I was typing up the notes I took from tonights meeting and saw the
people that couldn't make it were wondering what happened. Here is
what we came up with for what Shanta and I will be doing while down in
Nicaragua. Please add to the list anything you can think of, we will
be meeting with Dr. Hayden so we will have more ideas about checking
the water for the next meeting.
What to Bring
Water meter, Sift, Auger, GPS/Total Station, Collapsible Shovel,
Flags/Markings, Tool kit, Soil testing kit, Water testing kit, compass
Questions to Ask
Remember it is the communities project?get as much input as possible.
Where are people currently getting water? How many people using the
water? Farming, pesticides?other possible things in soil? Uses for
water- bathing, drinking, irrigation? Town center, or common place?
Where is the waste going? Map of region- find/make. What do the
people want?their opinions on possible ideas?
Are there storage tanks for water, or just as gathered as needed?
Rainwater collection? Where does the runoff go? Topography of area,
GPS coordinates of everything possible, rough topo maps. Take photos
at high angles to delineate topo for others. What are the possible
pumping engines - wind, gas, electric, hydraulic ram?
What to Look for
Use auger to drill holes and fill with water, see how long it takes to
disappear. Check soil, sand better than clay- look and sift. Check
current well depth. Check for water contaminates?what to look for,
how? Look for possible community well sites up hill of the houses
(septic system). Find out the subsurface soils, bedrock type...is it
hard, dense, fracture.
Some of the other things we talked about was getting funding from
Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions Clubs. Also linking up with ASCE to try
and work together on things. I have also gotten word from Dr. Hayden
that an old faculty member would be interested in getting involved
with our group when he gets back from Florida in May. His name is Dr.
Richard Downer and he contributed some more to the list we made above.
We will be meeting again next week and going over all final plans and
getting that coffee out to people.
Also, thanks Carlos for all your work and we will discuss things we
need to get done while in Managua and let you know in the next few days.
Andy
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