have back home), but it worked out fine.

But in essence, we are finally starting! It is so exciting after all of these setbacks! The villagers were so sweet - again the women brought us flowers for our hair and then later in the day they bought us pop (though where they got the pop from I have no idea). We felt so bad about them buying us pop - these people shouldn't be spending their money on us! But our communication is so limited that we had not way of telling them that without most likely being insulting. Every interaction with our villagers just reinforces that everything that we have had to deal with absolutely worth it to help these people.

In the evening, we were invited to attend a wedding. And wow, what a production! There were 15,000-20,000 people in attendance and the amount of camera crews, lights, flowers, etc - it was just mindboggling! The sound system alone made me feel like I was at a concert. It was a traditional Andhra wedding, and really an amazing experience for Deepa and I to see.

Tomorrow we will go to the village early to meet with the contractor. Things should start moving fast now!

Day 10 - Wednesday, February 27

2008-02-28T05:30:00.001-08:00

Today we received tentative approval to start our work in Jalamma Palem. The project will be in a new location (requiring a new pad and handpump), and we are planning on going to the village tomorrow to ensure that there are no problems with this new location.

Day 9 - Tuesday February 26

2008-02-26T18:33:00.000-08:00

Today was a bad day. We went to our village to start marking the locations for the footings and we were told that apparently where our original well is located is on private property - apparently the owner gave the villagers an easement to place only a well on this property. Clearly this is something our team should have been told by the previous site assessment team. This is a big issue, and nothing should have been done on this land without consent of all parties. So basically we cannot construct our project in this area. The villagers had located what they considered to be a viable alternative location, however, we wondered if we would have the same issue with landrights in this location. Apparently this land where they would like to construct the project is on the Kapu's land, however, we were told by our Rotary contact that we cannot do anything until he gives the go ahead. It was really a very sad situation, because we don't have a proper translator and we had to tell the villagers somehow that we couldn't start today. They were so excited to start the project, they offered to start digging a new well right away and we had to tell them that they had to wait. The look of disappointment on their faces was heartbreaking. Yeah, it was not a good day. We also had to call the contractor that we had managed to line up through the help of ASSIST and tell them to stop work. They had already purchased the equipment and started cutting the rebar, but our Rotary donor told us to tell them to stop until he gives us his ok. This is a tough situation because he did not give us any funds for this project (he is holding the money) and everything was able to be purchased on credit because these people were trying to help us get this project done.

So instead of sitting idle while we waited for the determination of whether we could build in this new location, we set out to find vendors for the remaining equipment that we needed. Our Rotary donor in Hyderabad wanted us to get several quotes for everything we purchased, which is extremely difficult because 1) we don't speak telugu and spend about an hour miming things to get people to understand and 2) this is a very small place and it is VERY limited as to what you can buy here. If you can find things at all, you need to count yourself lucky. For instance, there is only one pipe shop. We were having difficulties finding a PVC liner for our wetland (we spent all of Monday evening going from shop to shop), but as we were driving back from the village we saw a tarp and we had our driver stop. We got out of the car and pointed at the tarp and we finally managed to make him understand that we wanted the name for this type of material. We then managed to communicate that we would like to buy this type of material (the driver speaks a little english), and he took us to several stores. Success! We found a PVC type material that would work! It is a little thin, so we decided to purchase two to make up for this issue. And then directly across the street we found material that would be useful for a screen and then other rebar type materials that would be useful if we had to extend the pad. So amazingly enough, this was our most successful day of material procurement (we had been searching everyday for materials after we returned from the village). We took the name for all of these shops, because our Rotary donor will not allow us to purchase anything until we have his approval. We were not given an advance, so we have to wait to purchase all of our equipment until gives the ok and releases the funds.

All in all, a very tough day. I'm hoping tomorrow is better.

Day 8 - Monday, February 25

2008-02-26T18:20:00.001-08:00

Today we went to Jalamma Palem. ASSIST escorted us, because there were a number of issues to revolve that were impossible to deal with without the presence of a proper translator (Mr. Murthy speaks wonderful English and was gracious enough to take the time out of his busy day to come with us). We learned that the rainwater catchment portion of the project was not going to be as helpful to the villagers as we originally thought because of the minimal amounts of rainfall that they receive. So to work around this issue, we brainstormed with the villagers and determined that the ability to fill the tank either manually or via an automated method would make this structure even more useful to them. We then talked to the women about how they would like their 'wash stations'/sinks set up. The women have to currently walk quite a ways to do their washing. They told us that they do not need sinks, and that the women all wash together and that it would be better for them to have at least four washing areas together on the ground. We figured out what dimensions were appropriate and plan to incorporate this into our design. Those were the only major issues and the villagers were actually fine with the present location as well. They were so excited about our plan! It gave us such an amazing feeling to see the looks on their faces and realize that we were actually going to be building something that they were excited about that was going to make their lives better.

The villagers then continued to discuss some other issues that are affecting them. The government had promised them 22 houses, but they are having difficulties getting them to construct there houses. ASSIST is a very big organization in this area, so they agreed to talk to the government on behalf of the villagers to get this process moving. ASSIST was planning to have a small event in this area to make this happen - they agreed with our assessment that the village of Jalamma Palem are filled with very nice people that have somehow fallen through the cracks. They have received very little tsunami aid, while villages next door have received numerous funds. We feel really excited that we were able to put our village in contact with ASSIST, which is a properly run organization that does much for the people in this area.

Day 7 - Sunday, February 24

2008-02-23T21:34:00.000-08:00

This morning we worked on changing aspects of our design. We revisited our sizing for our wetland after seeing the village and after we see the new location tomorrow, we will determine if we need to downsize the structure. We also set up our water quality laboratory in our room, so we are all set to do some Ecoli as well as nitrate testing. We lost quite a few reagents in transit, but we have enough to run an MPN test on each well, and an MPN test on the SODIS treated water. Each test can take up to 48-72 hours, so it will be good to get started now.

We then attended a function with ASSIST - they were having a kickoff function for one of their new projects in the village of Kudipudi. Here they are working in conjunction with Philip Morris to construct a water distrubution system throughout the town and finish the construction of a new primary school (the construction was started with government money, but the government funds ran out before the project was completed so the school is just sitting there half finished). It was a very nice function and we were received very well - there was a chance they thought we were the representatives from Philip Morris. Alot gets lost in translation here :).

Thanks to Mike and Liz in LA for sorting out our construction questions so quickly. We had questions regarding the rebar sizing and then requested an additional pad design for the new bore well. Given our limited time here, it is great that you guys responded so quickly - so thanks again!

Day 6 - Saturday February 23

2008-02-23T09:54:00.001-08:00

Today we headed out to Jalamma Palem (our village) with a member of ASSIST who was to serve as our translator in addition to the contractor that we met yesterday. We stopped at the contractors house to have a traditional South Indian breakfast (like I said before, the hospitality is unbelievable - everyone we have met has been gracious and very hospitable). There we met with a local Civil Engineer and explained our design to him - he speaks more English than the contractor - and he then explained our design in detail to the contractor. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but the contractor is also a member of Rotary, so he will be constructing our project (with help from the villagers) for only labor and material costs - i.e., no profit. We then continued on to the village.

ASSIST had sent two of their other staff members to the village in the morning to inform the villagers that we were coming. When we arrived we were presented with flowers for our hair, and then seated in a space as the guests of honor in front of the village. At this point, we learned more about the village in general. There are thirty families in the village. The men are all fishermen, and the women either work in the fields or go to the market to sell fish. The villagers told us that since the tsunami, the fishing has completely changed. There are many days now where they cannot catch any fish at all, and this is in sharp contrast to the pre-tsunami period, when the fish were abundant. This is problematic for their livelihood, because this village is sustained primarily on fishing.

The villagers seemed to like our plan, but they needed to ask their Kapo, who was out of town. The Kapo is, from what I could tell, basically the village leader. He makes the final decisions about everything that is to happen in the village. The villagers said they would talk to him and let us know either tonight or tomorrow his decision. Basically this is a formality, as they know about the work and are excited to have us come and construct our water station. The villagers were very warm and generous with us - and meeting them solidified why we are doing all of this.
The villagers mentioned that they would like to see our water station moved to a different location. Currently, we are placing the water station essentially on top of an existing bore well. However, the villagers are planning to erect several new houses, and they were hoping that we could install a new bore well at this location and put the water station at that site. We had a tough time with translation at this point, so the head of ASSIST offered to come with us to Jalamma Palem on Monday to talk to the villagers and see where exactly they would like the water station. We want to ensure that above all else that whatever we construct will be usable and beneficial to the villagers.

After we returned to Ongole from the village, we set out to create a cost estimate for the project. It is very difficult, as we don't have a translator with us, so often times we aren't really understood. However, we still managed to obtain some information and will put something together tomorrow. The tough part of today was that our initial plan to connect the pump to the water tank will not work, as the pump cannot operate under pressure. So we ran around a great deal trying to work out a number of other alternatives, such as an electric pump, etc. However, we spoke to another team member this evening, and it looks like we can just connect a hose from the handpump and run it to the sinks when the women would like to do washing. More low tech than we were envisioning, but I think it is the best option. We will save the electric motor idea if someone ever wants to do an upgrade project in the area.

Tomorrow we will work on adjusting our design. Then there is a program put on by ASSIST at one of the villages they are working in and they have graciously invited us to attend. That will take up most of our day. On Monday, the work will begin again.

Day 5 - Friday, February 22

2008-02-23T09:28:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Ongole this morning on the train. Unfortunately, all of the hotels were booked up (I knew this was going to happen, and should have trusted my gut instincts), which was a bit tough to deal with at 6:30 in the morning, especially after an all night train. So we finally found a place with availability, and it was definitely interesting. After we got settled in, we phoned our contact at ASSIST, the local NGO working in the Prakasam district. Mr. Murthy, our contact at ASSIST, was very nice and upon hearing where we were staying, invited us to stay at their guest house. He also contacted a local contractor and some various material vendors for us. He also offered to send some of his staff with us to the village tomorrow, as they do a great deal of work in this area as well and have a relationship with the villagers. This did a great deal to alleviate our concerns, as we were starting to feel very uneasy about the fact that both our contractor and translator had not worked out. People are remarkably hospitable here. We had three invitations just yesterday for lunch, dinner and then coffee and watermelon with either ASSIST folks or other Rotary members in the Ongole area.

Tomorrow we will visit the village! We are so excited to finally meet the people and see the place where we have done so much planning. We plan to discuss the project with the villagers to get any comments they may have, because we would like this structure to be as useful to them as possible.

Day 4 - Thursday, February 21

2008-02-21T05:08:00.000-08:00

Today we visited a rural village near Hyderabad where a reverse osmosis plant has been installed to treat the groundwater for fluoride contamination. Groundwater is the sole drinking water source in this area, as much of the surface water is highly contaminated due to industrial activity in Hyderabad. The groundwater is impacted with high levels of fluoride, as much as 10 ppm, and TDS. So we met with the vendor that sells these small capacity RO plants to the villages for a reasonable fee, which was very interesting because RO is a great treatment option that is generally cost prohibitive (not to mention the specialized training and equipment required to maintain such a facility). One outstanding issue that we saw with this treatment technique is there is no plan of what to do with the brine solution that is produced during the treatment process. It is currently just discharged to the field outside of the plant. Another issue (and this seems global to AP) is how to accurately gauge the performance of this treatment technique when there appears to be a lack of reliable water quality labs in the state. We are off to Ongole tonight on the train, and will visit our village for the first time tomorrow morning.

Day 3, Wednesday February 20

2008-02-21T04:35:00.000-08:00

Today we realized that several of our reagents for our water quality kit broke in transit. This was very unfortunate, as there was an entire gammut of tests we would have liked to run. So we pooled the reagents that we still have and came up with a contingency plan. We can still run several MPN tests on the community wells and one MPN test on the SODIS treated water. This will give us at least some good data to start with. I am feeling very good about the decision to bring a water quality kit, because from everyone we have spoken with, it appears that the labs available to run water quality tests for the public are not reliable. So it will be interesting to compare our results with those we have previously had analyzed at the laboratory.

In regards to our translator issues, we contacted a local NGO in the Ongole area that one of the EWB-LA members had worked with previously, and it appears that they will be able to find us a new translator and contractor. We will know more once we get to Ongole.

Day 2 - February 19

2008-02-19T19:14:00.001-08:00

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.

Day 1 - February 18, 2008

2008-02-19T19:08:00.000-08:00

It was a long trip (around 38 hours in transit for me, and a little less for Deepa), but we both made it to Hyderabad safely. We are staying with our Rotary Contact, Ram, and will start working on cementing our plans in the morning. We also met Sandy, the Rotarian from Texas, who had helped to fundraise for the grant for this project.

Ram, Sandy and the other Rotarian from Texas visited Jalamma Palem on February 16 and briefed the villagers regarding our plans for this phase of the project and when we would be arriving.

EWB-SFP: India 2008 Implementation Trip

2008-02-15T09:16:00.000-08:00

Our Project - Implementation Trip 2008
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.