Spring protections and project research in Curahuasi

I’ve just come back from a week in nearby Curahuasi, where I’ve really enjoyed seeing Bruce and Cherith Rydbeck again. They have worked in community development for about 35 years, and Bruce is a Civil Engineer who does water projects. I know them from my work in Ecuador, where they now work with a charity called Kawsaypak Yaku (Lifegiving Water). They brought a team from Calvin College in the USA to work with the local government on improvements to the water system in Curahuasi.

 
So it was great to meet Bruce and Cherith again, benefit from their wide experience, meet the team they brought, and join in some of the work they were doing.  For the first few days I stayed at the Diospi Suyana (we trust in God) missionary hospital in Curahuasi, and it was lovely to learn a bit more about their work.

Curahuasi has to ration its water, with different areas of the town getting water from as little as an hour a day. We were investigating ways to improve this quantity issue, as well as looking at possibilities for better chlorine dosing systems for water quality. A lot of what we did was survey work, as the group will continue to research and develop options when they’re back in the USA. I really enjoyed the practical outside work, and the detective work involved in figuring out ways to get the data we needed from minimal equipment and no drawings!  It turned out that I could do a lot to help - particularly as one of the professors was ill on the first day.

Students checking water depth. I wouldn't let them go inside to get a sample...

Meeting at the local government office to explain our work

I don't remember many sites with such a view in the UK!

Crossing over a river ravine - they've had to divert the river to a
more central channel to stop the supports being undercut.

I stayed on a couple of extra days to help finish up the protection of one of their springs, which they had been working on for the last couple of weeks. Again, it was great to be back in that practical environment, remembering old methods and learning new ones.

Driving up towards the spring (the first time, before we went
back for the forgotten bags of cement.

Lunch by the roadside - the spring is about 5 minutes' plunge
down the hill (up was rather more challenging).

Last week they covered over the spring area to protect it, and
modified the existing collector tank.  Today we were
connecting up the new pipework for the increased flows.

 

The plastic pipe being softened in order to bend it slightly:

 

I’ll be talking with AIDIA, with the Curahuasi local government, and with Bruce about how I, or the rest of the AIDIA team, might be able to carry on involvement with this project in the future.

And for a little treat - here's what we were watching while the pipework got loaded onto the truck: