Newsletter July 2017
ON OUR WAY TO ONE MILLION LITERS OF SAFE AND HEALTHY DRINKING WATER!
The last months were absolutely, positively busy! Read more about our research updates, student-driven projects, our first 'rainjar', well bike-pump, rainwater harvesting calculator, and our evaluation of our ceramic water filter in the field after 3+ years.
The upcoming months promise to be just as jampacked. Be on the look out via our blog posts for reports from our international trainings (not too late to sign up for our course on Biochar and Water Filtration); a project with CASA- the local midwifery school; a rainwater harvesting project in conjunction withOjalá Niño in San Miguel Viejo; and the construction of 15 more rainwater harvesting systems being built in San Luis de la Paz.
22 NEW RAINWATER HARVESTING SYSTEMS
We wrapped up with the completion of 22 new rainwater harvesting systems which represent nearly 270,000 liters of safe water storage. Caminos de Agua provided 31 ceramic water filters to the families involved in the project. These families are now collecting rainwater as the seasonal rains began this month. See full blog post
Arsenic removal: We are a step further in developing a filter medium with adequate adsorption capacity by using impregnated wood-char. See full blog post.
Fluoride removal: Sarah Mitchell from Engineers without Borders-UK finished her six-month placement with us. She created the essential frameworks for our ongoing research. See full blog post.
Caminos de Agua completed a two-week educational module with 99 students at local high school CBTis No.60. The interactive lectures and rainwater harvesting system construction has now inspired a group of students to continue learning about water in their summer internships. See full blog post
Caminos de Agua constructed our first “rainjar” - a low-cost option for rainwater harvesting with a capacity of 2.000 liters. The first prototype was built by our staff and visitors in a two-day Open House in April. See full blog post
After several weeks of design and two days of installation in the field, the community of La Onza can now pump water directly from their shallow well into a nearby tank, using a bike pump. See full blog post
In partnership with El Maíz Más Pequeño AC and Fundación Gonzalo Río Arronte, Caminos de Agua ran a successful workshop to build a ferro-cement rainwater harvesting cistern at a local high school in the nearby community of Cerritos in February. See full blog pos
70,000+ pesos were raised thanks to the San Miguel de Allende Writers’ Conference ‘Write for Change’ event featuring author Naomi Klein- that's enough to build seven rainwater harvesting cisterns!
See full blog post
We launched our own rainwater harvesting calculator that is regionally-relevant, globally applicable, and easy to use. The tool helps households and communities size their rainwater harvesting systems. See full blog post
We tested 15 ceramic water filters after three and a half years of continued use in community homes. All filters continued to remove 100% of E.coli. The majority of the systems also removed 100% of total coliforms. The three systems that did not remove 100%, still removed 99.8% - 99.9% of coliforms. See full blog postWe tested 15 ceramic water filters after three and a half years of continued use in community homes. All filters continued to remove 100% of E.coli. The majority of the systems also removed 100% of total coliforms. The three systems that did not remove 100%, still removed 99.8% - 99.9% of coliforms. See full blog post