LWW Campeche Survey
Name of Facility: Iglesia “Puerta del Cielo,” in Chuiná
Date of Visit: May 19, 2007
Names of interviewers: Jim and Cindy Barnett
Names of those visited: Pastor Wimmer Bernardo Árias, Elders Edgar Efraín Vargas Góngora and Federico Ordónez
General Observations
General appearance/cleanliness (1-10; 10=cleanest): 9
Hours of operation: M-Sat, 6:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Production (numbers of garrafones): 70/day
Does the community like the water? Taste? Price? Yes, yes, yes
How many families served? 100 families (half of the 200-family community)
How much water do they give away? 10 families, primary school, clinic
Cost for those who can pay: 6 pesos to the community, 5 pesos to church members who resell the water for 6 pesos
Last health department visit: none yet
Operation Details
How many operators, paid or volunteer? One main operator with 2 assistants, all paid.
Do they have adequate supply of bottles? Labels? Not enough bottles. No labels.
Last time filters checked or changed: March 17, 2007
Any observed reduction on flow rate indicating membrane problems (tank fill time used as an indicator)? 3 ½ hours current tank fill;
No change since system was new
Observed flow rate (product:waste ratio): 1: 1
Log Book
Are they keeping good records of—numbers of bottles dispensed? yes
--amount of money exchanged? yes
--scheduled maintenance dates? yes
---parts or supplies that they lack? Yes
LWW Working Relationship
Do they communicate regularly with their presbytery LWW coordinator? Yes
How? Telephone
Has the presbytery LWW coordinator checked in with them regularly? Yes, he came twice the week we were there.
Have they HAD problems, and if so how did they get resolved? Haven’t had problems yet.
If they had a problem, who would they contact? Call Carlos Árias
Educational Effectiveness
Have they been continuing the education? How? No, the DVD does not work.
Can the children still sing “Usa esta agua” song? yes
Other evidence of education anywhere in the community? Public schools
Any noticeable change in health? None so far.
Ask a few people at random what they use the water for. Drinking, cooking, brushing teeth.
Any new people coming to worship because they came there for water? no
Other possible benefits of the system? Good for the local economy.
Anyone in the community have e-mail? no
Would that person be willing to be communicator to the US team?
Additional comments: Once in compliance with health department regulations, they would like to advertise their water by placing a
large sign outside the church. The use of water for cooking has increased due to the low cost of the water. The women of the church sell and distribute the water.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Education Team Report
Living Waters for the World – Education Report
Chuina, Campeche, Yucatan, Mexico – March 2007
Western Kentucky Presbytery
Education Team: Laura Goodwin, Susan Webb, Janet Algiburi
Day 1: Monday, March 12, 2007
Upon arrival in Merida on March 11th, we discovered that an additional automobile would be required, so the morning of March 12th, Rich reserved another car.
We located and checked into our hotel in Champoton. Introductions were made with our translator, Alex. We then drove to Chuina where supplies were unloaded into a secure room above the church. We spent some time familiarizing ourselves with the site and evaluating how to best use the space available.
We returned to Champoton late enough that the only restaurant open was the Santa Fe which serves pizza as well as Kentucky-style chicken.
Takeaways from Day 1:
Buy water as soon as possible. Larger quantities of bottled water are less expensive.
If a hotel offers a discount for AAA members, make sure they charge you the correct amount.
Action Items from Day 1:
Pursue and get refund from hotel Fiesta Americana.
Day 2: Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Began the morning with 12 ladies from the church. Alex assisted by reading the story of creation S2 and asking discussion questions.
Susan led the first activity which was a felt storyboard about the creation story. The ladies appeared to enjoy placing the felt pieces on the board.
Bill Jansing provided us with 10 Agar plates – we had 9 ladies volunteer to place their fingers in the red gel and we put a tap water sample on the 10th plate.
Laura explained importance of eliminating germs, however the Spanish word for germs sounds similar to the word brother. When Laura told them it was important to eliminate their brothers, the ladies began to laugh. Alex was an ideal translator due to his personal experience with both the Mexican and American cultures, but if Laura had not made the effort to communicate herself, the opportunity to laugh and bond would’ve been lost.
The ladies of the church prepared lunch. The live chickens in the morning became chicken sandwiches for lunch. Now that’s fresh!
At 2pm when the children came from school, we again had the lesson of the creation story. This time, however, Dioceline, the lady identified as our “teacher/leader” taught the children’s lesson. Each time the story said God created something such as “night” or “animals” the children chanted “es buena!”. Laura has a wonderful short video of this lesson.
We did creation cut-outs A8 with the children which they enjoyed.
Laura and Susan presented the Health lesson H1 and H2 to the children and did activity A7 making play-doh germs. The children were very proud of their creations and were excited about having their picture taken.
The children colored A19 and we displayed them on the wall. They were again proud of their skills and wanted to take the pictures home, which they did the following day.
Takeaways from Day 2:
Let the children take their pictures home at the end of the day.
The ladies were very forgiving of our poor Spanish. All attending were very responsive to all lessons.
Action Items from Day 2:
Day 3: Wednesday, March 14, 2007
The morning began with A13, the water system puzzle. Alex assisted Laura in explaining the purpose of each piece.
We read and discussed the story of Water from the Rock S4.
Water wands were made, A11.
We practiced the “play” S4, to be put on for the children in the afternoon. Parts were assigned and we were fortunate to have one man in attendance willing to play Moses. Dioceline narrated during the practice. The ladies were laughing and having so much fun that they became distracted easily but overall the activity was a big success. The lady playing Pharoh was especially good and some of the ladies made great complaining Israelites.
We dismissed for lunch (Mole with rice) and were to meet back at 2pm but when nobody came I was puzzled. On that day the ladies were preparing lunch for their husbands and didn’t let us know they would not be back as scheduled. I still don’t understand why that afternoon was different from the others.
In order to not waste time while the ladies slowly arrived, we sang childrens’ songs and Carlos MacGregor played the guitar. Alex assisted with the words for “Deep and Wide” which were not in our teaching manual.
The children played charades, A16 and A17.
Around 3:30pm we went ahead with the performance which was a bit disappointing – the ladies had less energy and enthusiasm – probably from the heat and their noontime work. The children distracted the ladies which could not have been helped.
The children made water wands.
The planned activities were completed but the children still had energy to do something, so Laura brought down the inflated balls and Frisbees (which were labeled and given to the church). The kids were so excited and were delightful to watch.
Takeaways from Day 3:
We had 15 bandana sized cloths for the Israelites. Next time, use a brighter or deeper color such as orange or olive green. Do not use blue. Pharoh needs a crown, so bring supplies for this. Both Pharoh and Moses were draped in paper towels (I was desperate!) so next time, bring about 2 yards of plain white fabric. The ladies created a paper beard for Moses. Have supplies handy and let the “students” be creative.
Be flexible.
The English and Spanish versions of charades in the manuals do not match.
I should have checked the song translations with Alex before singing them. There were quite a few differences. The children need to sing at least one song every day and the adults need to learn a new song.
Action Items from Day 3:
Note additional supplies needed for S4.
Make sure corrections are made to charade activities A16 and A17.
Find songs, possibly introits, that we can teach. Also, find a song that will work as a round.
Learn to play the guitar.
Day 4: Thursday, March 15, 2007
We did lesson S3 about Moses crossing the Red Sea. One of the ladies read the story from the Bible, but when Alex asked the discussion questions, we discovered that the manual does not list the correct verses to read. They looked at us like we were a bit nuts! The ladies were very knowledgeable about the Bible stories and quickly advised us where to find the verses we needed.
I was shocked that morning when I looked at the Agar plates. The one with their water sample had several maggots. Everyone looked at the plate and there was quiet discussion. We talked about germs earlier in the week but seeing the development in just two days made a big impact and strongly reinforced the importance of hygiene and clean water.
We discussed the importance of hand washing and did the black light activity which is another great visual. This went very well especially since they had just viewed the Agar plate results.
After lunch (beef stew) we did a brief Bible lesson with the children then did A20, Germs Hate Soap. This flopped – I should’ve used Dawn dishwashing liquid.
The children lined up to see the Agar plates and made some wonderfully funny faces. Laura and Susan explained the best way to wash hands and we did the black light activity followed by hand washing. Because there were so many children on this day, the children came two at a time into the darker side room to see their hands glow in the dark. They washed their hands then cycled back into the dark room to check for “germs” that didn’t get washed away. This activity was a lot of fun for everyone and went very smoothly with help from the mothers.
We handed out goodie-bags with a variety of soaps for everyone to take home. All soap and extra materials were left with the church.
The children made a prayer chain A30 and streamers for decorating the church. The children were so excited about this activity because it is colorful, easy, and fast. It was a beautiful thing to watch. They were intent on making the longest chain (boys vs. girls) then they decided to help each other and make one huge chain. Simple prayers were written on the chains such as “Thank you God for water”. While the children made chains, some of the ladies worked on a banner for Friday’s celebration.
When the supplies ran low, Susan had some extra white paper and taught some of the interested ladies origami. This was one of those nice unplanned opportunities to learn and laugh.
Takeaways from Day 4:
This was a busy, action-packed day and was the first day where everything seemed to fall into place. I think this is because of the strong visuals of the Agar plates and Glo-germs paired with their increased understanding of how to eliminate germs (not brothers). After seeing maggots that morning, I found that I have a renewed sense of purpose when washing my hands!
Do not assume some activities are only for children. We’re all children. This was a successful day.
Laura and Susan did a great job at planning for lessons and supplies. It’s a good idea to take extra supplies and have additional activities planned just in case there is “down-time”.
Action Items from Day 4:
Update Spanish manual with correct verses.
Find a visual reference for folded two color streamers, just for reference in the manual.
Day 5: Friday, March 16, 2007
§ Friday’s lesson was about the woman at the well S6.
§ The ladies continued with decorations for the celebration including a banner which they designed themselves. For some reason the children were not in school that day so we also had them do A27, the banner with their handprints in paint. The children enjoyed this very much.
§ Everyone made paper cups A5 for the celebration.
§ After lunch (mole on request) we then passed out sport top water bottles for the children to decorate and keep. A few examples were prepared but they were creative and even asked some of the team members for “autographs”! This went over so well that we may consider adding this as an alternate activity for A14. There were many more children Friday – we brought 100 water bottles and only had 2 left, although I’m sure some adults got one too.
§ The prepared decorations including balloons were placed in the sanctuary.
§ During the down-time before the dedication, several team members walked throughout the community inviting families to attend the dedication. We also passed out the Spanish version flyers and had the opportunity to see different types of homes, etc.
§ At the dedication ceremony, certificates were passed out for those who attended the education training and those qualified to run the water treatment system. Monetary gifts were given to the church (non-associated with the water ministry) and the women of the church. At the end of the ceremony we were able to drink water from the system and share time together. There were lots of heartfelt hugs. This was a beautiful, memorable experience.
§ We drove back to Champoton after the ceremony, exhausted yet satisfied.
Chuina, Campeche, Yucatan, Mexico – March 2007
Western Kentucky Presbytery
Education Team: Laura Goodwin, Susan Webb, Janet Algiburi
Day 1: Monday, March 12, 2007
Upon arrival in Merida on March 11th, we discovered that an additional automobile would be required, so the morning of March 12th, Rich reserved another car.
We located and checked into our hotel in Champoton. Introductions were made with our translator, Alex. We then drove to Chuina where supplies were unloaded into a secure room above the church. We spent some time familiarizing ourselves with the site and evaluating how to best use the space available.
We returned to Champoton late enough that the only restaurant open was the Santa Fe which serves pizza as well as Kentucky-style chicken.
Takeaways from Day 1:
Buy water as soon as possible. Larger quantities of bottled water are less expensive.
If a hotel offers a discount for AAA members, make sure they charge you the correct amount.
Action Items from Day 1:
Pursue and get refund from hotel Fiesta Americana.
Day 2: Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Began the morning with 12 ladies from the church. Alex assisted by reading the story of creation S2 and asking discussion questions.
Susan led the first activity which was a felt storyboard about the creation story. The ladies appeared to enjoy placing the felt pieces on the board.
Bill Jansing provided us with 10 Agar plates – we had 9 ladies volunteer to place their fingers in the red gel and we put a tap water sample on the 10th plate.
Laura explained importance of eliminating germs, however the Spanish word for germs sounds similar to the word brother. When Laura told them it was important to eliminate their brothers, the ladies began to laugh. Alex was an ideal translator due to his personal experience with both the Mexican and American cultures, but if Laura had not made the effort to communicate herself, the opportunity to laugh and bond would’ve been lost.
The ladies of the church prepared lunch. The live chickens in the morning became chicken sandwiches for lunch. Now that’s fresh!
At 2pm when the children came from school, we again had the lesson of the creation story. This time, however, Dioceline, the lady identified as our “teacher/leader” taught the children’s lesson. Each time the story said God created something such as “night” or “animals” the children chanted “es buena!”. Laura has a wonderful short video of this lesson.
We did creation cut-outs A8 with the children which they enjoyed.
Laura and Susan presented the Health lesson H1 and H2 to the children and did activity A7 making play-doh germs. The children were very proud of their creations and were excited about having their picture taken.
The children colored A19 and we displayed them on the wall. They were again proud of their skills and wanted to take the pictures home, which they did the following day.
Takeaways from Day 2:
Let the children take their pictures home at the end of the day.
The ladies were very forgiving of our poor Spanish. All attending were very responsive to all lessons.
Action Items from Day 2:
Day 3: Wednesday, March 14, 2007
The morning began with A13, the water system puzzle. Alex assisted Laura in explaining the purpose of each piece.
We read and discussed the story of Water from the Rock S4.
Water wands were made, A11.
We practiced the “play” S4, to be put on for the children in the afternoon. Parts were assigned and we were fortunate to have one man in attendance willing to play Moses. Dioceline narrated during the practice. The ladies were laughing and having so much fun that they became distracted easily but overall the activity was a big success. The lady playing Pharoh was especially good and some of the ladies made great complaining Israelites.
We dismissed for lunch (Mole with rice) and were to meet back at 2pm but when nobody came I was puzzled. On that day the ladies were preparing lunch for their husbands and didn’t let us know they would not be back as scheduled. I still don’t understand why that afternoon was different from the others.
In order to not waste time while the ladies slowly arrived, we sang childrens’ songs and Carlos MacGregor played the guitar. Alex assisted with the words for “Deep and Wide” which were not in our teaching manual.
The children played charades, A16 and A17.
Around 3:30pm we went ahead with the performance which was a bit disappointing – the ladies had less energy and enthusiasm – probably from the heat and their noontime work. The children distracted the ladies which could not have been helped.
The children made water wands.
The planned activities were completed but the children still had energy to do something, so Laura brought down the inflated balls and Frisbees (which were labeled and given to the church). The kids were so excited and were delightful to watch.
Takeaways from Day 3:
We had 15 bandana sized cloths for the Israelites. Next time, use a brighter or deeper color such as orange or olive green. Do not use blue. Pharoh needs a crown, so bring supplies for this. Both Pharoh and Moses were draped in paper towels (I was desperate!) so next time, bring about 2 yards of plain white fabric. The ladies created a paper beard for Moses. Have supplies handy and let the “students” be creative.
Be flexible.
The English and Spanish versions of charades in the manuals do not match.
I should have checked the song translations with Alex before singing them. There were quite a few differences. The children need to sing at least one song every day and the adults need to learn a new song.
Action Items from Day 3:
Note additional supplies needed for S4.
Make sure corrections are made to charade activities A16 and A17.
Find songs, possibly introits, that we can teach. Also, find a song that will work as a round.
Learn to play the guitar.
Day 4: Thursday, March 15, 2007
We did lesson S3 about Moses crossing the Red Sea. One of the ladies read the story from the Bible, but when Alex asked the discussion questions, we discovered that the manual does not list the correct verses to read. They looked at us like we were a bit nuts! The ladies were very knowledgeable about the Bible stories and quickly advised us where to find the verses we needed.
I was shocked that morning when I looked at the Agar plates. The one with their water sample had several maggots. Everyone looked at the plate and there was quiet discussion. We talked about germs earlier in the week but seeing the development in just two days made a big impact and strongly reinforced the importance of hygiene and clean water.
We discussed the importance of hand washing and did the black light activity which is another great visual. This went very well especially since they had just viewed the Agar plate results.
After lunch (beef stew) we did a brief Bible lesson with the children then did A20, Germs Hate Soap. This flopped – I should’ve used Dawn dishwashing liquid.
The children lined up to see the Agar plates and made some wonderfully funny faces. Laura and Susan explained the best way to wash hands and we did the black light activity followed by hand washing. Because there were so many children on this day, the children came two at a time into the darker side room to see their hands glow in the dark. They washed their hands then cycled back into the dark room to check for “germs” that didn’t get washed away. This activity was a lot of fun for everyone and went very smoothly with help from the mothers.
We handed out goodie-bags with a variety of soaps for everyone to take home. All soap and extra materials were left with the church.
The children made a prayer chain A30 and streamers for decorating the church. The children were so excited about this activity because it is colorful, easy, and fast. It was a beautiful thing to watch. They were intent on making the longest chain (boys vs. girls) then they decided to help each other and make one huge chain. Simple prayers were written on the chains such as “Thank you God for water”. While the children made chains, some of the ladies worked on a banner for Friday’s celebration.
When the supplies ran low, Susan had some extra white paper and taught some of the interested ladies origami. This was one of those nice unplanned opportunities to learn and laugh.
Takeaways from Day 4:
This was a busy, action-packed day and was the first day where everything seemed to fall into place. I think this is because of the strong visuals of the Agar plates and Glo-germs paired with their increased understanding of how to eliminate germs (not brothers). After seeing maggots that morning, I found that I have a renewed sense of purpose when washing my hands!
Do not assume some activities are only for children. We’re all children. This was a successful day.
Laura and Susan did a great job at planning for lessons and supplies. It’s a good idea to take extra supplies and have additional activities planned just in case there is “down-time”.
Action Items from Day 4:
Update Spanish manual with correct verses.
Find a visual reference for folded two color streamers, just for reference in the manual.
Day 5: Friday, March 16, 2007
§ Friday’s lesson was about the woman at the well S6.
§ The ladies continued with decorations for the celebration including a banner which they designed themselves. For some reason the children were not in school that day so we also had them do A27, the banner with their handprints in paint. The children enjoyed this very much.
§ Everyone made paper cups A5 for the celebration.
§ After lunch (mole on request) we then passed out sport top water bottles for the children to decorate and keep. A few examples were prepared but they were creative and even asked some of the team members for “autographs”! This went over so well that we may consider adding this as an alternate activity for A14. There were many more children Friday – we brought 100 water bottles and only had 2 left, although I’m sure some adults got one too.
§ The prepared decorations including balloons were placed in the sanctuary.
§ During the down-time before the dedication, several team members walked throughout the community inviting families to attend the dedication. We also passed out the Spanish version flyers and had the opportunity to see different types of homes, etc.
§ At the dedication ceremony, certificates were passed out for those who attended the education training and those qualified to run the water treatment system. Monetary gifts were given to the church (non-associated with the water ministry) and the women of the church. At the end of the ceremony we were able to drink water from the system and share time together. There were lots of heartfelt hugs. This was a beautiful, memorable experience.
§ We drove back to Champoton after the ceremony, exhausted yet satisfied.
Installation Report
Living Waters for the World – Installation Report
Chuina, Campeche, Mexico – March 2007
Presbytery of Western Kentucky Team
Day 1
Arrived at site in late afternoon (Monday, March 12, 2007)
All materials ordered through Carlos Castilla delivered on time
Local team on site and started dry assembly under supervision of Carlos MacGregor
Only items missing were Cistern Tank, Finished Water Tank, Salt, and Bleach
Local team had Softener apart, added gravel and resin to Softener, used cut-off, plastic 2-liter bottle to funnel resin into annular space around center tube in softener
Local team met all expectations with Covenant responsibilities – electrical, building, wastewater pit, etc. (only exception was the lack of tanks on site)
Takeaways – Carlos MacGregor was invaluable to installation team. He leads by example, knows what needs to be done, and will step back to let the local team do the work (Bubba pose trained.) Carlos also has a van full of miscellaneous spare parts from other installations that bailed us out on several occasions. I think this is the model for an in-country network coordinator.
Day 2
No tanks
Finished electricity to board – separated building lighting circuits from board circuits, used grounding rod installed by local electric supplier
Inlet raw water supplied via 1” rubber tubing from municipal supply, will need adapter to system
Started list of items to buy on road trip to Escarcega (larger town than Chompoton) 40 km away
No self tapping screws to connect filter cartridge heads to brackets
¾” to 1” adapters for pressure gauges missing
Short one ¾” brass faucet
Day 3
Still no tanks
Many missing fittings found today by Carlos in his miscellaneous parts stashes
Piped up board, Softener, drain lines, three bottling stations
Building layout good with separate bottling area (windows between rooms & outside of building), bottle washing to be outside with drains to wastewater pit (Overall building about 80 – 90% compliant)
Installed RO membrane today – Carlos as “T” tool for membrane container ends removal
Carlos Castilla’s son assembles RO and includes all PVC fittings so that unit can be connected to 1” fittings on board
Once RO membrane installed, trained locals on RO operation and maintenance, used flow diagram, data sheet, etc. (all in Spanish) Labeled all lines on the RO unit
Covered local operators on Clean-in-Place procedures and CIP cartridges (Carlos MacGregor was given two sets of 20” CIP cartridges and three sets of 10” cartridges – alkaline cartridge & acid cartridge with each pair) (20” cartridge will do RO units with two membranes – Carlos Castilla supplies RO units with 20” cartridges)
Scheduled Dedication Ceremony for Friday at 6 PM (Day 5)
Takeaways – Carlos MacGregor hands-on experience with RO unit was invaluable. He was able to reinforce the training with local operators and learned something himself. When installing the membrane, pay attention to the orientation of the connecting lines, so that when reinstalling the membrane the connecting lines will not be placed in a strain. Membrane orientation inside cartridge doesn’t matter.
Clean-in-Place is best done with CIP cartridges – less chemical exposure, cartridges will have the correct chemical concentrations for cleaning, single use cartridges easy to dispose of and will not be a hazard. 20” cartridges are capable of cleaning RO units with two membranes in series. 10” cartridges are capable of cleaning single membrane units. CIP cartridges go inside the blue cartridge casing for cleaning in place. We may want to make 10” cartridge casings available for all single membrane RO units.
Day 4
Piped up what was left to do except for Finished Water Tank
Part of team left to inspect and troubleshoot Miguel Colorado installation
Tanks delivered after installation team had quit for the day at 5:30 PM
Locals piped up Cistern tank to supply and the board, Cistern tank was a “loaner” because supplier had run out of tanks
Day 5
Second road trip to Escarcega for more PVC piping, 90’s, and other stuff, fittings available were schedule 40, PVC pipe was “thin-walled” – used for drain lines (covered local operators on need to paint thin-walled pipe installed outside)
Completed piping Finished Water Tank and Cistern Tank
Connected Softener and RO to board
Added 100 kg of salt to brine tank
Leak checked board components – tightened cartridges and threaded joints
Added bleach to water in finished tank for shocking system
Let bleach soak for 30 minutes, drained to wastewater pit at 4:30 PM
Flushed raw water through softener for 30 minutes until rinse water was clear going to drain, all filters & RO out of system (also served as chlorine system flush)
When clear, pumped some water through venturi and ozonator churn to tank - Ozonator working, good suction on venturi with RO not connected, fine bubbles observed in clear PVC pipe
Installed filters, primed system, connected RO, fixed two leaks in RO, pumped water through system to Finished Water tank
Pressure on G-1 = 31 psi, G-2 = 29 psi, Pump head = 38 psi
Tested TDS w/ portable meter
Raw water – 546 ppm
After Softener – 675 – 689 ppm
Finished water into tank – 27 ppm
TDS meter on RO unit – 10.4 ppm
Local bottled water from store – 35 ppm
Tested Hardness with Hach titration (1 drop = 17 ppm as CaCO3 hardness)
Raw water – 50 drops = 850 ppm
Finished water – 0 drops = < 17 ppm
Unable to baseline RO unit – ROG-1 = 40 psi, ROG-2 = 39 psi, membrane not saturated, hardly any waste flow from the unit.
Flow rates through rotameters difficult to read - air in system (estimated 1 gpm)
Drank first sample of water at 5:39 PM (Ceremony scheduled in 20 minutes)
Shut down system for ceremony at 6:00 PM
Water meter reading – 0001.637 m3
Pump head pressure – 21 psi
G-1 = 21 psi, G-2 = 19 psi
ROG-1 = 30 psi, ROG-2 = 25 psi
RO flows ~ 1.0 gpm
Takeaways – Water for the ceremony had not been ozonated with second pass, but was safe to drink. One more day was needed to fine tune the RO unit, emphasize the second pass through the ozonator loop, and train operators on routine operation. The Spanish data sheets, old version of manual in Spanish, and other training aids in Spanish will help, but training was barely satisfactory. This team will be leaning heavily on Carlos MacGregor for some time to assist. Team conducted training during downtime periods and when team visited Miguel Colorado. This training is valuable, but not the same as live training on your own operating system.
I recommend that the 2007 Sustainability/Maintenance Tour of RSY and George Plouffe visit this system this summer or have someone from the Miguel Colorado visit when they are in the Yucatan in July 2007.
Ralph Young
Approximate Water Building Layout w/ dimensions at Chuina
Chuina, Campeche, Mexico – March 2007
Presbytery of Western Kentucky Team
Day 1
Arrived at site in late afternoon (Monday, March 12, 2007)
All materials ordered through Carlos Castilla delivered on time
Local team on site and started dry assembly under supervision of Carlos MacGregor
Only items missing were Cistern Tank, Finished Water Tank, Salt, and Bleach
Local team had Softener apart, added gravel and resin to Softener, used cut-off, plastic 2-liter bottle to funnel resin into annular space around center tube in softener
Local team met all expectations with Covenant responsibilities – electrical, building, wastewater pit, etc. (only exception was the lack of tanks on site)
Takeaways – Carlos MacGregor was invaluable to installation team. He leads by example, knows what needs to be done, and will step back to let the local team do the work (Bubba pose trained.) Carlos also has a van full of miscellaneous spare parts from other installations that bailed us out on several occasions. I think this is the model for an in-country network coordinator.
Day 2
No tanks
Finished electricity to board – separated building lighting circuits from board circuits, used grounding rod installed by local electric supplier
Inlet raw water supplied via 1” rubber tubing from municipal supply, will need adapter to system
Started list of items to buy on road trip to Escarcega (larger town than Chompoton) 40 km away
No self tapping screws to connect filter cartridge heads to brackets
¾” to 1” adapters for pressure gauges missing
Short one ¾” brass faucet
Day 3
Still no tanks
Many missing fittings found today by Carlos in his miscellaneous parts stashes
Piped up board, Softener, drain lines, three bottling stations
Building layout good with separate bottling area (windows between rooms & outside of building), bottle washing to be outside with drains to wastewater pit (Overall building about 80 – 90% compliant)
Installed RO membrane today – Carlos as “T” tool for membrane container ends removal
Carlos Castilla’s son assembles RO and includes all PVC fittings so that unit can be connected to 1” fittings on board
Once RO membrane installed, trained locals on RO operation and maintenance, used flow diagram, data sheet, etc. (all in Spanish) Labeled all lines on the RO unit
Covered local operators on Clean-in-Place procedures and CIP cartridges (Carlos MacGregor was given two sets of 20” CIP cartridges and three sets of 10” cartridges – alkaline cartridge & acid cartridge with each pair) (20” cartridge will do RO units with two membranes – Carlos Castilla supplies RO units with 20” cartridges)
Scheduled Dedication Ceremony for Friday at 6 PM (Day 5)
Takeaways – Carlos MacGregor hands-on experience with RO unit was invaluable. He was able to reinforce the training with local operators and learned something himself. When installing the membrane, pay attention to the orientation of the connecting lines, so that when reinstalling the membrane the connecting lines will not be placed in a strain. Membrane orientation inside cartridge doesn’t matter.
Clean-in-Place is best done with CIP cartridges – less chemical exposure, cartridges will have the correct chemical concentrations for cleaning, single use cartridges easy to dispose of and will not be a hazard. 20” cartridges are capable of cleaning RO units with two membranes in series. 10” cartridges are capable of cleaning single membrane units. CIP cartridges go inside the blue cartridge casing for cleaning in place. We may want to make 10” cartridge casings available for all single membrane RO units.
Day 4
Piped up what was left to do except for Finished Water Tank
Part of team left to inspect and troubleshoot Miguel Colorado installation
Tanks delivered after installation team had quit for the day at 5:30 PM
Locals piped up Cistern tank to supply and the board, Cistern tank was a “loaner” because supplier had run out of tanks
Day 5
Second road trip to Escarcega for more PVC piping, 90’s, and other stuff, fittings available were schedule 40, PVC pipe was “thin-walled” – used for drain lines (covered local operators on need to paint thin-walled pipe installed outside)
Completed piping Finished Water Tank and Cistern Tank
Connected Softener and RO to board
Added 100 kg of salt to brine tank
Leak checked board components – tightened cartridges and threaded joints
Added bleach to water in finished tank for shocking system
Let bleach soak for 30 minutes, drained to wastewater pit at 4:30 PM
Flushed raw water through softener for 30 minutes until rinse water was clear going to drain, all filters & RO out of system (also served as chlorine system flush)
When clear, pumped some water through venturi and ozonator churn to tank - Ozonator working, good suction on venturi with RO not connected, fine bubbles observed in clear PVC pipe
Installed filters, primed system, connected RO, fixed two leaks in RO, pumped water through system to Finished Water tank
Pressure on G-1 = 31 psi, G-2 = 29 psi, Pump head = 38 psi
Tested TDS w/ portable meter
Raw water – 546 ppm
After Softener – 675 – 689 ppm
Finished water into tank – 27 ppm
TDS meter on RO unit – 10.4 ppm
Local bottled water from store – 35 ppm
Tested Hardness with Hach titration (1 drop = 17 ppm as CaCO3 hardness)
Raw water – 50 drops = 850 ppm
Finished water – 0 drops = < 17 ppm
Unable to baseline RO unit – ROG-1 = 40 psi, ROG-2 = 39 psi, membrane not saturated, hardly any waste flow from the unit.
Flow rates through rotameters difficult to read - air in system (estimated 1 gpm)
Drank first sample of water at 5:39 PM (Ceremony scheduled in 20 minutes)
Shut down system for ceremony at 6:00 PM
Water meter reading – 0001.637 m3
Pump head pressure – 21 psi
G-1 = 21 psi, G-2 = 19 psi
ROG-1 = 30 psi, ROG-2 = 25 psi
RO flows ~ 1.0 gpm
Takeaways – Water for the ceremony had not been ozonated with second pass, but was safe to drink. One more day was needed to fine tune the RO unit, emphasize the second pass through the ozonator loop, and train operators on routine operation. The Spanish data sheets, old version of manual in Spanish, and other training aids in Spanish will help, but training was barely satisfactory. This team will be leaning heavily on Carlos MacGregor for some time to assist. Team conducted training during downtime periods and when team visited Miguel Colorado. This training is valuable, but not the same as live training on your own operating system.
I recommend that the 2007 Sustainability/Maintenance Tour of RSY and George Plouffe visit this system this summer or have someone from the Miguel Colorado visit when they are in the Yucatan in July 2007.
Ralph Young
Approximate Water Building Layout w/ dimensions at Chuina
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)