A Final Meeting

Today was full of showing off our work, the prototypes that we spent our time in Ddegeya constructing. We began the morning with two tasks. Steven, Leticia, Irene, and Lynette, went once again to St. Gertrude´s (the primary school up the road) to try to give another water education presentation. The students have been on vacation for the entirety of our time in Ddegeya so we hoped that they would be back in school. Today was the first day back, but the headmaster suggested returning tomorrow when more of the students would actually be in class. So tomorrow we will give the presentation to the students. Hopefully, they will bring the knowledge of cleaner, safer water back home to share with their families. This part of the EWB team also stopped by the tank built last summer to collect a water sample for testing (we had leftover testing equipment and were curious as the results) and talked to the household where the tank is. From the conversation with the family, water is shared fairly throughout the year, depending on rainy or dry season. The woman we were talking to said that about ten families drew water from the tank. Each household could take a jerrican every day during the rainy season and one jerrican every two days during the dry season. If the tank spills over, each household can take as much as they want. The family claims that the tank has never been empty, though they may say this to appease those who provided the tank. But overall, the feedback concerning that tank has been positive.

While that portion of the EWB team was out and about, Katelyn and Scott conducted tests on the ennhanced inertia pump to determine how long it takes to fill a jerrican. The pump requires moderately paced strokes, approximately one pump per second. If it is pumped faster than this, water flows over the top a little. At the rate of one pump per .9 to 1 seconds (54-60 strokes per minute) the pump produced 5.5L-6.5L per minute. This means a 20L jerrican can be filled in approximately 4 minutes, a very reasonable rate. We conducted three trials of the volume test and all yielded 5.5L to 6.5L per minute.

The entire team spent the rest of the morning preparing for the meeting this afternoon with the waterboard and the households where the tanks will be placed.

The meeting was set for 4PM and the majority of the group was at the clinic by 4:20, excellent by African time. We started by discussing each of our major points. We introduced the two types of tanks we worked on, the ferrocement and clay lined with waterproof cement render. We talked about the pump and the first flush system. We reviewed the cluster requirements (150,000 UGX on our return, maintanence by the household with the tank, and shared water access). We tried to tell them that the household with the tank receives no special privelages or access to the water. They actually rolled their eyes at us and Lynette told us during preparation that they would "laugh mockingly" at the suggestion. However, the sharing of last year´s tank and their common agreement about equal access to water indicates that sharing water should not be an issue. We also talked about water sanitation. We brought up recontamination of clean water in dirty containers, but everyone said they already separted jerricans for boiled water and jerricans for unsanitized water. We demonstrated the use of Waterguard (a chlorine tablet) with the Pathoscreen, changing the black sample (full of choloforms) to yellow by adding the Waterguard. After the discussions, we moved down to the tanks themselves. We demonstrated the pump, the first flush, and both the tanks, which have been successfully holding water since yesterday afternoon.

The big surprise of the meeting was the reaction of the community members to the clay tank. Previously, the members of the water board dismissed the clay tank as dirty and porous. However, when we brought it up today, especially with the addition of the waterproof cement top layer, everyone was incredibly interested. They were asking for direct instructions and ratios of concrete for the bottom. We told them the technical and construction information, but warned them that we only knew that it would work for a few days. We do not know exactly how the clay will hold up after the wet season, if the shrink/swell properties of clay will crack the tank, or how best to create the dimensions. The members of the waterboard gave us the impression that they will try the clay tank, regardless of whether we know if it works or not. We also tried to make it very clear that a top was necessary for the tank, not only to keep the debris out, but for the safety of people and children around the household.

At the end of the meeting, people on both sides, EWB and water board were happy. Technologies were explained and questions answered. A final full day in Ddegeya tomorrow to finish up the little things and cleaning up our little messes until we head back to Kampala with Daphne. We plan to meet with Dr. Musaazi upon our return. He wanted to tell us more about his interlocking brick system and his experience with helping rural villages in Uganda. A good morning, a good day, and a good night. Steven just lost to Eddie while playing chess and is now trying to teach Eddie tic tac toe, perhaps in an attempt to find a game that he can win. Catsgame. But another day awaits.