On Wednesday Noam, Scott and I (Marisa) got up around 5am to get ready to pick up Valerie from the airport. Unfortunately our driver was late and instead of leaving at 6am we left around 6:45am. Valerie had to wait a bit but we made it. We then went back into Kampala to pick up Sarah and Leone, the students assisting us from Makerere University. We were glad to have a private van and not the public taxi, especially with all of our luggage. We had a tasty lunch at the equator and took pictures we will upload when we get faster internet. We finally reached Ddegeya around 2pm. After a bit of settling in the girls, Valerie, Leone, Sarah, and me went out to Kinoni, a nearby town to buy food and supplies. Upon our return we visited each tank.
The main problems we found were:
1. Pumps were not working, mostly because of broken valves. There were also broken T-joints and broken handles.
2. Lids were cracked and warped and rotting in some cases.
3. People must stand on the lid because the pump is too far in.
4. The gutters are overflowing. Each gutter has a long edge and a short edge and in some cases the short edge is on the outside. Schematic to come if we get faster internet!
Our solutions:
1. Replace wood valves with rubber.
2. Replace wooden lids with concrete.
3. Move pumps closer to edge to reduce stress on T-joints, possibly build stairs to reach the pump handles
4. Secure handles with joints, not just drilling holes
5. Replace gutters to get long edges on the outside in all cases and increase gutter supports to prevent bending.
After our long day of travel and visiting tanks we had a delicious dinner of potatoes, onions and tomatoes with tea. We all enjoyed it but most of us could not finish it all.
Everyone slept well on Wednesday night and we then set out to buy supplies and repair the tanks! We are currently in Masaka buying supplies. Stay tuned for more updates!
The main problems we found were:
1. Pumps were not working, mostly because of broken valves. There were also broken T-joints and broken handles.
2. Lids were cracked and warped and rotting in some cases.
3. People must stand on the lid because the pump is too far in.
4. The gutters are overflowing. Each gutter has a long edge and a short edge and in some cases the short edge is on the outside. Schematic to come if we get faster internet!
Our solutions:
1. Replace wood valves with rubber.
2. Replace wooden lids with concrete.
3. Move pumps closer to edge to reduce stress on T-joints, possibly build stairs to reach the pump handles
4. Secure handles with joints, not just drilling holes
5. Replace gutters to get long edges on the outside in all cases and increase gutter supports to prevent bending.
After our long day of travel and visiting tanks we had a delicious dinner of potatoes, onions and tomatoes with tea. We all enjoyed it but most of us could not finish it all.
Everyone slept well on Wednesday night and we then set out to buy supplies and repair the tanks! We are currently in Masaka buying supplies. Stay tuned for more updates!
Just out of curiosity, was the community members bothered by the status of the tanks? How much are the community members using the tanks still?
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