Much like life in general, day 6 on the project site was a rollercoaster whose progress and achievements were balanced by a daily serving of frustration and impediment. In short, we made the day as productive as we could.
The team arrived at the site a little after 9 am and found the Chuchurras volunteers hard at work depositing sand and "clean" rock-free clay into the dug trenches; the sand and clay form a 6-inch protective layer around the conveyance lines. The sand was schlepped to the trenches in rice sacks from two large piles and the clean clay was shoveled in from the side.
A horse can be led to water but not made to drink. Today, a similar logic applied to our heavy machinery. The backhoe sat idle on the project site for the second day, awaiting replacement parts. Meanwhile, the dump truck contracted by the community was still mired a foot deep into the soft earth where it had delivered sand 18 hours earlier.
Despite this setback, the Chuchurras volunteer teams (otherwise known as "faena") worked diligently through stifling heat to place as much of the protective layer materials as possible. Parallel to this operation, Benjamin and his assistants cast in place five tap stands in San Francisco using forms he built at his home on Sunday.
Down in the Santa Rosa wellhouse, Derek and Sarai completed the wellhouse piping upgrades. The chlorination system was mounted on the wall and the new piping will be flushed and pressure tested tomorrow. In the afternoon, the electrician, Elio, began working on electrical power and pump controls; the goal being to switch the well pump from manual operation to automatic controls. However, until new, bigger/taller tanks are online, float valves are installed and automatic controls are tuned in; the pump will remain manually controlled.
In the afternoon, the San Fransisco team began dry-fitting pipe componentry to the 10,000-liter tank, ensuring water could flow properly in and out while maintaining some form of disconnect for maintenance. While the tank was being fit, cheers rang out from across the field as the dump truck rumbled out of its pit and regained the road.
The team ended the day with a community meeting, communicating the importance of backfilling key areas of the trenches (near the reservoir and at road crossings) with or without help from the backhoe. Before turning tail and heading home, children from San Francisco invited the team to a friendly game of futbol, the project team doing their best to keep up in their jeans and hiking boots.
Much work is to be done tomorrow, so please tune in again!
