AguaClara and Agua
Para el Pueblo (APP), our implementation partner in Honduras, are working to
strengthen our network of treatment plants in Honduras. This past week, from
April 14-16, we hosted a workshop for the water board leaders and plant
operators from all of the communities with AguaClara plants. The workshop had
several objectives: review and standardize operation and maintenance
procedures, motivate capital improvements to outdated plants, strengthen water
quality monitoring and communication, invigorate the water board association
"Asociación Comunitaria de AguaClara en Honduras" (ACACH), and
promote collaboration with public health entities. APP organized and financed
the workshop, with contributions from Mexichem plastics suppliers and Solquin
chemical suppliers. Click here to see more pictures from the workshop.
As an iterative design
program, AguaClara is continually improving its water treatment technologies,
and every AguaClara plant includes new innovations. Consequently, every cohort
of plant operators has an experience particular to their plant. We want to empower
plant operators from different communities to share these experiences with each
other and with APP staff to collectively improve and standardize our operation
and maintenance procedures, ensuring all plants constructed since 2006 are
operating optimally. This workshop was a good first step, which already
generated a novel filter backwash technique, and we hope to use social media to
maintain communication between operators and water boards.
Another continuous
effort of APP and water board leaders is water quality monitoring, in which we
hope to coordinate with the ministry of health. Systematic monitoring is
mandated by Honduran law but is often poorly enforced and shared between the
service provider, government, and the public. Successful monitoring also helps
operators improve their practices, builds confidence in the water's safety,
justifies the water tariff, assists APP technicians identify problems, and is
crucial to Cornell researchers for technology improvement. AguaClara currently
supports two data reporting and publication platforms: a text message system
administered by Wash 4 All, and a pilot smartphone application "POST"
being developed by students at Cornell. These systems allow plant operators to
remotely report operation data that can be accessed by anyone with an internet
connection. Crucial to ensuring water quality, we also want to improve the
frequency of bacteriological analyses by making available CBT kits which can
estimate E. coli MPN in the field, and
asking support from public health technicians to collect and transport samples
to local laboratories.
To better coordinate
and sustain these activities, we are strengthening the AguaClara water
board association, "Asociación Comunitaria de AguaClara en Honduras"
(ACACH). As we build more plants in Honduras, the need for a coordinating
body which can sustain continuous technical support for the plants becomes more
and more critical. During the workshop, water board members reviewed the
statutes, objectives, and plans of the association, and re-elected its
executive board from among the local water board leaders. The association will
negotiate reduced group rates for chemicals used in the plants, one of their
principal expenses, and will meet again in May and June to continue defining
their objectives and expanding their capacity.
To keep up the
positive energy from the workshop, APP's Antonio Elvir will make follow-up
technical visits to all of the plants in the coming month. He will complete
pending maintenance, identify and review budgets for capital improvements that
can be made to outdated plants, collect water samples for analysis, and build
water board administrative capacity. This will be a key step to improving communication
between all players in the AguaClara program, from APP and local water boards
to the ministry of health and community members. Sustaining our water treatment
plants is a continuous challenge, and we are inspired by the enthusiasm we see
in our plant operators and water board leaders!