[fsf60k] Re: Solution/good news
- From: billcpf@xxxxxxx
- To: pardo123@xxxxxxxxx, ikecip@xxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:49:53 -0400
Different well seems like a good possibility.? May be the answer to our
problems.? Key questions are whether it has the replenishment capacity of 6000+
gal per day and the depth.? And if it is a hand dug well (3 feet in diameter)
can it be kept closed on top so it stays clean.? If someone is using a rope and
bucket now to pull water maybe they could be tied into the solar pump if there
is enough water.?? Also if water is not so deep it may not be very costly to
have another well drilled nearby assuming you can hit the same vein of good
water.
Hoping things work out,??? -- Bill O
-----Original Message-----
From: George Pardo <pardo123@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Michael AR Cipoletti <ikecip@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Peter White <pedro831@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; dwiltam@xxxxxxxxx
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Sent: Fri, Jul 17, 2009 10:39 pm
Subject: Re: Solution/good news
sounds like the way to go...buena suerte
if possible try to get a ball park estimate to buy the land or rights, drill
the well and run the pipe back to NA.? if you have a gps it would be good to
get the relative height of NA tank and the height of the proposed well site,
and distance.? If I can get the the basic information I will get someone here
to design the system so we don't have the same problem that we had before with
the pipe being too small to carry the water.
again...buena suerte
Jorge
On Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 7:57 PM, Michael AR Cipoletti <ikecip@xxxxxxx> wrote:
I met with Salvador Mora the gentleman from ENICAL that informed us of the
issue. I also spoke with several folks from the public health center in UNAN
LEon.. There seems to be a trend of rising arsenic levels in this watertable
due to a variety of factors. They forsee the problem worsening over time..
There is however a good potential solution. In the community of Cortizal
located about 1000 meters from the location of the existing well with clean
cool water. The temperature of the water is under 80 degrees and has tested
clean for several years. Salvador conchita Marco ?and a couple of the students
will be driving to nuevo tomorrow morning to assess the possibilities of the
location and look into the land/ownership/selling price..
This site if viable would enable us to use the solar pump we originally were
going to purchase (half the price/easier to obtain) and could potentially
benefit more people....?
Salvador also said there is the possibilty of an electric generator being wired
in or a standard generator with a solar invertor to pump the water.
Additionally the existing tubing tanks seem as if they would still work all we
would need to do is connect the tanks to the new water source.
I am happy with todays findings and the students and I will be making this task
a priority over the coming week.
I will send an update tomorrow afternoon. Wish us luck.
Michael
?
Sent from my iPhone
On Jul 16, 2009, at 11:03 PM, George Pardo <pardo123@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Very bad news indeed.
As far as the arsenic is concerned, it can be taken out of the water.? We can
get the materials from Dr. Meng to put together the filters, probably for about
$30 each.? The chemicals I recall to be about $4-5$ per year.? This is a viable
option if we trust the people to operate the filters properly.? They do already
use a filter for bacteria.? I also looked at a point of distribution filter
that would be put by the well but that source is not yet totally available,
although could be developed for the future.? The Dr. Meng (Steven's) filter is
a sure thing.?? We could demonstrate the filter to MINSA and get approval to
open the well.
The water, even with 40ppb arsenic, is still suitable for bathing and
irrigation if it is not poured on the part of th plant that you eat and not
rinsed.? If you irrigate at the roots no problem.? Something like lettuce or
cabbage could be a problem if not watered properly.? Corn would be no problem
because it is covered by the husk.
Pete I don't think the crushing of the rock has anything to do with the arsenic
just the depth of the well.? The deeper wells are more likely to have arsenic.
According to Dr. Meng there is no way to predict where there will be clean
water in a region where there is arsenic.? You can have well with 900ppb and
30' away have a well that is acceptable.? Drilling is trial and error.? The
only way to be sure to get clean water is to drill where there is already a
good well.? One option is to drill in a remote location that is known to be
good and pipe the water to NA.? This will invlove additional costs and
additional complexity.? This was suggested by the organization that did the
water project in Chac.
The main problem with drilling is the cost of drillling through rock.? If there
is an area in NA, perhaps in the 20's where there is no rock, it would be worth
the chance to drill several wells to in order to find a clean one.? Maybe the
water there may not be as hot.
The question in my mind would be, do we want to deal with the arsenic and
temperature of the water in NA or is it best to pipe the water in from
somewhere else where the temperature is moderate, letting us use cheaper pumps,
and without arsenic.? The trade off would probably a high tower tower and a
larger tank and the possibly a couple of miles of pipe and negotiating the
rights to lay that pipe, possibly through public and private land.
I think I would try to drill in the 20's at least 1 well and test the
temperature of the water and arsenic.? If there is a lower temperature that
would enable us to use a cheaper pumping system and we could use the Steven's
filter for the aresenic.? If we hit rock I would abandon that well and perhaps
look into piping the water in from a remote location.
Mike and Pete hopefully you can gather some data on the ground in Nica that can
be used to develop a good direction.? Good luck at the very least.
Please comment on the above options.? Thanks.
George
On Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 2:59 PM, Peter White <pedro831@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hola. Brace yourselves for sure. Mike arrived in Nica late yesterday to the
news that the Nica govt. org., Minsa?, tested the water in NA and found it
to be 40 ppb arsenic, too high considering the nat'l standard is now 10 ppb.
They suggested closing the well. We have spent a lot of time on this
project, including two years ago educating ourselves about arenic from Dr.
Meng from the STevens Instit. of Tech. in Hoboken, NJ, who believes and has
proven that arsenic can be removed cheaply, safely, etc. However this may be
of no value if the Nica govt orders the well closed. The other bad news is
that the two year old diesel motor is unable to be repaired. So the people
are without water and walking for water I suppose. Mike is going to be
asking a multitude of questions of the MINSA people and others, and putting
his head together with Conchita, Martin, and others about what the next
step/s are. Please think about this and get your questions to Mike or me
asap. I am going down to Nica for a quick five day visit July 23-27. This
was supposed to be a joyous visit in part, as we were going to see the
contract for the installation of the solar water project in NA and put up
half the money in order to get the project going. Now we are really set
back. The real problem is the continued suffering of the people.
The good news I suppose is that we aren't going to be throwing more money
into the old generator if it is kaput. Also we are not going to spend $25000
on a solar project for a well that may be of no use anymore. Mike says that
there is a clean water source about 2K from NA, which we know about (I
think). I beleive it is where the bomba de mescate is located. That's where
the people walk to when there is no water. It is a hand/rope pump that is
cumbersome, tiresome, slow, etc. but it has clean water. Or, maybe it isn't
clean and no one ever tested there??? Frankly, a good portion of Nica is
with bad water, so what are we to do? I dont' see how La UNion, only 1K
away, has good water (or maybe it isn't either) and NA is bad. We need
everyone to think, suggest, provide ideas, etc. so we can move forward
somehow.
I remember Dr. Meng saying that the arsenic isn't really in the deep water
naturally but that arsenic is released from the crushing of the rock when
deep wells, where water lies below a level of rock, are perforated. In NA,
the first 40 feet or so was dirt. Then they hit rock which was 60 - 65 feet.
The rate of descent was slow, the big drill bit broke a few times, but
finally the driller struck the water they've been using since Aug. 07.
Problem probably is that the arsenic gets into the water from the crushing
of the rock I guess. I'm not the expert here, but I just hope they can
locate a place where we can begin anew, cheaply, with good water and then
solarize it from the outset. Be well. Pray. PW
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