EWB-UCLA's Nicaragua Sanitation Project

Goodbye Potluck

2011-06-02T11:22:00.000-07:00

We had a wide variety of food, mostly store bought, but nevertheless, the potluck was a success! Our two groups (Nicaragua and Guatemala) intermingled with one another as well. We also had a special shout-out to our seniors who are graduating and especially Karen. She had been our past president, project lead of the Nicaragua team, and done so much for our club! Thanks to everyone for making this a successful year! Keep an eye out for any summer updates (possibly about grants and traveling in September) via email or through this blog!

Last Meeting of the Year

2011-05-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was our last meeting of the school year! Next week we will be having a potluck so be sure to write down on the Google Doc that Suzanne sent out what you plan to be cooking or buying (if you are not so handy in the kitchen).
We had a shorter meeting this week where we mostly discussed the conference call with Tiffany, from EWB-USA that will be next Wednesday. We anticipated questions that might be asked and discussed our answers to them. If there were any uncertainties about any topics whether in regards to construction materials or cost issues, we were able to verify and hear explanations. So it was good to bounce ideas off each other and have a better understanding of our upcoming trip.

This last involvement involves our favorite social network Facebook! Please "like" EWB-USA on Facebook! Also EWB-UCLA has a Facebook group so join our group as well!

Traveling Discussion

2011-05-19T20:29:00.000-07:00

First of all, great job to everyone who worked hard on completing the 525 form! The rest of the meeting was devoted to preliminary traveling discussion. People interested in traveling filled out a travel waiver form. We discussed tasks and duties that each person would have during the trip. We also talked about taking more pictures this time. Taking more pictures can only help us in the future when we need information about the building site especially. It takes so much time and effort to go on these trips that we need to make every trip worthwhile! We are planning to travel September 2-19 and hopefully this is early enough to give Marvin a heads-up so he can plan to get the materials, contractor, and other things we may need to start construction of the foundation.

Other announcements include a possible end-of-the-year social! It could be a barbeque at Sunset Rec or another potluck!

T-Shirts!

2011-05-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

After much discussion about making an EWB t-shirt, our t-shirts arrived and with five dollars you can pick yours up at the next meeting! The t-shirts weren't the only highlights of our meeting- we also discussed completing the necessary manuals, CADing the rest of our designs, and assigning grants to apply for. We decided that our maintenance and construction manuals should have more pictures since most of the community has little or basic literacy skills. There are members of our team who enjoy CADing! So the design team will work with them to finish drawing up our building plans. Lastly, it's important to keep searching for grants that we can apply for so please keep looking for foundations that can support our project!

EWB-USA Presentation & Saturday's Work Day

2011-05-05T08:34:00.000-07:00

We had a special guest during this week's meeting! Pearl Abarca, the West Coast SoCal representative from Engineers without Borders-USA, gave a presentation during our general meeting. She shared some advice and helpful tips. I'll just name a few. There are scholarships for students to attend the EWB conferences! Sign up to be a member and you can access resources on the EWB website such as learning Spanish and getting ideas from other EWB chapters. She also encouraged us to get to know the leaders in EWB since they are very approachable and hands-on.

During our Nicaragua meeting, we first discussed this Saturday's work day. At 11 AM, we will be meeting in the patio between Eng. I and Eng. V. Come out and learn how to mix some cement! Also, we gave a round of applause to David for finishing the foundation design! With that off our list, we're now just left with completing the maintenance manual, cost analysis and CADing our design!

Elections!

2011-04-28T08:40:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to our new board members! From their speeches, they had great new ideas for the upcoming year so I'm definitely looking forward to it!

Since elections took up most of our time, we had a brief project meeting. Tentatively, next week we will be having a work day to practice mixing concrete instead of our regular meeting. It will most likely be between Engineering I and Engineering V where the ASCE concrete canoe work area is located. So come prepared to do some mixing! Also, we found out that Simpson Strong-tie does not have strong-ties located in Nicaragua which means we may have to find another construction company who has the material we need in Nicaragua and is willing to donate. Lastly, our maintenance and construction manual is still in progress and we're going to continue to look for grants that we can apply for so we can travel this summer.

Structural Discussion and PCC

2011-04-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

During Tuesday's meeting, it was an exciting time for nominations! Members nominated other members to the positions of president, internal/external vice president, treasurer, secretary, etc. If you were not able to make it out to the meeting but wanted to nominate yourself or someone else, you will still be able to next week right before our elections. The best way to be more involved in EWB is through a leadership position!

After splitting into our respective groups, we discussed traveling (most likely September) and grants (keep looking!). Then half the team went up to the white board to discuss building design plans and the other half of the team stayed to work on the pairwise comparison chart that we started last week. The results of the PCC showed that safety (obviously) was our highest priority. Our next task is to rank our categories for each priority. Example: for roofing, we have three options: metal, painted metal, and plastic; we rank each option in terms of safety, environmental sustainability, costs of maintenance, etc. We didn't finish filling out the chart since most of us were not experts on the benefits and disadvantages of metal versus plastic, but we did our best!

Lastly, we also discussed the possiblity of having our work day (practicing mixing concrete) on May 3 which is a Tuesday. Instead of our regular meeting, we would have our work day! This is a great way to get some hands-on experience and take a break from studying for midterms. Just a heads up that our "meeting" that day will probably be for 2 hours!

Pairwise Comparison Chart

2011-04-13T22:08:00.000-07:00

In this week's meeting, we did a lot of voting! The purpose of our voting was to fill out a Pairwise Comparison Chart (PCC) which is a method of determining what objectives should have the highest priority. There were seven priorities that we had- ease of maintenance (for up-keeping the schoolhouse), sustainability, safety, and ease of transportation (in regards to bringing the material to the village) just to name a few. At times, it was difficult to vote because both choices had good arguments such as ease of maintenance versus cost of maintenance. Other times it was not hard to make a decision; for example, safety always received the most votes when compared to any other category. The results of our PCC will be announced next week and we will be able to know how our priorities rank and thus, focus on what is most important.

All the voting we did will help prepare us for EWB elections coming up! Next week will be nominations and the following week will be the elections. Anyone interested in being a leader in EWB should consider running for a position!

Just Getting Ready for September

2011-04-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Nicaragua has been postponed from June to September so up til then we are just getting ready! That means continuing raising funds by applying for grants, finalizing our designs, completing travel forms, and having work days to practice mixing concrete and basic construction techniques. We are also working on compiling our own maintenance and construction manuals. The maintenance manual will be simple consisting of how-to's for basic problems that may arise. We plan to get ideas from home improvement stores such as Home Depot and Lowe's which offer fix-it advice and instructions. Lastly, during our meeting, we were reminded of our need to raise money for our project. All of us are going to bring three grants to next week's meeting!

And Spring Quarter Begins!

2011-04-02T21:37:00.000-07:00

Our first meeting of the quarter was exciting with several new students interested in joining Project S.E.D. After introductions that even consisted of an icebreaker question, we discussed the EWB-USA grant. This grant is a great opportunity for us to receive much needed funding for our project. Another thing on our to-do list is making a construction and maintenance manual. These manuals will be helpful for the community members in Las Brenas. So several of us will be writing the manual, finding helpful pictures and diagrams, and of course translating our instructions into Spanish. Also coming up this quarter, we will have at least one session in training for the trip. We will be able to practice possibly digging a footing, mixing concrete, and working with wood. Project S.E.D. faces an exciting new quarter!

Holding off until Spring Quarter

2011-03-11T08:35:00.000-08:00

Despite it being dead week, there was still a group of EWBers who attended this week's meeting. We did a lot of discussion during the meeting. Henry, who attended last week's conference call with an EWBUSA representative, informed us of the advice that Tiffany (the representative) gave us. One of the tasks we need to accomplish is to put together a construction and maintenance manual of the schoolhouse for the people in the community. This will be a somewhat difficult task since we will need to put a lot of effort into writing it, including helpful pictures, and translating it into Spanish. We were also advised to practice nailing, mixing concrete, and other building techniques before we leave. However, we all agreed that with finals right around the corner, it would be best to hold off on working on the manuals and holding building workshops until next quarter. Surely spring quarter will be a busy time for Project S.E.D.!

On track to getting ready to travel

2011-03-03T00:13:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday's meeting, we discussed briefly about our trip to Nicaragua. The original plan was to go in June after finals week but the weather might be more suitable for building if we went in September. Nothing is set in stone but if the funds are raised, we can expect to be traveling in the summer to start construction of the foundation!
Today, there was a conference call with a representative from EWB-USA. According to Oren, our project lead, the conference call went great and we received positive feedback and helpful tips. Once we complete our implementation forms and decide the traveling details, we will be able to see our long hours of preparation bear fruit when we begin construction of the schoolhouse.

Good News and Bad News

2011-02-24T08:51:00.000-08:00

The good news is that the design of the roof and wall are completed. Eugene, our design lead, emailed out the designs and by the pictures and complicated numbers it looks like the schoolhouse will be ready to withstand any rainstorm, hurricane or earthquake. The bad news is that during the meeting we did cost estimates on the material and found out that we would need a lot of material that obviously requires a great deal of money. Our previous project was the latrines that did not require as much material as a schoolhouse so the costs of materials gave us somewhat of a jolt. Of course we are building the schoolhouse in stages so this way, we can raise the money needed as each stage approaches. If you want to check out the layout of the schoolhouse, they can be viewed through our Google Groups page (see attached link below) listed under discussions as EWB Schoolhouse- Building Layout and Alternatives.
http://groups.google.com/group/ewbucla-nicaraguasanitation?lnk=

Frijolillo

2011-02-16T09:35:00.000-08:00

The word "frijolillo" may be hard to pronounce but we are excited to say it! Frijolillo is a tropical hardwood that we recently discovered is sustainable, meets our building standards, and is found in Nicaragua! It is used as a substitute for Cumaru, another hardwood, but frijolillo has all the same valuable qualities as Cumaru. We are very happy that we will be able to use such an ideal material that is environmentally friendly and has the right strength properties so we can construct a stable structure. If you want to learn more about frijolillo or other sustainable wood materials check out http://www.nicaraguahardwoods.com/products/S4S%20Frijolillo%20FAS(Cumaru%20substitute).php

And we are still applying for grants hoping to get enough funding so we can travel this summer. Furthermore, our NGO contact, Marvin, has informed us that the community has been eager for us to start construction on the schoolhouse.

Midterms, Marvin, MOU

2011-02-09T19:57:00.001-08:00

Tuesday's meeting saw a decrease in attendance which we blame midterm season for. However, we were still able to have a successful meeting. Karen, who corresponds with our NGO contact in Nicaragua named Marvin, gave us an update that Marvin had given her. Marvin reported that the families in the community are using our latrines! The latrines are basically bathrooms that have chemicals added to the waste to turn it into fertilizer which is helpful since the community is mostly agricultural. Currently, in addition to the schoolhouse, we are working on improvements we can make to the latrines. Marvin also informed us that it is better to transport materials to the village during rainy season because the river will have enough water to make it easy to bring the supplies in the boats. We concluded the meeting with ideas on how to make our MOU (Memorandum of understanding) with the people of Las Brenas more detailed. It is important that once the schoolhouse is completed that it will be well maintained and that there be guidelines on its use.
Keep working on grants so we can fund the schoolhouse!

523, 524, 525

2011-02-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

In order for us to continue Project S.E.D and go to Nicaragua, there are three forms that we have to fill out- 523 Alternatives Analysis Report, 524 Preliminary Design Report, and 525 Pre-Implementation Report. We have divided these reports into smaller parts to be more efficient in completing them on time.
Meanwhile, the design phase seems to be near the end with just a few more things to finish up like drawing it up on CAD (Computer-Aided Design). Speaking of CAD, some members of the Nicaragua team went about two weekends ago to a CAD workshop at UCLA to get some basic knowledge of how to CAD. So hopefully we learned enough to apply our newfound skills to our schoolhouse.

Finishing up the design!

2011-01-26T10:58:00.000-08:00

In last Friday's design meeting, Eugene explained how we needed to analyze the schoolhouse's structure (specifically the roof truss) by calculating the load for different scenarios like if there was an earthquake, hurricane, someone on the roof during an earthquake, etc. We needed to determine which was the worst scenario and base the design of the structure on this to ensure that the building would be stable.
So in yesterday's general meeting, Dennis (an undergraduate civil engineering student who graciously volunteered to do the load calculations) brought in his analysis of the truss structure. Now we can finish calculations on this coming Friday's design meeting and hopefully have the design done by February. The meeting will be at 12:30 PM on the 8th floor of Boelter Hall in the SEL Research Commons which is right across from the Science Engineering Library.
And I forgot to mention that a recent email from Marvin, our contact in Nicaragua, informed us that there is most likely going to be plywood that we can use! Yay!

Design and Deadlines

2011-01-19T15:23:00.000-08:00

During the design meeting, our head design leader, Eugene, basically showed us in ten minutes how to build a schoolhouse. Of course, there's definitely more calculations and work so there will be a Design Day this Friday at 12 PM. Anyone wanting to help and willing to learn can come even without a structural engineering background. They will be meeting in front of Boelter Hall in the Court of Sciences. There are two designs for the schoolhouse: one with plywood available and one without plywood available. The alternative of not having plywood would cause more difficulties in design and gathering material and would be more costly.
In our regular meeting, Oren reminded us of the deadlines approaching. There is a great need for us to raise money because without the money we cannot begin construction of the schoolhouse. Therefore, everyone is to bring the name of a foundation with a grant to next week's meeting.
Another issue raised was that the foundation would probably be exposed for a long time (possibly even a year) and because the soil is mostly clay, we need to find ways to build the foundation to last during the wait between visits. Two solutions that were discussed were to either build a bigger foundation or to transport gravel or sand from another location to place the foundation on top of (the gravel or sand will allow water to drain).

Clay Sucks

2011-01-12T14:28:00.000-08:00

David, our geotechnical graduate student, finished running tests on the soil samples that the team brought from the assessment trip and delivered the results during the meeting. He said the soil is mostly clay and the clay is mostly plastic which leads to problems in the stability and safety of the structure. Basically, clay sucks. Luckily, our design team can hammer out a plan that overcomes the problems that clay presents. The design team is now also focusing on the water tanks for the rainwater catchment. In the design meeting, they debated whether it should be underground or above ground, made with plastic, and other aspects of the tanks. To be more effective, possibly the coming Monday, there will be a Design Day(!) filled with lots of calculations and designing. Design Day will help us get a more definite plan sooner. Anyone can come, even if you do not know how to design a structure, because there will be much needed help with calculations and cost estimates.

Welcome Back!

2011-01-04T21:39:00.000-08:00

Today was the first meeting of our winter quarter! And we have a lot of work to do!
Oren and Henry talked with someone from the EWB headquarters who reviewed our submitted post-assessment. She brought up some important issues that we hadn't considered such as determining who owns the land that we are building the schoolhouse and finding a schoolhouse. In addition to finding solutions to the issues she called to attention we have many other forms to complete so that we can travel to Nicaragua this summer.
In addition, more pressure is on the design team to complete the design of the schoolhouse and to also create alternative designs. Starting next week, they will be meeting at 5:30 PM in the same room where we have our meeting. I'm sure that they can use any help!
Lastly, a previous EWB-UCLA project in Thailand will need some reconstruction. The No Lae schoolhouse built several years ago needs improved water tanks. Anyone interested in helping in this project or heading this project can contact Nathan, our President and he can probably lead you to the mentor/leader of the project.

Thanksgiving Dinner

2010-11-23T22:27:00.000-08:00

Our Thanksgiving potluck was successful! We had mashed sweet potatoes, blondies, cupcakes, apple cider and more! There was more than enough food to go around and we tried to mix in with the Guatemala group since we don't usually have the time to talk and meet with them. We also had a guest speaker, Dustin James, who is building eco-domes in San Jacinto. He shared his plans for the area and showed the progress of one of his eco-domes. EWB-UCLA is invited to come with Dustin this winter break to help in the construction of the eco-domes! This is a great opportunity to help others and learn about engineering; basically a chance to be an engineer without borders! If interested email Dustin at dustinfjames@gmail.com

In terms of fundraising for our project, Karen has shared a Google Doc with grant resources and will help us be more organized and efficient in applying for grants. Be sure to check out the document and start working on a grant if you see no one else is working on it!

There will be no meeting next week since it will be dead week, the week before finals! Have a great Thanksgiving!

Plywood, Partners, and Potluck

2010-11-17T00:52:00.000-08:00

Great news! We are pretty sure that we can get plywood in Nicaragua! If the right kind of plywood is available in Nicaragua, it would make the design and construction of the schoolhouse a lot easier. During today's design meeting, we had a bigger group of people and we discussed our alternative, trusses, if we could not use plywood. Once we can confirm that there is plywood, we can start to get all the details and logistics of the design.
In the general meeting, we decided to partner up people to apply for grants. Since the EWB organization will begin to charge $500 for assessment trips and $1000 for implementation trips, we need to raise even more money!
Lastly, we ended the meeting with tentative plans for a potluck next week! We want the meeting to be short since Thanksgiving break will be starting and what better way to celebrate and be thankful than with a plethora of good food!

Trying to get creative...

2010-11-09T23:31:00.000-08:00

Did you know a school in Guatemala was built using plastic bottles?
Today in the design meeting and in our general meeting, we placed emphasis on discussing the materials we wanted to use to build the schoolhouse. Currently, our ideal material is using plywood but we do not know if we can get plywood in Nicaragua. Our options seem to be limited because Las Brenas, the community where we are building the school, is in a remote area. From the capital of Nicaragua, it takes multiple hours of bus rides, boat rides and mule rides to get to our destination so transporting materials is a big issue. If anyone has any ideas, even as creative as using plastic bottles, they would be welcome and feel free to come to our design meetings which are held an hour before the general meeting starts in the same place! (And if you're curious as to how the plastic bottles were used, check out the link on our Google Group: EWBUCLA Nicaragua-Sanitation)

And as always, we are still working hard to get grants, the fuel that drives our project forward.

Getting started on designing!

2010-10-27T19:57:00.000-07:00

In this week's meeting, we mostly discussed the design of the schoolhouse that we are planning to build in Las Brenas, Nicaragua. We talked about or mostly heard what our more knowledgeable graduate students said about what type of foundation we wanted to use for the school, what type of materials we wanted to use, and how we could build a more sustainable structure. So starting next week, people interested in designing the school are going to meet an hour before EWB meetings begin. There will be four groups designing the foundation of the school, roof of the school, water catchment system and latrines. Anyone who wants to help out or is just interested should come, besides, wouldn't it be cool to say you were a part of designing a building?

Grant us some money, please

2010-10-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

Grants=Money=A green light for designing and building the schoolhouse.

The focus of today's meeting was applying for grants. Without grants, Project S.E.D. (Sanitation, Education and Development) will be incomplete due to lack of funding! People were put into groups of three and given a grant to work on. This week everyone will be filling out applications for grants and by the end of next week, any questions about the application will be answered and we can turn in our grant requests. Then, hopefully, we'll hear back with good news!

Day-by-Day Snapshots of the Nicaragua Site Assessment Trip in June

2010-10-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

June 14: All eight members of the team arrive and meet at Managua. They spend the night at Managua Backpacker's Inn.

June 15- The team travels on bus and boat (known as a panga) to reach Bluefields and meet with our NGO contact, Marvin, to discuss travel plans to the two communities.

June 16- After purchasing supplies (gas for the pangas, rice, beans, etc.), the team travels to San Sebastian and checks on the latrines. They also meet with a representative from an NGO called BlueEnergy with whom EWB can possibly partner with in the future. They speak with families who own the latrines and find that overall, the latrines are clean and maintained well!

June 17- The team examines the schoolhouse in San Sebastian to get an idea of how they want to construct the new school in Las Brenas. Then the group braves the rain and take a four-hour long mule ride to Las Brenas.

June 18- At Las Brenas, the group holds a community meeting to discuss with the families the planning of the future schoolhouse. Then, they inspect a possible location for the school and gather information that will help in designing the new school.

June 19- Lots of traveling: the team leaves Las Brenas (by mules once again) to San Sebastian and then back to Bluefields by pangas.

June 20- The team meets with a contractor to discuss the schoolhouse designs and then meets one last time with Marvin to discuss future building plans.

June 21- After a successful site assessment, the team embarks home from Managua Airport.

Beginning a New Year

2010-10-08T00:20:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday, the 28th, EWB-UCLA held its first meeting of the year and there was an overwhelming turnout! Room 38-138 in Engineering IV was filled with a variety of people, from freshmen to graduate students, even a student from another college campus but all eager to learn about Engineers Without Borders. A Powerpoint presentation gave an informative overview about our two main projects in Guatemala and Nicaragua. Nathan, our President, also mentioned BOOTUP (refurbishing donated computers to give to charity) and suggested that members could also start local projects.

In this week's meeting, after everyone introduced themselves and shared their favorite ice cream flavor, it was expressed that fall quarter would emphasize fundraising. Oren asked that everyone research grants that our Nicaragua SED Project could apply for. Every bit of money helps and can go a long way. In our case, it could give a child the gift of an education. Let's hope that we can raise enough money to get our schoolhouse started as soon as possible!

2010-10-02T07:36:00.000-07:00

Great website listing 15 innovations that could save the world:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/26/tech-awards-2010_n_738486.html#s143440

2010-09-30T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hello All! So just to keep you updated, our group had a successful assessment/post implementation trip this past summer break back in Kukra River. Below you will find a series of photos taken from that trip. Further details from the trip will be posted shortly.

The entire traveling team

Traveling between locations

Checking up on the latrines that were constructed one year prior

Hanging with the children!

Project updates !

2010-05-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

hello everyone !

Our School-house project in kukra river region of Nicaragua is very much underway. here are some project updates :

1. In terms of grant, Lawrence foundation offered to help our project with $5,000 !
2. Our 521 form has been approved which approves our site assessment trip.Thus It is official that site assessment trip is taking place from June 13th to June 21st.
3. We are almost done making a Memorandum of Understanding(MOU). The purpose of MOU is to establish an agreement between us and the community about the project.
4. We have compiled many interview questions to ask the community members during our trip.
5. We used the Engineering Alumni Association funding to purchase necessary tools (GPS,medical kits,water purifier etc) for the site assessment trip.

here is the agenda for our site assessment :

Day 0 (June 13th)
Travel LAX to Atlanta
Atlanta to Managua
Day 1 (June 14th)
Arrive Managua
Meet up at hostel
Exchange $
Meet up with everyone

Day 2 (June 15th)
Wake up early
Go to Bus station. Take the bus to Rama.
Check hard-ware stores at Rama
Go to Bluefields
Stay at the hostel
Check hardware stores
Get supplies/food
Buy boots

Day 3 (June 16th)
Wake up early. Meet Marvin
Talk to Marvin: construction for projects, contact with ministry of education, travel plans, get level/ tools.
Take the boat to San Sebastian
· Check on the latrines.
· Ask them interview question

Day 4 (June 17th)
Meet other families
Interview questions
Meet Cipriano
Check problems with the latrines
Leave for Las Brenas
Possibly meet with the community
Debrief

Day 5 (June 18th)
Site survey
Interviews surrounding community
Soil tests
Pictures of people’s homes
Coordinates
Meet with the community
MOU Signed
Debrief

Day 6 (June 19th)
Possibly work ½ day.
Travel back
Debrief

Day 7 (June 20th)
Travel

Day 8 (June 21st)
Leave
Email Oren (personal debrief)
Problems
Things accomplished
Best and worst part of the trip
What to do differently next time
Pictures (zip file)
Health problems
Post assessment (Henry, Warren, Eugene and Eric)

After our site assessment, I will update you with pictures and a summary of tasks accomplished. That's all for now.

2010-04-16T00:24:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone !

i'm very excited to share with you that we are beginning a new project in Nicaragua. We are planning to build a schoolhouse with a water-catchment system in the Kukra river region to serve the agrarian community of Las Breñas. People in this community do not have access to potable water and must drink from the same murky water in which they bathe. There is also a great need for a schoolhouse in Las Breñas, as there is a large number of children that currently do not attend school simply because the only schoolhouse within the area is located over an hour away by foot.

Here are some project updates:

1. We are planning to do our site assessment right after spring quarter ends. The estimated dates are from June 12th to June 20th.

2. There will be 2 groups for the site assessment : Latrine group, and Schoolhouse group. Latrine group will go to San Sebastian to check the status on our compost latrines and evaluate them. And the schoolhouse group will go to Las Breñas to evaluate the site for schoolhouse construction.

3. We have two professional engineers that will be going with us on the site assessment to guide us.

4. We managed to get pocket penetrometer and vane shear tools for field testing purposes.

5. We are looking to buy a GPS Unit for the upcoming trip.

6. In terms of grants, we are still waiting to hear back from all the grants that we submitted.

More updates to come soon !

2009-11-08T13:53:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

First off, more pictures of the completion of our latrine project will be posted shortly. Also, our group is excited to announce that we have a new phase for our program within Kukra River. We are now going ahead with a schoolhouse construction project in the community of Las Brenas. This schoolhouse will have with it a water catchment system (and possibly another composting latrine if resources permit it). Further details will be developed in the weeks to come.

-Julia P.

2009-09-27T00:47:00.000-07:00

From design to reality (with some variations inbetween):

2009-09-26T21:39:00.000-07:00

Step-by-step construction process for Composting Latrines in the San Sebastian of Kukra River in Nicaragua:

1) Leveling the ground for our foundation

2) Cutting rebar for reinforcements on top and base slabs as well as vertical corner reinforcement for vaults. Wood was also cut for base slab's form at this stage of the process.

3) Arranging rebar and tying with wire to measured dimensions

4) Hammering together the form for the bottom slab, filling it with rocks to approximately half the height, then placing the rebar frame on top

5) Using the volcanoe method for mixing concrete (aggregate was added after water, cement, and sand were mixed)

6) Layering on concrete for bottom slab

7) Once dry enough (approximately a day), prefabricated blocks shipped in from Bluefields were stacked layer by layer while being cemented together. Rebar propped up at the corners. Note how two gaps were left in the back. These will provide access into the vaults. Separate concrete slabs with handle bars on them will be cemented into place with a 1" clearance that is to be filled in by paper or plastic bags and is chissled out at the time of removal.

8) Wooden planks were hammered into concrete to cover the tops of both chambers in order to provide a backing for the top slab's concrete form. Toilet holes made from sheets of zinc and nailed in around the outside into the planks. Rebar reinforcement was also used for this slab.

9) Top slab being filled in with concrete

10) Once base is completed, a wooden superstructure was built. This process took longer than expected so beware! We started out with a frame made of 2x4's and used planks placed in the horizontal direction. The corrugated Zinc was attached using roofing nails

11) The steps were (unfortunately) made after the concrete vault was created, as we were unsure at the time on how much concrete would be left over. In the future, the concrete steps would be taken into account when designing the base slab.

12) Fly ventilation was placed on the side. We had initially designed for the vent to be placed along the backwall which would have been designed to have access into both chambers, however lack of communication led to a modified design by the mason, where the top row of blocks in the divider is spaced approximately 1/2" between each block to allow for ventilation and fly passage from the vault that is not directly connected to the vent. We will see the effectiveness when we return to the area. Another issue we had was the fact that gray vent pipes were provided for us instead of white. This may end up having an effect on the number of flies able to be effectively removed from the latrine.

The end result. Due to a scarcity in toilet casts, the toilets for these latrines were unable to come in time. In addition to this, we also ran out of time for the assembly of the door. We anticipate receiving photos and updates from our onsite NGO affiliates, FUNCOS, who will inform us whether or not all has been completed. In the mean time, here is a photo of us and all those who helped (including the entire family):

2009-09-07T14:16:00.000-07:00

Hello from Bluefields!

We have finally received approval from the Technical Advisory Committee and tomorrow, September 9th, we shall venture in to the kukra river region to begin the implementation phase of our project. Designs have changed dramatically over the months but we have finally sorted out a lot of the confusion. we will be using a ´T´pvc piece for the top part of the ventilation (as that was what was available at the hardware store) and there will be no separated urinal diverter. All three of the latrines will be quite similar in structure, except for one which will include a pvc ventilation system. Additionally, one or two of the latrines´staircases will be made of wood so as to cut down on costs (and because wood is quite abundant within the area).

Materials have already been gathered and a mason has also been hired so as to ensure the success of this project. Also, as a side note, the toilets are being purchased ahead of time as opposed to being made from a cast. this will cut down on time and cost. Pictures of the construction and final results will be posted in a few weeks!

2009-07-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

After an intense interview with the Technical Advisory Committee, we were told that in order to be approved for our pilot phase trip in September, we will need to produce a safety and health plan, a site plan (which shows the relative distances of our latrines to any water sources), and a foundation plan. On top of this, we were told to perform a concrete construction lab, which we completed last Thursday with Warren and I, along with the help of Chelsea from ASCE and my friend, Shannon. We will also be performing this lab again tomorrow with our Mentor, Tim, Karen, and possibly Amanda and Bart.

Also, one big thing that was suggested by the committee was that we may want to consider clear or light colored plastic roofing as opposed to the traditional zinc. Though this may considerably detract from the overall task of fly removal (by not being able to provide an appropriate gradient in brightness for which the flies can follow), it will (perhaps more importantly) increase the user friendliness as well as provide visibility that may prove highly desirable from a health standpoint in certain circumstances. If we do not go with this alternative, it is suggested that the recipients will be more likely to transform their latrine into a storage unit or some other form of alternative usage.

2009-06-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

So we had our interview with Tiffany from the National Chapter of EWB on wednesday and discussed our site assessment trip back in March. One of the key things to take from this interview was the necessity for having a written agreement between our group and the recipient families of the composting latrines. This serves both as a means of solidifying a commitment from the families and also as a clarification for them on what our scope is for this project.

Our pre-implementation papers have been sent in and we will be expecting a TAC review within the next few weeks to discuss our trip, which is scheduled for mid September.

2009-06-13T17:42:00.000-07:00

During our assessment trip back in March, Tim, Warren, and I had a conversation with Leonel Luna, The president of FUNCOS. He told us that in addition to the obvious need for sanitation improvement within the area, there was also the potential for hydroelectric dam construction that would be used to power Kukra River, which currently has no source of electricity. Since then, Hannah Lawrence, Hagan O'Connor, and myself (Julia Pasternack) have performed a fairly detailed analysis on the feasibility of such an undertaking for our UCLA senior design project. The outcomes revealed that for optimum efficiency and under the fairly low head and flow conditions, a kaplan turbine with a synchronous AC generator mounted via a directly coupling shaft would be the optimum choice. Our resultant poster is provided below. However, it should be noted that further analysis will indeed be pursued by both UCLA students as well as correspondents in Nicaragua.

2009-05-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay in updates. Currently we still need to hear back from the national chapter for their review of our assessment trip. If all goes well, we will be able to perform a pilot phase implementation trip in September, where we will be installing three (possibly four)composting latrines of varying designs in the Kukra River community of San Sebastian. These designs will help us in figuring out the optimum cost, and reliability, output product (fertilizer) among many other factors. Here are some rough designs that that we have come up with thus far. Many modifications will take place between now and September.

courtesy of James Chen

our trip will serve both as an assessment trip for the possible installation of roof water-catchment systems and as a pilot phase for our sanitation latrine construction project. For the pilot phase, we will be constructing three (possibly four, depending on the amount of funding that we acquire) composting latrines within the community of San Sebastian and along the outskirts of Las Brenas. All designs will be double-vault composting latrines of relatively similar size. Design #1 will be a simple, minimal cost design that is similar to the nearby composting latrines in the Kukra River Region. The main difference, however, lies in having a wooden staircase as opposed to cement.
The second design will be built partially in ground, utilizing the structural support provided by the earth in order to maximize the given volume. This latrine will have a cement staircase with a cement slab along one of the steps that can open up and serve as an opening for weekly stirring of the mixture as well as the annual removal of the compost. Such a design will essentially eliminate the issue of fecal contamination around the toilet seat area that could pose a potential problem during the typical practice of stirring through the toilet hole. This model will also be equipped with a zinc superstructure, which isn’t as widespread of a material choice as wood, however it has been used with a few of the latrines in the region.

The third design will implement an added section in the back that, again, seeks to maximize the volume below the latrine while still seeking to maintain both cost and effectiveness in the composting process. The area will have a slanted top face that contains a metal door which can open and close to allow for easy stirring and removal of fecal matter. The choice of metal is an attempt to speed up the anaerobic breakdown of the fecal matter through heating while also serving as a structurally robust moving component in our design. The staircase for this design will be wooden. This design will be constructed for one of our larger selected families that live on the outskirts of Las Brenas.

The potential fourth design will be quite similar to that of the third design with the exception of a more permanent, cement staircase and an additional ventilation system via PVC piping. Such a feature has the potential for helping to facilitate the anaerobic process within the fecal matter as well as reducing the instances of flies and negative odors. Ideally, this design will be constructed for the new schoolhouse that is to be constructed in San Sebastian (via financial support from the Catholic Church). Since such construction is still underway, this design is likewise still up in the air. During the assessment trip, we were assured by one of the teachers at the preexisting school that there would be members of the community that would be willing to take on the task of compost upkeep and removal, as ownership of a latrine in such an environment is quite different than with families.

2009-04-28T01:56:00.000-07:00

Here are some photographs back from kid's day for Engineers Week (EWeek) at UCLA(taken April 8th). This event was a water relay race where children would race to carry buckets to an area where they would fish out the 'contaminents' and then return back to the finish line. The event was meant to essentially simulate the process that many children and corresponding family members in developing countries must go to in order to obtain usable water on a daily basis.

2009-04-17T17:43:00.000-07:00

So our planned trip for return to Nicaragua was scheduled for early June, however, because of new policies imposed by the EWB national chapter, there now needs to be at least a 3 month leeway period between when we submit our pre-implementation forms and when we travel. Currently, we still have to complete the following before implementation travel: submission of post-assessment report (includes baseline health assessment as well as budget from the travel), TAC review to discuss our assessment trip, a 523 (alternative design) form, a 524 (preliminary design) form, and finally a 525 (pre-implementation) form. Our group will be working on all of these tasks in a joint effort.

As for now, here are some more photographs from our trip:

2009-04-07T22:29:00.000-07:00

Today Engineers without Borders-UCLA participated in kid's day for Engineer's Week at UCLA. We held a relay race that involved kids carrying buckets of water with 'contaminants' and then having them remove the 'contaminants' with nets and returning back with the buckets of 'purified' water. This was the second time we've hosted this race and it was again a success. Tomorrow there will be club tabling with trivia challenge questions for people passing by. There will also be club tabling on Thursday.

In regards to the Nicaragua Sanitation Project, we are in the midst of the funding process and have a couple small school grants that we've been applying for.

Our group has also begun the design phase of this project and we have made a couple of alternative suggestions to the preexisting latrines in the area.

First off, as of now we wish to have piped ventilation for the benefits of odor reduction, fly removal, and quickening of drying time of the compost (due to the sunlight from the top of the pipe as well as the air ventilation that will be imposed (via bernoulli effect for a velocity/pressure gradient). This ventilation system will be modified so as to have the top of the pvc pipe caped with a piece of glass that will let sunlight through but not rain. To accomodate for the flies and air circulation, we will also have (attached to the main structure) a downwards pointing elbow joint along with fly paper.

Another important feature that is different from most dry latrines in the area is a completely separate urinal for the men. This can easily be constructed out of a large plastic bottle cut in half and some rubber tubing. The reason behind having a separate urinal is ease for the men as well as preventing any moisture getting into the vault.

Regardless of whether or not a separate urinal is built for the men, we will still have to deal with the issue of urine for women, which is why the current design (as pictured below) should still be implemented. The only difference we wish to have would be to shape the toilet seat in a manner that renders it compatable for having a conventional plastic toilet seat placed on top of it. This reduces the need for cleaning and allows for the families to better see and clean this unit (without the use of water, which often times drips into the vault.

The latrine design will also incorporate the use of wood wedging between the zinc roofing and the wooden structure. This wedging would serve the purpose of reducing any sideways rain from entering the unit.

We are still looking into the possibility of a "solar latrine" design. Further research is much needed on the subject matter.

Alternative designs/considerations: here is a link to a fiberglass latrine design (cost est. $500):
http://www.edusc.org/Forms/HaitiDryLatrineProject.pdf

-Julia

2009-04-01T15:50:00.001-07:00

Alright everyone. So our goal right now is to shoot for constructing three composting latrines in the community of San Sebastian (and possibly as well as a house in between San Sebastian and Las Brenas). This will serve as our pilot project trip and will take place sometime in early summer (possibly between June 12-22 if not longer). During this trip we will also be conducting an additional in-depth site assessment for a potential water catchment system in the communities of Las Brenas and San Sebastian. We have already submitted water samples from the two communities for testing to be done by the university in Bluefields. We are currently awaiting the results.

-Julia

2009-04-01T14:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some additional photographs from our trip:

This is a photograph of a typical separated dry latrine (taken from the FUNCOS building in Aurora). They used lime as their additive so the latrine not only did not smell bad, but it actually smelled good!

A woman washing her clothing in the river. For the people living in Kukra River, they use the river for washing clothing and for bathing. According to one of the doctors in Aurora, it is common to see women receiving vaginal infections due to bathing in this water.

The minihotel we stayed at in the central area. It had a good location, personal bathrooms in each room which included a shower with running water (though the water is cold and is actually quite contaminated in Bluefields), cable television with some really great channels, and there is a restaurant in the hotel to eat at (slightly overpriced).

Tim and I about to board the FUNCOS boat to travel up the Kukra River

Our plane from Managua to Bluefields

2009-03-28T22:35:00.001-07:00

hey guys! We´re back in Managua after an exhausting journey to Kukra River. A lot of information has been discovered and gathered! First off, there actually already exists a strong presence of composting latrines in the communities! This makes our project a whole lot easier, but also leaves a lot more room for additional projects in these communities! We found quite a few possible areas for future projects, but it actually seems like water is the biggest issue (contrary to what Marvin had mentioned). We paid $40 to have water samples tested for the water quality in san sebastian as well as las breñas (the communities that had the biggest water issues). While in Kukra River, we hosted community meetings in each of the three communities and also interviews with family members. San Sebastian was the only community that did not already have composting latrines. Both Caño Azul and Las Breñas had composting, or ´dry´, latrines installed for a fair portion of families thanks to the accion medica christian group. We rode mules a fair portion of the time but due to liability issues, I think our future plans should not encompass this mode of transportation (as one of our team members had fallen off of the mule due to muddy conditions and could easily have been stepped on and severely injured if not killed). We also were able to acquire lots of information on material prices in bluefields (for both the dry latrines as well as a potential water catchment system). Anyways, like I said, a lot of information has been discovered and Warren, Tim, and I plan to discuss it all in detail at this next meeting. Photos will be uploaded shortly.

-Julia

2009-03-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! We made it to Bluefields after a very loud domestic plane ride! Bluefields is a really colorful and vibrant town and we love it! We met up with Marvin, who took us on a 2 hour nature walk into the foresty area where they are to build their future office. We leave tomorrow to travel up Kukra River. We have gathered quite a bit of interesting information regarding comosting latrines in this area. Warren has been taking very good notes and we will fill everyone in when more time permits. Here are a few photos from our trip so far. One is of the patio at the Backpackers Inn. The other is a group picture with Arturo from FUNCOS. He works primarily on the west coast for FUNCOS and is a very nice man who showed us around Managua. The last few are from the outskirts of bluefields and the FUNCOS office in bluefields.

2009-03-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

Preparing for site assessment trip

2009-03-16T03:06:00.000-07:00

Okay so we recently lost one of our anticipated traveling members, Nick #2 (the Mark Wahlberg Nick) due to personal issues. However, Warren, Tim (one of our mentors), and I are still more than ready to tackle this trip! We have all the forms printed and the medical equipment gathered. Our flight leaves Friday night at Midnight and we will be back on Sunday of the next week. I purchased 3-way walkie talkies and we will hopefully have some money left over from the Alumni Grant to go towards fuel for our motor boat. That's about it for right now.

The Beginning!

2009-03-15T15:09:00.000-07:00

Aaaahhh! The UCLA- Engineers Without Borders' blog has been created.

It's gonna feature awesome updates from our project in Bluefields, Nicaragua. More specifically, Kukra River & Kukra Hill.

Here are some links and pictures about the region and Engineers Without Borders, so you can get to know us and our project better:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluefields

http://www.vianica.com/visit/bluefields

http://www.ewb-usa.org/

http://sites.google.com/site/ewbucla/

And here's a video about the area. Its in Spanish, but its the best we found! ;D