We have spent the first week and a half in La
Huaylla, Peru (a community of 270 households) reuniting with old friends,
preparing our plans with a local contractor and municipality, and beginning
construction of the first of two spring boxes. We have also had the opportunity
to present at the first of two major community meetings and prep the local
water committee with our plans and community participation requirements.
For a bit of background, this the second trip
that our Peru project has took through the non-profit UC Davis chapter of
Engineers Without Borders. On our previous trip we collected data and assessed
the viability of a project to increase the sustainability, supply, and quality
of the communities water. Unfortunately, community members only have
intermittent access to water and many only can rely on having water in the
morning. We decided that on this current trip we would construct two catchment
structures that would collect groundwater that seeps from the side of a ravine
near the community and pipe it to their current storage tank. We planned that
this would not only increase the supply of water from the previous spring
catchments but that it would reduce the amount of sediment that was being piped
in the system that could build up and reduce flow or mix with chlorine and
create possibly carcinogenic by-products.
We arrived in the community after an hour long
combi (large taxi) ride from the state capital Cajamarca (of the Cajamarca
region) full of twists and turns where we were told not to be shy to ask for a
bolsa (bag) in case we were about to lose our breakfast. Our team of nine (six
UC Davis students and mentors) stayed in a church right outside of the
community in the district capital of San Marcos (a city with a population of
approximately 10,000). The local municipality of San Marcos who we are
partnered with on the project took care of all of our accommodations and even
supplied us with food at a nearby restaurant which held all the local Peruvian
staples (i.e. lots and lots of potatoes).
The first couple of days were pretty packed
with meetings and preparation. Our biggest logistical issues that we were
presented with were coordinating the construction schedule and plans with a
local contractor and coordinating the required labor from the community itself.
We had meetings with municipal engineers and the local contractor to make sure
we had a fair contract and to convey all the necessary information including
specifications like the compressive strength of the concrete mix we had designed
the structures for.
My favorite part of the beginning of this trip
has been meeting with the water committee members that I had met last year as
well as seeing familiar faces within the community. Usually these development
projects can be pretty ephemeral and it felt great coming back to the community
with a plan and the resources to increase their supply of water. The water
committee was extremely happy that we were there and expressed that they hoped
for the best for the project's outcome not only for their sake but to provide a
better future for their children (a moment that has stood out from the whole
trip).
We ended the first full week coordinating
labor as we began excavating the site and hauling the necessary material down
for construction.
Photo with the local contractors (two back
left), Peace Corp Volunteer (bottom left) and members of the local water
committee (right)
Photo after running into the previous water
committee president (Alberto) that I worked with extensively last year. He
spent nearly everyday with us on our Assessment Trip last year.
Photo of the team (minus Evan Barnell) eating
at the local restaurant
Overseeing the excavation of the site of the
first Spring Catchment
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