Updates

Isla Montecristo, El Salvador: Day 4 

February 20, 2018

Our last day in El Salvador began as usual with a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, plantains with cream, papaya, beans, rolls, and strong coffee.  After breakfast we said goodbye to Dean.  I have really enjoyed meeting him and getting to know him.  He was an important part of our team and we look forward to seeing him again in El Salvador one day.  We left for Puerto Parada and drove through the City of Usulatan which is a busy place with lots of people and shops and traffic. We got stuck in a traffic jam outside of town for quite a while.  We saw police cars, an ambulance, and other official vehicles pass us, but by the time we got to the area where there must have been a wreck, it was all clear.  That type of traffic is only common in San Salvador so Chema was not expecting it in this area. 

Although we arrived late in Puerto Parada, the four local community members were pleased to see us.  We sat down in the shade with a nice breeze and listened to the issues they are having with their water system that serves about 300 connections with each connection providing water for 1 – 3 families.  They have a 14-year old well that produces plenty of water, but the variable frequency drive (VFD) controller on the pump is failing.  Their well system flooded in the past when the nearby flood control levee failed, but the levee has since been repaired. They are having trouble getting water to the end of the distribution system, getting the right amount of chlorination in the distribution system, and with pipes breaking in the distribution system. They have more families in the area that want to connect to their water system, but they need to develop the capacity for them. They need help studying whether to replace the VFD or install one or more tanks (pressure or elevated gravity tanks). We all piled into Chema’s truck and drove from their offices to the well to look at their system. Along the way we went past some corn fields where they were detassling seed corn.  We also saw a corn field planted with squash among the plants. The squash leaves protect the soil and the corn shades the squash and provides something for the squash to climb up. I had a very limited Spanish conversation about corn in Iowa – I am learning more words in Spanish every day. We arrived at the well to see a group of chickens resting comfortably in the shade on the piping. We got the information we needed and then piled back into the truck and drove back to their offices. After we arrived, the head of the water committee said he wanted to give us some fresh coconuts to thank us for our help.  He took off his watch, emptied his pockets, took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his pant legs, gathered up a big rope, and tied a machete to the end.  He looped the rope around a palm tree trunk and basically walked quickly right up the trunk of a very tall tree.  At the top he stood among the leaves and cut off bunches of coconuts and used the rope to lower them to the ground. After he quickly walked back down the tree trunk, he cut the ends off coconuts so we could drink the juice and cut open a coconut so we could eat the meat. He then used a machete to cut the outside completely off two coconuts so all that was left was the meat and the juice inside.  We brought those back with us and they are chilling in the cooler for a snack before we leave in the morning. After we left Puerto Parada, we stopped at the Big Tree restaurant for lunch and drove back to Ciudad Romero. Gina and Chema spent some time evaluating the electrical systems here as they would like to add air conditioning to two of the bedrooms. We had a wonderful dinner tonight of pupusas (half with beans and cheese and half with squash and cheese), watermelon, slaw, and fresh squeezed juice.

I am enjoying my last evening in El Salvador. This morning we saw the bats that live in the compound fly right past us on their way to bed for the day in the trees.  I tried to see them flying out this evening, but they were too quiet and quick for me. The sun has gone down and it is cooling off. The geckos are chirping occasionally – even though they are only the size of a chameleon they make a very loud noise.  We are reflecting on the new things we have seen and learned about on this trip. We saw the sugar cane harvest. After the fields are burned at night, the cane is manually cut and loaded on huge trucks that we see along the roads. Last night there were large pieces of ash floating down on us as we sat talking in the common area of the dorms. It is election season here so we learned about the political system and the changes that are taking place as the people are pushing to make sure all of the power in the country is not concentrated in the hands of a privileged few. We learned about the volcanic origins of this country and saw one of the old volcanos, Chaparrastique, outgassing sulfur gas today, a relatively common occurrence.

At the end of my second trip to El Salvador I am reflecting on our successes and how enjoyable it was. We installed the planned test wells at Isla MonteCristo, collected a water sample to evaluate the cashew orchard groundwater quality, met with the community members and learned that they met and agreed to support our project. We visited Puerto Parada and learned about their water system and how we might be able to help them. We have a plan for the work we will do when our group returns in May. I enjoyed spending time with Mike, Gina, Dean, and Chema and getting to know them better. I enjoy working with them to understand the problems being faced by the local communities and working together to help provide them with solutions.

Once again I am impressed with the friendliness of the local people as well as their resourcefulness.  I have never seen anyone get angry or raise their voice even in the middle of a difficult situation when things go wrong. They have developed strong, widespread grassroots organizations that helped them recover from the devastation of a civil war.  When they returned together to Ciudad Romero they worked as a community to build a church, streets, and homes as well as to develop a new agricultural economy. There is a lot I have learned from the Salvadorans about perseverance in the face of adversity and how much can be accomplished when people work together towards a common goal. I am as committed as ever to do what I can to support their efforts and am already looking forward to my next trip here!

Becky

Isla Montecristo, El Salvador: Day 3 

February 19, 2018 

We had another successful day at Isla MonteCristo.  We got up this morning and ate another delicious breakfast of fried eggs, beans, rolls, papayas, plantains, and that strong coffee that leads to animated conversation on the drive to the boat. We had to stop at the hardware store – one of my favorite experiences of my first trip to El Salvador. Everything is behind the counter so you have to know what you want instead of browsing the shelves and looking for things that will get the job done.  Today we needed some PVC connections to hook up the well to the jetting pipe as well as lime to make a drilling mud. We ran into a Young Life group at the hardware store that was buying some materials for a house they were building in a nearby community. We drove to the boat launch where Givanny was waiting to take us to MonteCristo.  It was high tide so the trip went quickly.  We were enjoying the herons, egrets, and other birds on the water.  We also saw the quatro oros (four eyes) birds jumping out of the water by the boat. They have two eyes above the water and two eyes below the water so they can swim at the water surface. When we arrived it was much quieter than yesterday as the Young Life groups had spread out to several communities to work on service projects; we saw the group in MonteCristo building a new fence. We loaded up the equipment in the cart being pulled by the motorcycle and then Mike and Dean rode with them out to the cashew orchard.  The community members, led by Fermine (the cashew orchard owner), were setting up for the jetting.  Mike and Dean started assembling the well string as quickly as possible as the jetting crew was ready to start.  Chema, Gina, and I walked the path to the cashew orchard.  Chema took a conductivity reading on the wellpoint we installed yesterday and the water quality looks good.  The jetting method of installing a well involves pumping water into a hollow pipe the length of the planned well (20’ in this case) to drive the pipe into the ground. Once the pipe has been jetted to the desired depth, the actual well pipe with a perforated screen at the end needs to be quickly dropped into the hole as the jetting pipe is removed. Once Mike and Dean finished assembling the well, they held it vertically next to the hole while the jetting took place.  The community members mixed lime with water to make a drilling mud to pump into the hole to hold it open while jetting.  It took only 30 minutes to jet the total 20’ depth and once they quickly pulled out the jetting pipe, Mike dropped the well string into the hole in less than a minute. It was quite impressive and Fermine planned and led the whole process; he clearly knew how to do this. Once the well was installed, they pumped water out of the new well to clear out the drilling mud.  Chema tested the new well and the conductivity was still elevated due to the lime.  We know that we will need to let the well stabilize and pump the new well a few more times before the water quality will be representative of the groundwater. About the time the new well was done, the laboratory representative arrived to take the samples from the cashew orchard well that was installed a year or two ago.  We needed to fill two bags and three large bottles to test for a wide range of parameters including bacteria, pesticides, metals, and total dissolved solids.  We had a small diameter bailer to pull water from the well so it took me an hour to bail enough water to fill all the laboratory containers. Once all the laboratory containers were filled and safely stored in the cooler, we headed back to Givanny’s house for another delicious lunch of chicken, rice, tortillas, and potatoes.  We had cashew juice to drink that was sweet and tasted great because it was definitely hotter today. After we finished eating our lunch, Antonio spoke to us and let us know how much the community appreciates our help. They had a community meeting last night and all agreed they will support this project and are preparing for our return in May.  Givanny then took us back across the river and we said our goodbyes to him and let him know we would be back in just three months. Chema drove us back after we stopped again at the gas station for drinks, snacks, and ice cream. We were back at our Ciudad Romero home by about 3:00 pm so we had time to look around and learn about some of the Mangrove Association projects.  We saw some fish they are raising here and looked at the gardens.  I saw a breadfruit for the first time! We also looked at the solar panels they have that used to run irrigation pumps (until the pumps failed). Gina is evaluating use of a solar powered pump for the new cashew orchard well so she was interested in the solar panels that Mangrove has. It is interesting to learn about the programs that Mangle is pursuing to help the local communities not only with sanitation and water supply, but also with sustainable agriculture. Our supper tonight was delicious as always -  spaghetti with cheese, tortillas, broccoli, watermelon, and fresh squeezed pineapple juice. We are now spending our last evening with Dean who has to go home to Texas tomorrow. We will leave in the morning for Puerto Parada to learn about the elevated water tank they would like us to design for them. Dean will stay behind before he gets a ride to the airport.

Becky

Isla Montecristo, El Salvador: Day 2

February 18, 2018

We had cool sleeping weather last night.  I even needed more than a sheet – this is a first!  During the night, the dogs that run loose here probably run in packs; last night they must have been going after a rooster because there was lots of crowing and barking in the middle of the night.  Around 4:00 am many roosters started crowing in earnest and were still going strong when I got up around 5:30 am.  We had a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, refried beans, rolls, papaya, plantain, and strong coffee.  Chema then drove us to the Lempa River to get on a boat to go to Isla MonteCristo.  When we arrived there were 400 members of Young Life there– quite a crowd for that small community of 35 families!  Young Life has been coming out every year for 7 years from Buffalo, NY to spend a week helping local communities with service projects.  Since we were there on Sunday, they were taking the day off and enjoying Isla MonteCristo. We met one of the leaders and talked to them about the existing MonteCristo water supply well.  Young Life paid for the reverse osmosis water treatment system there about 5 years ago and then was paying about $700/year for a technician to come from San Salvador to maintain the treatment system. At some point in time they quit coming out and we don’t know why.  There has also been a problem with the groundwater level dropping in the well so they can’t get enough water from the well.  We exchanged information with Young Life as they are trying to contact a technician to fix the water treatment system.  This could be a backup to the new well in a nearby cashew orchard we are hoping to design and install along with a pipeline to take the water to the existing storage tank in the center of MonteCristo.

We rode on a cart pulled by a motorcycle to go out to the cashew orchard about a mile from the main part of MonteCristo.  It was bumpy, but we were glad we didn’t have to carry all our equipment on the path as before. We had planned to watch the community members jet in some test wells today, but plans changed as the community members were busy with the Young Life group today; we will watch them jet the wells in tomorrow. After our trip in May, the community members tried to install some test wells with the equipment we brought for them.  They had problems with the couplings breaking so we wanted to try it ourselves and see if we could figure out what went wrong. It was much drier than the last time we were here – there was no water visible in the mangroves at the edge of the orchard and the area looked very dry. I did see a big lizard on a log in the area thought – we’re going to look for it tomorrow and try to get a picture.  It is the dry season here and we can really tell.  The depth to water in the existing cashew orchard well is much deeper than last time.  However, we tested the water and it is still fresh.  We are installing test wells to evaluate the depth to groundwater and water quality changes over the dry and wet seasons to make sure a new well here would consistently provide good quality water. We (well – not me since I took notes) hand augered down to the water table and then pounded in a wellpoint.  We figured out the problem with the well point driving was that the driver had an inside diameter a little too small for the drive cap on the well point.  Therefore, we had to pound in the well point with a coupling – the same as the community members had done which eventually stripped the threads on the coupling.  However, we were able to get a wellpoint driven to about 12 feet and learned that the pounding was loosening the coupling.  We think that if we stopped regularly to tighten the coupling, we could avoid stripping the threads.

It was hot at MonteCristo today (but still not as hot as we have experienced here before).  This made us really appreciate the coconuts at lunch with a straw in them so we could drink the coconut juice. We also had grilled fish, rice with vegetables, tortillas, and vegetables.  It was delicious and I remembered not to feed the cats hanging around our table, Last trip I was giving some tidbits of fish to a cat and she tried to climb up on the bench and bite me to get more fish. After a delicious lunch we spent some time with Giavanny (past Mayor of MonteCristo) and Antonio (current Mayor of MonteCristo) discussing the project and options.  It was a good conversation and we really feel like we are getting the information we need to design a new well and pipeline.  Tomorrow we will meet a laboratory representative onsite who will collect a sample from the existing cashew orchard well to test it for a wide range of potential contaminants to make sure the water is safe to drink.

We are sitting around the table in the common area at Ciudad Romero now enjoying lively conversation after a delicious supper of chicken with vegetables, rice, tortillas, watermelon, and limeade. I am going to take a nice cold shower now and go to bed.  I think maybe I will put in some earplugs when the roosters start crowing!

Becky

Isla Montecristo, El Salvador: Day 1

February 17, 2018 

I didn’t sleep very well last night as I kept thinking about this trip and wondering if I forgot anything.  I had the alarm set for 3:30 am, but I finally just got up at 3:15 am, ate a quick breakfast, closed up my bag and left to pick up Mike.  I was early getting him, but he hadn’t slept well either so he was ready.  We got to the airport around 5:00 amand met Gina there.  Luckily our flight arrived early in Atlanta so we made it to our next flight in good time. I talked to the Salvadoran man next to me on the flight to San Salvador. This is his first trip back since he left for the US in 1993.  He knew his country would be much different now because of the civil war that was just ending when he left.  It was fun to enjoy the first view of his home with him as we landed.  In the airport we waited about an hour to meet Dean who flew in from Dallas via Miami.  We made it through customs and met Chema outside.  Although it was much warmer outside than it was back in Iowa (where it was snowing again), it wasn’t as hot as I was expecting. We enjoyed catching up with Chema as we drove through the countryside and past the cattle in the road.  The sugar cane harvest is in progress now and we saw fields that had been burned before harvest as well as big trucks loaded up with cut cane.  There is an election coming so we saw lots of political signs along the road. We stopped at a gas station for some snacks and drinks before we went to our home in Ciudad Romero. Our dormitory is open air with a roof and dormitory rooms off each side of a central open area.  We reviewed the information we had brought along and made plans for tomorrow. At 6:30 pm we walked to Marcelina’s for a delicious supper of beans, tortillas, cheese, cucumbers, avocado, and juice.  We came back from dinner and took showers to cool off before going to bed.  The weather is actually quite comfortable.  Chema said a cool front came through last night and cooled things off – we are lucky (so far)!

Becky

Isla Montecristo, El Salvador: Three Days Until Travel!

February 14, 2018 

In just three days, four of our members will be traveling to El Salvador to gather information and prepare for our larger trip in May.

The agenda includes assisting with wellpoint installation and groundwater testing at Montecristo, as well as visiting Puerto Parada to gather information on the requested water tower. We are planning on touching base daily (or as frequently as possible), so stay tuned for updates on the trip!

Isla Montecristo, El Salvador: Pre-Travel Thoughts

February 16, 2018 

The temperatures in Iowa are in the 20’s and the ground is covered in snow.  I received an email from Chema in El Salvador letting us know it is “hotter than ever there” and reminding us to bring sunscreen, insect repellant, Gatorade powder, and a long-sleeve shirt.  It is hard to believe how different everything will be in just 24 hours! I remember my first trip to El Salvador less than a year ago.  In only one week I came to love the friendly, hard-working, conscientious people of El Salvador, their food, and their countryside.  I remember going to sleep listening to geckos clicking and waking up to roosters crowing and the bell on the bicycle of the man delivering fresh bread. I am excited to experience it all again.

Our group is smaller than on our last trip.  Myself and three other engineers are gathering information and preparing for a larger trip in May that will include professional engineers and engineering students. We will be staying in Ciudad Romero and supported by the Mangrove Association, the Salvadoran organization that provides technical support to over 100 local communities and coordinates our efforts. We will travel to Isla Montecristo, a community of about 160 people on the Pacific Ocean.  Because the Rio Lempa borders it to the west and a brackish stream borders it on the north and east, the community is accessible only by boat. Our goal for this trip is to install test wells at Isla Montecristo to evaluate whether a new drinking water well in a nearby cashew orchard will provide a reliable supply of fresh water even though water levels and salinity may change seasonally.  A sample of the groundwater in the cashew orchard will be collected by a San Salvador lab to be tested for a wide range of parameters to be sure the quality is good for drinking. If it is a suitable drinking water supply, our group will design a new water supply well and mile-long pipeline to take it to an existing tank in Isla Montecristo. The drinking water well that was serving the community became too salty to drink due to saltwater intrusion.  Last year, the community was hauling in drinking water in 5-gallon jugs they had to purchase elsewhere.  Each of the 35 families has their own well for non-potable uses, but has no local access to drinkable water.  Recently, as a temporary measure, they installed a tank in a nearby inland community to fill with drinking water from that community’s well.  They are still hauling in their drinking water by boat, but the cost is less. 

I hope we can help this small community that is active in mangrove restoration and sea turtle protection. Isla Montecristo is not sustainable without drinking water.

Becky Svatos