Tuesday, April 28, 2009
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.
Friday, April 17, 2009
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:
As for now, here are some more photographs from our trip:
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
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
-Julia
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
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
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