LasDelicias071809

=Las Delicias El Salvador Activities=

Saturday July 18, 2009
This is a stream of consciousness based on my recollections and notes from the day. We feel like the discussions are changing the scope of our project, but we also feel that the information is inconsistent. Tomorrow we will try to confirm/clarify the inconsistencies.
 * David picked up Rich at the airport at 11:30 AM
 * Arrived at Las Delicias shortly after noon and remained in the community until 4 PM
 * Visited the pumping station and tanques #1 and #2 from the community map. Met with the community president-Cristina, the pump station operator, and the water system manager
 * It appears that both pumps (one from the well to the water storage cistern at the pumping station and another from the cistern to the storage tanques - which are at higher elevations) work properly and are regularly in use (yes they apparently use both pumps frequently)
 * The metal pipes in the well and pumping station are apparently susceptible to corrosion and need to be replaced every 4 months or so (at a cost of $2000)
 * The pumps were turned on for about 15 minutes while we were there. At first the water was rust-colored and felt a bit oily, but after a while it turned clear. They say it has a high iron content and a sulfur smell, but I wonder if that would change with a long-term pump test
 * The pumping station elevation was about 1200 ft by my GPS (with barometric altimeter)
 * The clinic elevation is about 1310 ft
 * Tanque #1 is 1780 ft
 * Tanque #2 is 1743 ft
 * we will visit Tanque #3 tomorrow
 * All three tanks are connected to a gravity-fed water source but the typical flowrate is not sufficient to fill the tanks (apparently it takes about 24 hours to fill tanque #1 or 7 hr to fill tanque #2 using the gravity system).
 * Tanque #1 can be filled by the pump in 3.5 to 4 hrs but it is usually emptied within 2 hours of opening the valves
 * on both tanks the chlorine treatment (solid pellets) are located on the effluent from the tanks rather then the inlets.
 * there are valves throughout the community for controlling the flow to various zones (either 53 or over 100 valves depending on who you talk - will confirm tomorrow)
 * According to discussions today, the water supply from the pumps is functioning without leaks but that the flowrate may not be sufficient. Also thehy do not operate the pumps often because of electricity costs.
 * Apparently a bigger problem is in-equitable distribution of water from the tanks to the community because houses leave their taps open in order to get as much water as possible when the taps are flowing. This means that people further from the tanks (or at higher elevation branches) get little or no water
 * it is surprising to me how far apart all of the houses and water system points are - all distances are pretty large.