Wastewater treatment plant contract signed

Today is a milestone day.  E finally (after more than a year) have signed and sent off the contract to the Oaxaca State Government to evaluate 100 defunct waste-water treatment plants.  This is both a big and very important project for us and the State of Oaxaca.

This all started over 13 months ago when we spent three days with the finance minister of Oaxaca discussing water and sanitation issues the state is facing.  From these meetings we proposed this analysis work to help the state determine which treatment plants are repairable and which are not.  The objective is to help the state spend its resources wisely to remedy the problem of the non functioning plants.

This will be a six month project that is scheduled to start in early December 2012

Bonds of tradition are a financial bind for Oaxacan migrants

This is a great article form the LA Times.  It outlines some of the difficult Mexico's second poorest state and its challenges it is having with traditional culture and government.

A third-world dimension- Recycled plastic toilets

Please see this article in the Economist about a new partnership we are developing.
3D printing
And in the Seattle Times
turn trash into better lives in Third World

"Mr Rogge, Ms Weeks and Mr Bowman intend to employ their prize money to do precisely that. They plan to form a firm that will, in partnership with a charity called Water for Humans, custom-build composting toilets and rainwater collectors. The partnership will look for suitable local entrepreneurs in poor countries and will train them how to build, use and maintain the printers.

Once the technology is established for toilets and water collectors, other products will be introduced. The local partners will know what products are needed and how much people are prepared to pay for them—and therefore what is worth making. The operation will thus run on a commercial basis. But the software that controls the printers will be open-source and available to all, as will many of the designs for things the printers can make. That way, the technology can spread. A trial will begin soon in Oaxaca, Mexico."

Interview with Dean Kamen and CEO of Coca Cola

Here is a Charlie Rose interview with Dean Kamen, inventor of the Slingshot for water purification, and Muhtar Kent, CEO of Coca Cola, about the global water crisis and how they will team up to make a difference.  It runs about 25 minutes.

          http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/12576