Oaxaca - October 2011 Trip Report

Oaxaca - October 2011 Trip Report

Oaxaca - October 2011 Trip Report
Rick and Stan were in Oaxaca from October 10th through October 22nd to further Water for Humans' mission. It was a well spent two weeks that included the following highlights: began negotiating a contract with the state of Oaxaca to provide advice on water and sanitation issues, met Dr. Jhabvala for the first time, followed up with the water filter project at the Valentin Gomez Farias Elementary School in Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla, checked up on the status of the rainwater harvesting project in the Bravo Ahuja neighborhood of Oaxaca City and attended the 31st Water Forum of Oaxaca. The following covers these highlights in more detail.

State of Oaxaca Contract
Water for Humans participated in a number of meetings with the Secretary of Finance of Oaxaca. In attendance were Secretary of Finance Gerardo Cajiga, Water for Humans, Instituto de la Naturaleza y la Sociedad de Oaxaca (INSO), Natural Systems International (NSI), Universidad Autonoma Benito Juarez de Oaxaca (UABJO), CONAGUA (federal water commission), CEA (state water commission) and ADOSAPACO (municipal water department). We met with this group for two full days. The first day we discussed the state of water in the central valley and how rainwater harvesting could help. The second day focused on wastewater treatment and irrigation. From these meetings, we came up with a four part proposal to be completed over the next six months to advise the secretary on water and sanitation issues. Within six months (if approved), WFH, NSI and INSO will deliver to the secretary:

• A vision and strategy for water and sanitation for the State of Oaxaca
• A diagnosis (with CEA) of the failed wastewater treatment plants in the State
• Guidelines for evaluating future water and sanitation projects in the state for funding
• Recommended Technology Transfer projects to demonstrate solutions

In addition, Mr. Cajiga briefly spoke with us about making INSO & WFH his "think tank" on water and sanitation issues. We were hoping to have a signed agreement prior to leaving Oaxaca, however, that did not happen. We are now finalizing the four-part proposal with detailed statements of work for each deliverable and hope to have a signed agreement soon.

Per the direction of Mr Cajiga, we spent one day touring several wastewater treatment plants in the central valley. First was a meeting with the municipality head of Etla. Upon our arrival at Etla, the mayor would not receive us, so we went to the old treatment system at the dumpsite to see if they were still trying to rehab it. Shortly after we arrived, the municipality head and his staff joined us. We think this was only because they had received a call from Mr. Cajiga's office. They were very open and listened to our potential plan. We stressed that we have many options available to us to build our pilot plant and one of the selection criteria will be how well the citizens and politics are that govern the site. As you may know, Etla and Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla do not see eye to eye on many issues. We stated very clearly that we would be watching to see if this relationship improves, such that the needs of SDBBE are met by the municipality. We trust our counterparts in SDBBE to give us a truthful assessment to help us make any decisions about moving forward with a treatment plant in SDBBE. Next, we went to Tlacolula to visit their plant. As you may know, Tressie and a group from Engineers without Borders proposed a natural system addition to this plant three to four years ago, but dropped the project due to political issues. We had hoped to tour one more site, but we did not have enough time (as we got lost trying to find the entrance to the Tlacolula plant).

Dr. Firdaus Jhabvala (Natural Systems International)
After talking to and emailing Dr.Jhabvala (with NSI) for over eighteen months, we finally met him in person. The summer of 2010, we hired him to travel to Oaxaca to visit INSO and the wastewater treatment system at Santa Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla (SDBBE). We have been working closely with him since then. He joined us for our first week in Oaxaca and attended the state government meetings with us. Dr. J (as we affectionately refer to him) lived in Oaxaca many years ago, soon after completing his Ph.D. in economics, and taught at a local university. Two of his former students participated in the meetings. He has been instrumental in the contract negotiations and will also be instrumental in fulfilling our six month proposed contract obligations.

Water Forum
We also attended INSO's 31st Water Forum on Friday, October 14th. Finance Minister Cajiga opened the Forum and launched INSO's plan: A Common Plan for the Common Good. Juan Jose Consejo, the Executive Director of INSO, gave the keynote address in which he explained the details of the plan. It looks at the technical, social and environmental components of all potential water and sanitation projects to determine which ones to pursue. This program is a yearlong effort in which the government has funded 20% of the program cost. The project will align with our proposed strategy and give us enhanced input to the plan. One of the presentations was by Inez Barroso on the Bravo Ahuja Rain Harvesting Project. Maria Soledad Diaz Gonzalez, the former head of Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla, also attended. We spoke to her after the forum to get her opinion of what was going on with Villa de Etla with regards to the wastewater treatment plant. That will help us decide how well Etla is doing on the social (and political) front when we decide whether or not to put the initial constructed wetland (technology transfer demonstration project) there.

Water Filter
On Monday, October 17th, we attended the Antequera Rotary Club meeting to bring them up to date on the water filter project at the Valentin Gomez Farias Elementary School in SDBBE. The club was very excited about our work in Oaxaca in general and about the water filter project in particular. They said that we could bring receipts for work on the project to them and they would reimburse us. It is good to know that we can go over our $500 grant (from the Bremerton Rotary Club), if we need to, and still complete the project. They also offered to help find the right water testing company, if needed.

We visited the school on Thursday, the 20th. There, we met the school principal and the parental committee that is overseeing the school's transition to filtered municipal drinking water. At the school, we discovered that the lavatory water that will be filtered to drinking water quality includes surface water during the rainy season. The water goes from municipal water pipes to an underground cistern. From there it is pumped to a water tank on the roof of the lavatory and then to the lavatory faucets. During the rainy season, rainwater from the surface finds its way into the cistern, introducing unknown contaminants into the system. Because of this the installation will be more complex than originally planned. We will have to install a separate storage tank (200 liters) and booster pump to provide the needed water pressure. We are now pricing out a solution that filters piped water only to drinking water quality.

We have been in contact with Industrial Mass in Mexico City to purchase the water filter. We are getting advice from them, as well as our Board Member, James Fox.

Rainwater Harvesting
On Wednesday, October 19th, we met with Mrs. Inez Avelina Barroso and the residential committee at Bravo Ahuja to visit the rainwater harvesting project that we are financially supporting. Mrs. Barroso is the community activist who initiated this project. Joining Nelly, Stan and Rick was Alejandra, who is heading up this project from INSO. These ladies have taken on this project so that their homes can have water year round. They have been trying to conserve and harvest rainwater using makeshift techniques and have managed to have water now when their neighbors do not. Working with INSO, they have big plans to build a 20,000 liter underground cistern (for each home) to provide them with lots of water between rainy seasons. They hope to have enough water to provide their neighbors with some water when they run out.

Thank you!
Your support keeps Water for Humans moving forward.

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From Oaxaca - October 11th

We made it to Oaxaca Monday evening October 10th.  We left Seattle on Sunday, the 9th, and spent the night in Houston with Dr. Firdaus Jhabvala (Natural Systems International) and his wife, Josefina.  The next day, Monday, we all went to Mexico City, and ate a late lunch at the airport.  Firdaus (Dr. J) and Josefina left the airport and spent the night in Mexico City, so that they could renew Josefina’s visa on Tuesday.  Rick and Stan left the airport and continued on the final leg of their trip to Oaxaca.  Nelly met us at the airport and took us to the hotel.  This is a government provided hotel which is, by far, more luxurious then the accommodations we are used to.

From Bard College

Tuesday morning we ate at one of our usual breakfast locations, stopped to buy fruit from our usual fruit vendor (it was good to see her again) and proceeded to INSO.  There, we met the INSO staff as they arrived for work, along with a visiting professor and two students from Bard College in New York.  Nelly told us the night before that the plan was to visit Erik Torres (chemistry professor) at 10 AM at the university (UABJO-Universidad Autonoma Benito Juarez de Oaxaca) and then visit with government officials at 5:30 in the afternoon.  The government was sending a car to take us to the afternoon meeting.  By Tuesday morning, things had changed.  There was a disturbance at the university (strike) and the government meeting was changed to 1 o’clock.  So, Erik came to us and the car picked us up at noon.

Erik from UABJO

When Juan Jose came in we met with him to discuss the planned meetings, our respective roles in them and potential talking points to bring up.  After strategizing with him for about an hour, Erik showed up and we spent time with him.  Erik brought us up to date on his end. He showed us some new data from Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla water samples collected and analyzed by his students.  He has a much closer working relationship with Carlos (at INSO) on the Water Forum.  The UABJO constructed wetland is in good working order and he is trying to reduce its gas emissions to minimize the future fire potential.  Work with Etla is as challenging as ever.  They asked him to recommend a plan to move forward and then refused to sign, cooperate or comment on his proposal.  He has also developed a comprehensive manual for a potential certified lab.  He has been very busy on several fronts.

Our first meeting with Secretary Cajiga

A van picked us up at INSO at noon and took us to the state office buildings about thirty km away.  Besides Mr. Cajiga, the Secretary of Finance, there were representatives from CONAQUA (federal water commission), CEA (state water commission), ADOSAPACO (municipal water department), INSO and WFH.  The discussion centered around rainwater harvesting.  Juan Jose gave a lengthy presentation, which was followed by a discussion of ways to implement rainwater harvesting pilot projects. There was a lot of interest at all levels for trying new ways of obtaining water and most seemed to have an open mind about doing something. However, no concrete plans were made to do anything.  Tomorrow the topic of discussion will be sanitation.

We returned to INSO, ate a late lunch and worked with Nelly to prepare a PowerPoint introduction to and handouts about Water for Humans for tomorrow.  We then ate dinner with Mara (professor from Bard College) and went back to the hotel.  There, we ran into Firdaus and Josephina in the lobby where we spent about ninety minutes bringing each other up to date on our experiences that day and planning for tomorrow.  We went to bed about 11PM to be ready for another long day in the morning.

Upcoming Trip to Oaxaca Mexico

Upcoming Mexico Trip
Finally, after more than nine months, we have had a major breakthrough with the state government.

Water for Humans (WFH) will be traveling to Oaxaca to meet with Senor Cajiga, the Oaxaca State Finance Minister, on Oct 10th. The minister has agreed to meet with us (paying our travel) to discuss working on a strategy for water and sanitation, first for the central valley and hopefully for the entire state. This work will be divided between WFH and our partner NGO: Instituto de la Naturaleza y la Sociedad de Oaxaca INSO. WFH will be bringing Dr. Firdaus Jhabvala (from Natural Systems International/Biohabitats) to help with contracting and municipal sanitation.

Our goals for the finance minister are to do the following:

• Secure a contract to develop a strategy for water and sanitation projects.
• Secure commitments/funding for pilot projects.

We will be in Oaxaca for two weeks working with the Senor Cajiga and following up on our other projects: school water filer and rain catchment.

Joint working agreement with UABJO Oaxaca

I am pleased to announce a new joint working agreement with Instituto de la Naturaleza y la Sociedad de Oaxaca (INSO) Water for Humans and Universidad Autonoma Benito Juarez de Oaxaca (UABJO).  Professor Erik  Martinez Torres of the Chemical Engineering Department will formally join our efforts to help educate the community and government on the need and technology for natural waste-water treatment.  Erik's laboratory will be more involved with our ongoing water analysis of both drinking water and black-water.

We look forward to working more closely with UABJO as our plans for the design and construction of a natural waste-water treatment plant in Villa De Etla, and Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla.

Wednesday- Firday update

Link fixed to our water testing You Tube.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A day of meetings first with Juan Jose of INSO.  He gave us a crash course in Oaxacan politics 101.  It was an intense time but helpful for understanding how and where we need to go from here. The second was with Erik Martinez Torres from UABJO in which he gave us some preliminary results of the water-testing.  The third was a lunch meeting with Kaki Kamman and Augustin of ProMexico, a volunteer organization which plugs Americans into various work projects and seeks out opportunities for indigenous women to sell products. 

We had dinner at a place around the corner from Rosalinda’s and invited Francine (from Nova Scotia via New Westminster B.C.) to accompany us.  She gave us the lowdown on how well the Canadian health care system works compared with that of the US. We then walked home to bed.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

We spent the morning at the “office.”  Yesterday and today we were “lucky” to get “fresh” mango from the local fruit lady.  Tonight we meet with the town council of elders from Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla to ask their ideas for Operations and Maintenance of whatever sewage treatment plant is built, and to let them know that we (WFH) and INSO are here to help them navigate the political landscape.  We have a unique opportunity to implement a project from grassroots (bottom up) support.  One of our near term goals is to formally engage State and Federal agencies such that this example can be shown to work in situations where the local municipal politics are in-effective at moving things forward.

The Council of Elders Meeting

The meeting with the town elders was very encouraging.  There were 9 members present.  The discussion covered many aspects off of implementing a solution to the defunct treatment plant.  After listening to them we focused on how to provide ongoing operations and maintenance (O&M).  This is one of many aspects that have to be considered as part of the package, whatever plan is adopted.
Maria started the meeting by doing a great introduction of WFH, how we “landed in Santo Domingo,” and the ongoing communications we have had over the past few months.

The council is hungry for an answer to the defunct treatment plant. For some background of how things normally work down here, when a city has an idea or requirement for a treatment system, a long line of consultants and engineering firms come and “sell” there product as it will solve all their problems.  From what we can determine these are just “sales pitches” in that the proposals do not appear to be designed for the specific community.  The proposals do not have the proper background engineering data to design a solution or determine the proper technology.  Given this, in the beginning of the meeting the council wanted to “see” our proposal (technology, schedule and cost).  We stressed that in order to define a scope of work the proper background engineering must be completed, as without good effluent data (volume, chemical makeup and nominal and peak flow) one can’t properly design a system that will work.  We stressed that with Maria’s help we now have a site survey (topographic map). We have just completed a 5-day water testing process in which we hope to have the results of the 5 basic chemical properties needed to define the effluent. In addition we need to better understand the nominal and peak flow of the effluent. Once the council members understood this, they were excited to know that whatever we propose as a technology solution will actually work!  They also stressed they did not want to “be an experiment,” i.e. they want a solution that has a track record of working.

The meeting then changed focus to discuss the difficult task of both stressing the importance of O&M and how it can be implemented.  Everyone agreed that a solution for the O&M is a key part of any solution, as they have seen (way too many times) that systems get built, break, and stop functioning due to the lack of O&M.  We discussed ways to generate revenue including: taxing municipal water used, “selling” the system output water, Hydroponics, Aquaculture, and “humanure” as compost.  Everyone was impressed that we followed through and are committed to helping Santo Domingo come up with a sustainable solution to this issue.  From this meeting Maria will be setting up a follow-up meeting with and some Etla Government officials early next week to introduce ourselves and our project ideas.  The meeting ended around 10 pm. In the local style, the elders formally invited us to a breakfast and to peruse the weekly Sunday market day in Santo Domingo.   Nelly drove us back to Rosalinda’s in a torrential downpour.

February 5, 2010, Friday
We met together to debrief after the meeting last night and came up with some strategies to come along side the community to support them in this project.  We met with Carlos Placencia to get organized for the Oaxaca Water Forum that Stan, Rick, and Nelly will present the project at next Friday.  The forum is a collaboration between Federal, State and local agencies along with communities in the state of Oaxaca.  This is a place of great exchange of ideas and information.  There will also be a guided tour of the Botanical Garden.  The forum has continued even with many changes in administrative governments and gives everyone a voice.   After a quick lunch we inte3rviewed a potential Civil Engineer who is interested in our project.





Finally, it is the WEEKEND and Saturday is a full day off :)

January 29-31, 2010

January 29, 2010 –Friday
Our fourth collection day.  Today’s collection will be a morning one.  I finished translating some copies of letters, Maria had given us.  Now, I have to make sense of them.

We stopped briefly at INSO and left to make our way to Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo, Etla.  We collected the samples by 11:30 and made our way to the taxi stand in Etla.  We must be famous as one of the drivers recognized Rick and greeted him warmly.   You would have thought they were long-lost cousins! However, they weren’t family enough for him to want to drive us back to Oaxaca.  Another one was happy to accommodate us for 33 pesos.  Our taxi rides cost us anywhere between 55 and 35 pesos, depending on the number of passengers and the driver.  We always ask and bargen with the drivers before piling in to any taxi. We arrived at UABJO early in the afternoon and dropped off the samples in exchange for our last set of collection bottles. The collection process only takes about 30 minutes, however the entire process (door to door) takes about 3-4 hours with 3 buses, 2 taxis, and one Took-took ride.

Friday night we dined at La Biznaga along with quite a few Americans.  We decided to look for a new place that Americans don’t frequent.

January 30, 2010-Saturday

Our 5th and final collection day.  Please see our You-Tube video of the collection process. We were up bright and early at 6 am and left at 7.  We walked to the Mango Lady and arrived just as she did.  Rick and I (Susan) got fruit and then hustled to the bus in the rain.  The usual transportation process took about half the usual time with very little traffic on a wet early Saturday morning. The bus was almost empty.  We all got on and went to the back.  The driver zoomed down the street at a pretty fast clip.  Rick and I were in the very back and suddenly found ourselves airborne as we hit a bump.  Just as suddenly, we hit the seat hard!  Now thoroughly awake, we got off and walked under every raindrop to catch a taxi to the dump between Etla and Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo, Etla (I say this in Spanish to the driver).  We got in the taxi with 2 people already in it (we were really packed) and rode to Etla.  The driver dropped the other 2 off and took us to the dump.

Rick and Stan started dressing and setting up the equipment when Maria Soledad Gonzalez (the Municipal Administrator of Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo) walked through the gate and greeted us.  She was very excited when she saw us collecting water samples and commented about the rain mixing with the effluent.  We clarified our meeting date and time with the town council for Thursday at 8:00 pm this coming week. We finished collecting the samples, cleaned up, packed up and said good bye. We caught our last Took-took for this trip to the town center of Etla.  At this point, we were still an hour early.  We got a cab back to the second-class bus station in Oaxaca and bussed to UABJO.  On arriving, Erik was not in the lab but in another part of the campus.  He was not expecting us at 10.  One of his students took the samples and started analyzing them.  We left the university exhausted but feeling great to be done.

Saturday afternoon after showering and a siesta, we walked down to the big super Mercado in search of 100-peso Levis for Rick.  We walked a very long way in the rain in vain. We found refuge from the deluge in the large market for an hour.  The three of us walked back to the pension for a marvelous discussion with Sheila from CT and Francine from Nova Scotia now living in New Westminster, Canada.


January 31, 2010-Sunday
I (Susan) went to church and came back to find Rick and Stan “computering”.   We went to lunch at a tiny place with great food and slow service.   Rick went back to Rosalinda’s for another siesta.  Stan and I went to the museum connected to Santo Domingo Church in Oaxaca.  What a place!  It used to be a monastery.  One could easily spend several days there.  My understanding of and appreciation for the history and culture of the indigenous people of Oaxaca deepened after touring this magnificent museum.

February 1, 2010 Monday
Monday was a holiday in Mexico so INSO was closed for the day.  I (Rick) continued to do lots of resting and I think I have finally kicked my cold that has been hanging around since the first part of December!  It was truly a day off for all of us. We just hung out and did a very little work and lots of resting.  This coming week will be more “normal” in that we are arranging meetings, researching, and translating documents and presentations.  The weather is still cool with some scattered cloud we will probably have a thunder storm this afternoon-evening.

The Black Water Cowboys in action

Over the past week we have been collecting black water samples from the defunct sewage treatment plant at Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo in Oaxaca MX for a taste of the action please see our You Tube video

The water sampling process only took about 30 minutes.  However, getting to and from the site and the University UABJO and back home took about 3-4 hours total.  Look for a good story about our adventures to be posted soon.

Monday, January 25, 2010
We had breakfast and spent the morning at the “office.”  We talked briefly with Nelly about the rest of the day.  Rick talked also with Juan Jose about Friday’s meeting with Maria.  We may possibly set up a “Creativity Session” to come up with some proposals on the Big Question “how to provide Operations & Maintenance for the treatment system.”  We have some ideas but we need to local perspective to find a workable solution.  Late in the afternoon we met with Eirk Martinez (UABJO) to discuss how to complete the first round of water testing.  We were then invited to “sit-in” on his final class where his students presented their results of monitoring six treatment plants in the greater Oaxaca valley. 

Tuesday January 27, 2010
We had to get up early since class started at 8am.  We listened to the six presentations, and Nelly gave us a running overview (in English). I am amazed at her ability to do this, and I am getting better at understanding written text :).  Throughout the morning (until about 11 AM), Erik continuously stressed the advantages of aerobic systems over anaerobic.  We concluded that there are lots of opportunities to improve the systems and monitoring.  On the down side, only one treatment plant was functioning at a nearly acceptable level. 

We then acquired all the things we needed to take the black water samples at Santo Domingo.  This included:  5L bleach water (to clean up with) rubber boots, gloves, and sample bottles.  We arrived at Santo Domingo at about 12:30 (we will post a UTube in a few days showing the collection process so look for the link in a future post).  The collections went off without a hitch, and only took about 30 minutes to complete.

 To get back to the main road (to get a cab back to Oaxaca) we took separate Took-Tooks, and ended up in different places.  Thanks to cell phones we reunited and found a cab back to the city. We then took the bus to UABJO to deliver the samples. 
By then it was close to 3pm and WAY PAST OUR LUNCH TIME!  We stumbled out of the lab and had a quick lunch near UABJO.  A short bus ride back home and we all took a much too short siesta before our meeting at 5pm with Jorge (Maria’s technical advisor). I was not feeling well, so I kept sleeping while Stan and Susan met Jorge at “The Hub”. Because of my (Rick) sinus infection, I stayed in bed and tried to sleep it off.

The HUB turned out to be a good place to host the meeting with Jorge.  He gave a PowerPoint presentation of a proposal he made to Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla of an anaerobic waste-water treatment system to solve their wastewater problems. He did not address the issue of the burned garbage but said they were separate issues.  We talked at length about maintenance, costs, life-span, sources of revenue, aerobic versus anaerobic systems and a myriad of other issues for two hours until Megan, our translator, called time.  It was a very informative meeting and provided much food for thought.  We walked Nelly home and went home ourselves.

ProMexico Volunteer

We are pleased to announce that Eric Marhofer and his wife will be in Oaxaca for the next month or so improving their Spanish and volunteering for ProMexico. Eric will be supporting our efforts to keep our wetland project moving forward. He will be working closely with our partner NGO INSO, the University UABJO and both communities. We welcome his Environmental Engineering experience and the opportunity to work directly with ProMexico.

UABJO Wetland Visit

Today was another big meeting day as we had arranged for Maria (Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla), Justino (Guadalupe Etla) and INSO to meet at the University (UABJO) to have Erik, Director of the Chemistry Department, give a tour of their wetland and explain in great detail how it works, how much it costs, and why the site in Santo Domingo would make a great location for this technology.
The meeting started at 11am and we finally ended about 2:30pm. We started off by taking a tour of the wetland. Maria and Justino kept saying “Wow I don’t believe what I am seeing and not smelling!!!” This walk-through was worth a million words and pictures. Before seeing the site they were both somewhat skeptical about the idea, and Carlos and Nelly (INSO) both commented that this is truly amazing! Erik then went through excerpts of several PowerPoint presentations to further explain the system, maintenance and costs. Then the discussion turned into a “design meeting,” with both Justino and Maria asking how a project like this could be implemented in their community. Erik was outstanding in explaining the collaborative process that would be used with UABJO (including many departments, and students). This would include technical expertise and direct student project education. Maria and Justino agreed that they could come up with (hopefully) ½ of the budget and much of the physical labor needs, depending on how much the federal and state governments are able to supply. To reinforce their commitment, Justino has already met with his community advisory council to discuss the project and they are fully supportive.

We left the meeting exhausted, and energized at the same time, and grabbed a cab to the Zocalo for a late lunch to celebrate another successful collaborative meeting. The rainclouds finally and our stroll home turned into a jog.

Meeting with Guadalupe Etla & Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla

Meeting with: Presidente Municipal, Guadalupe Etla

Antonio from UABJO picked us up in the huge University van (Erik was tied up in a meeting and could not attend) to drive us to our first meeting with C.P. Justino Matadmas Jimenez, the Presidente Municipal of Guadalupe Etla. Antonio guided the van as skillfully as a VW bug through the Oaxaca traffic to Guadalupe Etla, about 15 Km North West of Oaxaca City.
Arriving early for our 6pm meeting, we hung out in the plaza where the rides from the weekend’s fiesta were being dismantled. The officials of these smaller municipalities typically work some kind of day job and then do civic duties after hours.











When Justino arrived he instantly got down to business. Claire introduced us and Antonio to Justino and then it was like we were off to the races. We were excited to hear that Justino had received our letters, read them, and was ready to jump right in, discussing both problems and potential solutions. Claire started the discussion by filling Justino in on the conservation we had with Maria from Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla, and her primary concern of the black water (raw sewage) contamination. Then Antonio went into great detail about how a wetland treatment system could work in Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla, and how it would help resolve one of the major issues Guadalupe Etla currently suffers from. Antonio and Justino proceeded to talk for an hour and a half with Claire filling in the gaps; but for the most part, we let the discussion go where it needed to.

Justino was excited to hear about INSO and the work Juan Jose is doing to improve the social and environmental health of the greater Oaxaca Valley. Then, he joked to Antonio about “wow you folks at the University actually do something worthwhile.” Justino’s main concern centered around the potential maintenance costs of the wetland; Antonio tried his best to state that there is very little ongoing maintenance involved. It was also interesting to hear Justino bring up the idea of water filters as a way to generate funds to support the wetland maintenance. It seems like a major part of our job here right now is to introduce folks and get them talking.
Guadalupe Etla has many ongoing civic programs including a semi-annual trash cleanup, a recycling program, and a school environmental education program. This Municipality is quite different from Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla in that the entire town is supplied by a community water system. Almost everyone has flush toilets with individual septic systems. At one time there was a community drinking-water well, which has since become contaminated with iron and manganese. Like Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla, Guadalupe Etla uses 5-gallon water jugs for potable water, delivered a few times a week.


We left the meeting after several hours with Justino fully onboard and ready to join our efforts to move forward with potential wetland project. Juan Jose of INSO told us early on that we must be very slow, and talk around ideas and plans with the community members. However, we have found everyone has wanted to jump right in and seems ready to go on to the next stage.
Antonio guided the huge van back to the Centro (the city center) and drove around while pointing out many unique sites and telling us a history of Oaxaca. We were all amazed at his ability to guide the van through the small streets that are jammed with cars, busses, and trucks. He recommended a great restaurant for us to have a late dinner at. We took him up on his recommendation and he was right. It was great.


Meeting with: Agente Municipal, Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla

Our second meeting with Maria Soledad Diaz Gonzalez with Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla (21 July) started by having a misunderstanding on the meeting time, and when we arrived with Erik and Antonio, Maria thought the meeting was set for 3 pm and we showed up at 5 pm. Without Maria we showed Erik and Antonio the black water issue, the old dump and the potential wetland site. They were excited to see the topography as it is nearly flat with a slight slope (read good drainage and water flow). We arranged with Maria to meet her the day after we met with Justino.

The meeting with Erik and Maria was much like the meeting with Justino in that Erik and Maria talked for almost 2 hours straight and we only got a few words in edgewise. After the meeting Maria took us to a corn field that is using the output from the composting lue’s that INSO is helping build. The corn was over our heads while the section next to it was only a few feet tall! We then went to look at another challenging site where the main river comes in from across the main highway to Mexico City. There is a small catch basin with a spillway. The catch basin was totally polluted with black water and trash. This is definitely a potential future project.


Looking forward:
This coming week we have three important meetings on our plate. First, is with a local Rotary club on Tuesday night (9pm). Wednesday Maria and Justino will be coming to the university to see their wetland project and learn firsthand about it. Then, on Friday we have a very important meeting with INSO’s sanitation working group. This meeting will include state, and local government officials, INSO’s technical sanitation team, the University, Maria and Justino. Our hope for this meeting is again get these folks talking and on the same page, and if we are lucky come away with a potential scope for a project.