First Flush and First Water Board Meeting

Our prototyping has been going well. During the morning, we split into two teams, one to build a first flush prototype and another to plan materials for making the alternative charcoal. The team assembled a first flush system, using a 5 gallon water jug, a PVC T junction, and some small sections of tin piping. The initial prototype used a small inflatable ball as a valve, but once the ball was removed, the first flush system worked just as well. The mixing was minimal. Soon, we will be testing a first flush system where the debris is collected from a hanging PVC pipe. The other group brainstormed new ideas for binder materials for the charcoal process. The feedback received from the community indicates that matooke and banana peels are used for cattle feed and few would be willing to sacrifice them for charcoal creation. Likewise, cassava is a food and very few are willing to boil it for charcoal. However, we came up with a few possible binders to try; jackfruit trees produce a lot of sap and gum that are easily collected. The leaves of jackfruit trees are also very sticky. We will try these and continue to search for different binder options.

We also had our first water board meeting. We opened with the presentation of EWB´s mission to create sustainable technologies-- to teach intsead of give. We discussed the cluster responsibilities and the collection of funds. Several clusters have already demonstrated the ability to collect the funds. We also decided to keep the contribution per cluster at 150,000 UGX, regardless of inflation. The water board was invited to view our prototype tanks in about a week, when they are more complete.