January 16, 2010 - Ddegeya

by bringing back not one, not two, not three, not four, but five WAPIs. But we'll leave Mike's adventures in its due chronological place.

In the morning, Kevin attempted to wash a batch of fine/intermediate sand (sifted via the new sieve purchased in Masaka) in rainwater (it was raining very heavily). The result was rather unsatisfactory---after about 30 washes, the water was still somewhat cloudy. There were some dirt/clay/mud particles roughly the same size as the intermediate sand particles, and it was virtually impossible to separate the two. Dave and Kevin then loaded a small batch of fine sand only (sifted via the original sieve with the smallest pore size) using BH4's water (after the rain, there was virtually no traffic at the borehole for a while). After about 20 washes, the water ran relatively clear (though still turbid compared to the original BH or even pond water). We then did one more batch---this time with the pond water and a stool. The water cleared more or less after about 25 washes. Since washing each batch took about 1 hour, this was all we managed to accomplish in the morning.

After a light lunch of protein bar, chapati, and avocadoes, we washed another batch of sand (this time we were more ambitious and loaded more sand---and the water did not clear until after about 35 washes). Joseph showed up at around 2:40 p.m., at which point Kevin left with him to explore more households and to collect water samples (swab tests) from drinking water storage containers and rainwater collector. In the meanwhile, Monica was cooking up some rice for the dinner and needed Dave's help.

Joseph and Kevin first went to BH1 and checked its location. There was still some confusion over the number of BHs and wells in that area, and Joseph was unable to clarify that. We will have to confirm everything with John when he returns. Then we visited some household near Salongo's area, and here are the results:

Household 16
Charles lives near BH1, and has 2 adults and 4 children in the family. They collect water from BH1 and sometimes from BH4 and P1. The family uses about 4 jerry cans, 5 L of which is for drinking. The family drinks tea only.

The family collects rainwater, and uses a roof guttering system. Rainwater is collected in jerry cans and a small plastic drum. When it rains heavily, about 8 jerry cans of water can be collected, lasting the family about 3 days.

When asked to show the water storage, the family brought a very clean bucket that seemed unused. The family let us collect samples directly from the rainwater drum.

Household 17
Mr. D has a relatively rich house housing 2 adults. The family farms and the wife weaves baskets to sell. ***The husband collects water*** from the ponds near BH1. THe family consumes about 2 jerry cans of water per day, 10 L of which is used for drinking. The family boils drinking water---for both tea and plain water. The family purchases firewood, and needs about 1000 UGX per day. It takes about 10 minutes to heat water to boiling, and the water is kept at boiling for about 5 minutes. Boiled water is stored in a saucepan.

The family collects rainwater in a drum (equivalent of about 10 jerry cans) and 5 more jerry cans. About half of the roof is covered by the gutter system. During heavy rains, the family can collect about 15 jerry cans of water, which can last for 5 days. The family also boils rainwater.

When asked to show the water storage, the family brought a cup of water. When asked to show the rainwater collector, the family also brought a cup of water.

Household 18
Tom's family has 2 parents and 6 school children. The family collects water from BH1 when it works---when it breaks down, water is collected from the pond. The BH can break at any time unpredictably. Children collect water, making 1 trip daily with 5 jerry cans. It takes a long time to fill a jerry can---about a few minutes. The family drinks about 5.5 L of water per day as porridge. The family boils drinking water using collected firewood.

Rainwater is collected in drums---about 100 L. Heavy rains can provide water for 2 days. Rainwater is boiled, but unboiled water is still cleaner than pond water. When asked to provide samples of water storage and rainwater collector, the family provided cups supposedly with the corresponding waters.

Household 19
Anne-Maria has a dog whose barking sounds like Goose the dog at the clinic. The family consists of 2 adults and 2 school children, and they collect water from the pond beside BH1. The family uses 3-4 jerry cans daily, and collecting such water requires about 2 one-hour trips daily. About 5-10 L of water is drunk per day. Water is boiled, and consumed as tea or plain water. Boiling is done using firewood---either bought or collected---at an approximate price of 10000 UGX for a few (e.g. 4) days. It takes about 15 minutes to heat 5 L of water to boiling, and the family keeps the water rolling for 5 minutes.

Rainwater is collected via a small roof gutter into big saucepans. Heavy rains can fill 5 jerry cans, whilch can last ***3 days***. Rainwater is boiled, though unboiled water is still considered cleaner than pond water, because it comes from the roof.

Upon taking leave, the family requests drums for rainwater collection. According to Joseph, these are not too expensive to purchase.

Household 20
Hadija recalls several times in which people (both MIT-EWB and workers from the Engeye clinic) visited her house and asked many survey questions. She complained that all these talks yielded no significant benefit. She is cynical that we would be able to contribute anything, but she was willing to answer our questions.

The family, which has 10 adults and 9 school children, collects water from Nalongo---***B4 and P1***. They sometimes collect from another pond---P3---but this is far. ***Children collect water***. About 8-10 jerry cans of water is needed per day, and about 10 L is drunk as tea or plain water, ***with boiling***. Firewood is bought, costing about 10000 UGX per week.

Rainwater is collected via a roof gutter into a drum and jerry cans. Heavy rains can result in 12 jerry cans of water, supporting the family for about 3 days.

Even if the clinic does implement some rainwater storage facility, the family would still collect the water from the pond, as the clinic is too far.

In the meanwhile, Mike returned with his trophy, the five WAPIs. However, he did not manage to find the transparent plates (glass or Plexiglas) covering the solar cookers, nor the putty glue for the leaky bucket. We might end up just pulling the leaky pipes out, and reinstalling the seemingly more trusty pipes with the screws. He had a tour of Solar Connections Association with Olivia (the lady whom Kevin arranged for the order of WAPIs), witnessing the parabolic, box, and panel cookers (the latter of which can cost about 15000 UGX apiece; the former ones are much more expensive---the parabolic one being 300000 UGX apiece). The lady also showed Mike a way in which an aluminium foil can be glued quite flat onto a cardboard box. However, Mike does not have this glue. This is a place that Kevin and Dave should visit at the end of their trip---if nothing, just to pick up some additional cheap WAPIs to bring back to the U.S. (where it costs about $5 apiece). According to Mike, the taxi he took on the way back to Ddegeya broke down and he had to flag down another one. Apparently the Ugandans did not trust a mzungu engineer to inspect their car.

Whilst Kevin was collecting water samples our new friends Daniel and Freddy turned up at the clinic to find out more about what we were trying to do. We had met them the previous day whilst busy washing sand at Nalongo---apparently they had learnt about biosand filters in biology class and were keen to see the practical aspects of them being built. With the help of Kevin's Lugandan annotated diagrams and a tour of our various sand filled buckets we explained the science behind both the sand filter and solar cooker. It was uplifting to see such enthusiasm from young Ugandans who had made the hour long treck to see us at the clinic, regardless of the fact they both had access to tapped water in their home town of chinoni. After an exchange of email addresses we invited them back in a couple of days to view our (hopefully) working prototypes. From our conversation, we found out that Daniel and Freddy live in Kinoni (the next town, about 1 hour's walk away). The town has water pipes (whose pump we saw the other day near the Trading Centre in Ddegeya on the north side of the Masaka-Mbarara Road), but not every household can afford it, so many still use wells, etc.

Just before sundown, Mike and Kevin managed to wash another batch of fine sand. This one cleared quite readily after 20 washes---though the lighting was different. We had originally planned to leave some cleaned sand wet and some dry, but from Daniel and Freddy's lessons, and from Kevin's recollections, it seems that the washed sand should be given a chance to dry, perhaps so that dirt/clay particles do not clump together and can be washed off more readily in a follow-up wash.

Near dinner time, Tom and his father (Bob) returned from a trip. After Kevin and Dave plated the swab samples collected from the households (sometimes with somewhat catastrophic results), Kevin started cooking fried rice, this time under Monica's motherly supervision. Dave also had another chance to demonstrate his chapati prowess.

Tomorrow we will build the solar cookers in the morning and test with the WAPIs. We will also wash some more sand and hopefully be in a position to build our first prototype.