July 2021 Project Status Update: Planning and Detailed Data Collection
With more than half of 2021 under the belt, Vera Aqua Vera Vita (VAVV) has some exciting developments to report on the two communities in Piura where Water and Sanitation Hygiene (W.A.S.H.) planning and engineering commenced in June!
Throughout the month of July, VAVV has been coordinating with and contracting consultants to help with the preliminary solution plan for both Cerro de Leones and La Mercedes KM11 and has made significant progress! Gradually growing in its ties to the community VAVV is able to leverage the relationships it has built to build up these two communities in dire need.
Take, for example, Gabriel Panta, a licensed engineer in Peru - he was originally hired by the Piura Regional Government for just 45 days to help VAVV in commencing preliminary community assessments, but he has since chosen to stay onboard as a volunteer and is now doing research and field visits to the communities that will be absolutely crucial to the engineering plans!
Panta also serves on the planning and engineering team alongside six other dedicated engineers and volunteers. The team meets every week in order to continue developing and engineering a solution plan and for the different aspects of the problem.
At the end of each month, one of the seven on the team, Richardo Arbulu, prepares a project status report on community specific progress for both Cerro de Leones and Las Mercedes KM11, and even in these first couple months of engineering the two communities are already in different stages of progress.
In order to determine what the best W.A.S.H. solution would be for Cerro de Leones, a geophysical assessment will be needed; geophysical assessments are used to better understand soil and subsurface conditions under the ground in a specific area. After having received several quotes and evaluating multiple prospective consultants, VAVV has signed a contract with Remicio & Gutierrez Hydrogeologic on Aug. 2 and results are expected around Aug. 24th. This geophysical assessment is crucial to determining if groundwater is a viable solution for this community.
On the other hand, Las Mercedes KM11 is already ahead of the curve! Ground water has already been ruled out as a viable source water to address the community’s water crisis, so the wate source will be a nearby irrigation canal. The next step is to contract a Topographic consultant to conduct research on the surface of the land, including ground elevations from which an infrastructure design plan can be successfully developed. The hope is begin topographic survey work within the next couple of weeks.
On July 22nd, members of the VAVV team (virtually) attended a meeting consisting of community leaders of Las Mercedes KM11 in which the leaders provided feedback on a few proposed locations for the community’s water solutions and infrastructre. Since then, VAVV has finalize a preliminary infrastructure layout plan and acquired three quotes for Topographic work needed, and intends to get two more before making a slection.
Even though they are in different stages of development, there’s been very positive progress for both Cerro de Leones and Las Mercedes KM11, and VAVV looks excitedly into August in hopes of even more progress than the month before!
To learn more information about these two communities, read the July Project Status Reports for Cerro de Leones and Las Mercedes KM11.
