[fsf60k] Re: Brace yourselves
- From: George Pardo <pardo123@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Peter White <pedro831@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:03:05 -0400
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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