Having eaten my share of village food and tromped up mountain paths enthusiastically at 10,000 feet on Sunday, Monday morning found me with a combination of altitude sickness and diarrhea that was thoroughly disabling.  I spent the day in bed at the Casa Internacional, rising occasionally to erupt at one end or another.  Peter visited Villa Mia with Susana and Abraham at the request of Virginia WFP.  Here’s his report to Trina Mastron:

“Hi Trina, Art Mandler and I had a very productive trip... and had some fun too!

And finally, I was able to meet Orlando... he is a character!!!  He drove Sue, Abraham and I out to the site and we spent nearly 4 hours there. Everyone there wished me to pass along their best regards to you, Ken and all their friends in Virginia. Don Cecillo entertained us after the site visit and we got to sample a large quantity of his chicha... it was really a gooooood afternoon! Don Cecillo also wanted me convey his good regards and best wishes to his good friend Ken.

Now about the actual site... starting from the top and working downhill, flooding has indeed harmed the infiltration galleries bringing much sand into the inspection ports. We didn't get up to the area but they are in the process of building retaining walls to prevent further damage to their water source.  They have a new president of the water committee and he seems to be doing a pretty good job. He not only is aggressive about repairs to the system, but aggressive in getting those who are tied on to pay the 5 B's per month. As I understand there are about 94 families currently paying about 450 B's. Some new homes (new families) are being built and they have to pay $650 to tie on to the system. This is the equivalent they feel for the sweat equity that the others have put in.

Traveling down, the 4" line has all been changed out with "super tubo" polyethylene pipe (not particularly liked by Sue and mentioned by Ken as substandard). This led to a simple grit chamber which they said they were having to backwash frequently due to the sand entering the system.  Fifty feet below this grit chamber is the storage tank. The tank was almost empty when we saw it.

They claimed at night, neighbors who are not part of the coop are closing the valve off and thereby letting overflow water run out and irrigate their fields. I don't know but the door had been kicked in and the valve stem itself was just a piece of spun brass.  They also said that they are presently cleaning the tank every four months.

Below the tank is the pressure reduction valve/house (I think... maybe the chicha affected my notes!). Anyway it was completely flooded. The valve seems to be a constant problem and they would like for a simple tank to be built with a float valve (as Ken mentioned). They are also in dispute with the land owner where the present PRV is... they want to move the location down further to the edge of the road if something new was to be constructed.

Getting down to the tapstands... about 2/3rds have water meters but are breaking down due to the sand still in the lines. Then when you get to the school, I have attached a couple of pictures (sorry, I wanted to take more but ran out of film and forgot that I left the remainder in town). The valving going into the bathhouse was leaking, and the sinks were without faucet handles, however, it was pretty clean.  That may have been because they knew we were coming and also because they keep it locked up. They were very interested in getting individual flush tanks but Sue was very suspicious.  She had seen it work for private setting but always fail when it became public. Her suspicion was that only one faulty tank would end up draining much of the water from the whole system. At any rate, Sue and Abraham felt that overall there had been progress made since their last visit. She did say that she would write something up and Abraham took several pictures. They also are going to try to set up a training session with new Peace Corps Volunteers at the school's bath... they could work on that leaky valve!

So... never made it on to the hospital at Mallco Rancho. Too little time...too much chicha..

Well, gotta go...Best regards for you and your committee, Peter

I was able to rouse myself sufficiently to spend a few more hours at the WFP office on Monday evening getting the rest of the computer setup done.  We flew Monday night to Santa Cruz accompanied by Susana and little Luis.  Our flight was drastically rescheduled, but word didn’t get to Juan Carlos and he spent hours waiting in the airport.  He remained his usual cheerful and unflappable self.  Later, his cool competence would make him my hero of the week … but that’s a later story.

Example of Venturi Chlorinator Shown by Jorge

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