Humanitarian Efforts are like Beer and Yogurt

Embarking on a humanitarian effort in developing countries is a little like my first experiences with beer and yogurt. When I was a kid, I'd see these TV ads with a local bodybuilder talking about Yogurt and what a great thing it was- so creamy, so healthy. Beer ads always showed someone having a good time with friends, or taking a refreshing break on a hot day. I couldn't wait to try these divine products. Then I did. Yogurt was horrible. Sour, mostly. Beer was worse- bitter and loamy. Yuck. Any person is faced with a choice at this point- swear off em forever, or readjust your expectations. I ended up adjusting my views of both yogurt and beer, and enjoy them to this day.

My first experience with a humanitarian project in a developing country was with a group travelling to Nicaragua during the war there in the 1980s. We were all pumped up to go develop a health clinic in a town sorely in need of one. Our first casualty was at the airport in San Francisco. Dawning on people what we were doing and getting ourselves into, we had a defection at the gate. Once in Nicaragua, things were seemingly OK, at first. The people treated us really well. We worked hard and partied hard. A certain amount of tourist diarrhea and cock roaches as big as my shoes, but hey. About a week into our visit, several of us went into the capital Managua to buy paint. When we got back to our town, it was in an uproar. An ambush by the Contras, US supported rebels fighting the Sandinista regime, had attached the mayor's car on her way back from a neighboring town. She was fine, but our crew wasn't. The reality of what we were doing sunk in hard. The next day,a large contingent was headed for the airport home. I stayed, by the way.

Almost without exception, people I have met over the last 25 years start with a fairly pure and hopeful vision of what it will be like bringing people safe water and sanitation. Given enough money and technology, we can save the world. Then comes reality. Language barriers and misunderstandings. Community groups with conflicting goals and agendas. Technologies not well suited for uses. Lack of qualified people to maintain things. Lack of community participation and buy-in.

This is where that old yogurty bitter taste becomes evident. Then you must choose- abandon your efforts, or adjust and get to work. The one thing for sure is water and sanitation interventions in developing countries are never simple in-and-out propositions. To be effective and sustainable, these projects require, careful planning, intense listening,  innovation, and a sustained effort, in order to make sure that they are still effective for the next generation.

Assessing the Need

Frequently, people call me and ask for a solution to their water problem. Many times, the first thing they say is they have so much flow from their spring or well, as if that was enough information to design a water system. It's a little like saying "I have $250 to buy gasoline, what kind of car should I buy?" Obviously there are a number of questions that must be answered before you buy a car. How much does it cost? What do I need a car for? Do I need to haul materials? Do I have kids or large pets? Do I have parking? Do I have enough income to pay the payments and lots of gasoline for a big engine.

It's the same with a water system. The wise way to design a water system is from the use back to the source. Such questions as:

• How many people are going to use this water?
• Do they have water to their homes, or do they have to carry it? (makes a big difference in how much needs to be produced)
• What is in the water? Bacteria? Giardia, Iron, Hardness?
• Does there need to be water for growing plants or livestock?

Once these questions are answered, you can calculate how much water you need. Then you can look at your supply to see if there is enough. If there is, you can start the next series of questions- the design questions. 

• Do you have gravity feed or do you need to pump?
• Do you need to treat the water for contaminants?
• Do you need to store water to even out the demand?

If there is not sufficient water available for your needs, you need to find an additional source, or cut back you requirements. 

Then you can start looking at specific features such as placement of equipment and what kind of equipment. You can calculate pipe sizes and storage volumes. You can design wells or spring boxes. 

The point is, without knowing your needs requirements in terms of quantity and quality, it doesn't matter how much water you have available. You may be buying a Honda Civic, when you need a Ford-150. Or vice versa.

(this is one subject that will be covered in detail in the book- Providing Water)

Container Shipping Slow Sand Filters

It's surprisingly affordable to ship community slow sand filters overseas by container. We can get six 8' diameter slow sand filters capable of treating 43,000 gallons per day into this 20' container. Total shipping to Africa from Bellingham Washington was about $4,000
Here's how we do it..

First, we bundle and load the lids

We load the first filter up to the edge of the container opening

Then, we load the next paper cup fashion by sliding it into the first tank. A bit trickier than it looks. We repeat this until all six tanks are loaded.

Finally, we add the control tanks with all fittings and documentation enclosed

Unpacked and placed into operation in this African community after travelling thousands of miles across oceans.

Filters in Mindanao

So many times people feel overwhelmed with the world's problems and just feel they can't do anything about it. Well, don't tell Thomas Schneider that. Thomas works as a janitor at a school in the mid-west. He called me one day last winter saying how he often thought about people in faraway lands not having access to safe drinking water. He though about researching water treatment with the idea of making something and then finding people with the need and sending it to them. In his search on line, he found Blue Future Filters. He called  me and asked if it would be possible for him to buy a filter and have us find a good home for it instead of him having to reinvent the wheel on his own. I assured him that I am in contact with a number of small organizations always trying to find funding for safe water systems for people in need in their regions of activity.
After I got off the phone, I contacted folks I have worked for before in Peru and the Philippines and got a quick reply.
If you haven't followed it, Mindanao, the large island in the south of the Philippines has had devastating typhoons in recent years. Theses storms wipe out infrastructure and create torrents of polluted water and accompanying disease. Some filters Blue Future has supplied in the past were the only sources of safe water for whole neighborhoods.
Blue Future works with local organizations and with a company in Manila who supplies us with the tanks using our design and components.
I recently received the pictures shown here of the neighborhood and some residents who just took possession of the new 1800 gallon per day slow sand filter that Thomas provided.

Offending the Spring

or, how to keep spring production continuing.

Springs are like teenagers. They need encouragement, nurturing, and minimal push-back to keep them from running away. It's important when you want to develop a spring to not inhibit it's flow in any way. As we all know, water finds its own way. If you push water, it goes around you. If you dam up a spring to collect the water, it will find another route to come out or disappear entirely.  It is also important to safeguard the spring water from surface contamination, kind of like parental controls on the world wide web.
There are a couple of common ways to develop a spring. The most common way is to build a spring box. This is usually out of concrete, but any variety of other materials could be used so long as it can be secured from contamination. Water enters the spring box from a porous surface into the hill from which the spring emerges. This can be made by building in perforations in the concrete, or building a block wall with big openings between blocks. The important thing is to make sure that the outlet from the spring box is set at such a height that water does not accumulate above the spring source which would cause back pressure.
The other common method is to drive a perforated pipe into the hill and spring and capture water that way. Concrete grout is used to seal the pipe where it enters the hillside. Horizontal well drillers put these in all the time and they are quick and clean.
It's also important that you put an overflow in the piping after the spring box or spring pipe. This allows for times when you aren't using all the spring water, but don't want water to back up into the spring box.
Helpful hint. Oftentimes springs can be located by the presence of woodwardia ferns

Rope Pumps

One of the most interesting pumps I have seen for pumping water from depths that a a suction pump can't manage is the rope pump. By cranking the bicycle wheel, a continuous rope extends down into the well and back up through a PVC pipe. What allows the unit to pump are rubber gaskets on the rope at intervals, held in place with knots. When the rope enters the pipe, it lifts a column of water which then exits the pipe through a tee fitting above the well cover. Brilliant, simple, and manufacturerable almost anywhere.
The book, Providing Water, contains many such innovations appropriate to developing countries. Drawing by Xan Blackburn (www.xans-art.com)

Providing Water, Book Update

Nine days left on the Kickstarter project- to assemble a Field Guide for Providing Water. I receive calls regularly asking various questions as diverse as spring design to how much storage is needed, and everything in between. This book will be a summary of my experience over the last 25 years in the US and with groups in 20 countries. This book allows people working in developing countries, as well as rural Americans, to find solutions without having to reinvent the wheel. It is also one of the very few books that emphasizes appropriate technology. A few more backers of this project will get it off the ground and flying.
Providing Water, A practical Field Guide