Update on the Water Filters

Mary Rose Day (she participated two years ago) and her husband, Brian Day, are in Riobamba for the September 2011 program.  Their main objectives are to follow up on the water filters and plan the next steps:

Update

We met with Carmen (President of Fecaipac), Juan (representing el Consejo Provincial), and Dr. Maritza last friday and proposed an expansion of the pilot program in Puchara Quinche which appears to be a huge success after just 8-12 months.  Dr. Maritza gave her powerpoint presentation showing initial data from water samples taken in 2008 in Cacha.  We all spoke with Carmen and Juan about our mutual belief that the next feasible step in expanding this project would be to place filters in all public facilities, such as clinics, schools, guarderias, and colegios in Cacha.  27 filters would be needed for this proposed expansion, costing $25 per filter.  ($675 initially and $405 every 2-3 years for replacement ceramic parts)

Carmen and Juan seemed very interested in the project and found the intervention to be simple and economical.  They expressed interest in eventually expanding this availability of filters to ALL communities in Cacha.  I mentioned our 2 current ideas for payment from the public:  1) direct payment with cash vs. 2) payment via Mingas.

The public opinion seems to be that $25 for a filter is very expensive, although the estimated average annual income for a family in Cacha is $2400 (estimated by Dr. Maritza).  The public is VERY interested in the idea of mingas as a payment alternative.  I mentioned my idea of having the Consejo and Fecaipac fund the filters in return for TRASH REMOVAL services provided by mingas.  Everyone seemed interested in that proposal.

Today, we are waiting for a phone call from Carmen.  She and Juan were going to speak with local leaders yesterday at a big meeting in Machangara and ask for their support to fund the expansion to schools.  They were very confident they would get the money.

Today, Brian and I are going to make an instructional video (2-3 minutes long) about how to use the filter and how to clean it.  We’re making the video in english (for future students), spanish, and kichwa (with help from Segundo).  Once it’s edited and fixed, we’ll take the projector up to Cacha next week and start showing the video and passing out handouts in some of the larger communities.  That’s the plan for now.

I’ll write again as soon as I get news from Carmen.

Water Usage Patterns in Cacha

Water is a very valuable commodity in every part of the world. For the people of Cacha,Ecuador, water represents the soul of the livelihood, along with the soil (Pachamama).For years,these 23 Indigenous communities conglomerated in one Parrish in central Ecuador, have worked and fought for their right to use water. Currently, two of the 23 communities are served by a central water system referred as Huangopud. The water is stored in six central cement tanks filtered through sand before it is piped to the community. The people access the water from outdoor spigots feeding into large cement storage tank. Since water delivery is unreliable, inhabitants use plastic containers to store the water in their houses. Two communities that do not receive filtered water are PUCARA QUINCHE and CAUÑAG, in other words they do not have a purifying treatment.

For three years, medical Students from the University of Rochester Medical School have researched and assisted these two communities to find a better point of use intervention treatment for their water. In 2010, water filters were delivered to the community, Cachamsi financed 50% of the filters, the other 50% of the cost of the water filters was paid by the people of Pucara Quinche. See filter below. There was training and education to use the filters adequately, also a control was set in place. Although Cauñag is getting ready to obtain their filters, we need to collect data from the monitoring system.

The ceramic is made of mud and other filtering substances.

The outside part is plastic. Below, the same filter with a top.