energy/pumping team meeting canceled 3/29/09

Hi everyone,

The energy/pumping meeting for this Thursday, March 26th is canceled (diverted is a better word).

Instead, please consider attending a field day on Sunday March 29th at 9am at Matthews Beach in Seattle. We will meet at the very central and easy to spot bathroom/lifeguard building. Population at the park should be low this weekend so I doubt you'd have trouble finding the group.

We are estimating that this event will last approximately 3-4 hours if one stayed for the duration. It should be interesting to look at practice rather than just theory of some of the things we have been discussing (but hopefully not TOO interesting!).

Matthews Beach Map link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=matthews+beach+seattle&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=auPKSfvBF5HItQPkm4W8Cg&t=h&z=14

I will lead a practice session of measuring stream flow rate and head (elevation change) of a slope. The water team will be testing water quality and evaluating soil types. There should be opportunity to observe and/or participate in all of these as we are trying not to overlap them.

Pardon the late notice on the cancellation of Thursday's meeting. My how time flies.

Thanks,
Erin

Team Meeting Minutes From 3/16/09

Ashley-Project Updates

• Updates available on the blog
• Documents now posted on EWB-PSP
  
• EWB-PSP is now streaming the blog as well

Amelia-Projects/Sustainability Meeting

• EWB-USA closing new program applications for chapters that already have programs
• Tanzania, Nicaragua, Susadel, and Ethiopia are all open programs for EWB-PSP
• Action Item: Amelia will post her project status production on the blog/EWB-PSP
• Action Item: Ashley needs to tell Will about the Agros staff involvement with the team in Nicaragua

Caroline-Health Assessment Update

• Summarized final documents for health assessment - posted on EWB-PSP
• Documents sent to Laurie and Mario (Nicaragua Agros Director)
• Action Item: Caroline to set a meeting time with the three travelers to discuss travel health forms, etc
• Action Item: Ashley to talk to Tanzania team about first aid kit
  

Lolly/Erich-Water Update

• Task and materials lists developing
• March 29 for soil/water quality testing
• Action Item: Lolly to talk to Carmen Cejudo about logo
• Action Item: Kari to check on a possibility of stream gauge testing and a letter from either EWB or a lab to bring back water samples from Nicaragua
• Action Item: Lolly/Erich/team to finish up materials and task lists and to post on blog
  

Erin-Energy/Pumping Update

• Task and materials lists developing
• Might coincide metering and hydro testing with soil and water quality testing
• Next energy/pumping meeting Thursday March 26th 7pm
• Action Item: Erin/team to finalize task and materials lists and post on blog.
  

Ashley - Travel items/fundraising

• Action Item: Ashley to make a list of travel items and post on the blog so everyone can comment and say what they might be willing to contribute to the team
• Fundraising is going to become a bigger part of our group when we get back from assessment- looking for someone to take this on...

Next Team Meeting: March 30, 2009

Nicaragua Team Meeting Agenda March 16, 2009

We will be meeting at a new location! We will be having our meeting at the Fremont Dock. It is located here: http://www.fremontdock.com/map.htm.
- there is a small parking lot and if that is full there should be street parking.

There is a lot to cover at this meeting, so I am hoping that we all come to the meeting prepared for concise, informative de-breifings.:) Looking forward to meeting with you all on Monday!

Agenda:

Ashley

• Project Status Update
• Blog/EWB-PSP website intertwining

Amelia -

• News from Projects/Sustainabilty meeting?
• Project layout graphic for present and future use
  

Caroline -

• Summary of final documents for health assessment.
  
• Sent to Laurie and Nicaraguan Agros staff.

Lolly/Erich -

• Report status of task and materials list
• Talk about soil/water testing date
  
• Next meeting?

Erin -

• Report status of task and materials list
• Talk about possible metering and hydro testing date
  
• Next meeting?

Ashley -

• Travel item list - do you have anything the travel team can borrow?
• Fundraising opportunities - Cameras (Erin), restaurant (Erin), liason for end of year EWB fundraiser, EWB-PSP Nicaragua Pub crawl?, etc. - keep the ideas coming!
• Next Meeting, last meeting before trip - all lists to be finalized. (March 30, 2009)
  

Answers to questions for Agros

Here are the answers we received for the questions that we sent to Laurie and Mario at the Seattle and Managua Agros offices respecitively:

PUMPING

1. What is the name of the Brazilian water pump that you were telling us about? We can't seem to track it down just by searching for it online; is there any way to get information on it?

The pump is an Ariete ZM, Brazilian technology.

2. Where was said pump installed? Was it in one of your villages? Which one? Do you have data on how it is working?

It’s installed and working well in San José. It is propelling the water a total distance of 2km (3.2 mi) from where it is installed in the river. It is also important to note that it is also being used to irrigate crops along its 2 km route.

IRRIGATION

3. Does Agros have any documents describing the farming techniques they promote?

There is an irrigation instruction manual that is accessible to the whole community but there isn’t a manual about agricultural techniques.

4. What acreage/square footage is intended for development of agriculture?

There is a capacity to irrigate 5 mz (8.6 acres), but this would be through drip irrigation.

5. Will this entire site require irrigation from EWB?

Yes.

6. What is the topography of the areas requiring irrigation? Benched? Sloped? Flat? Terraced? Steep?

The topography varies from 10 to 30% incline.

7. Is the crop rotation/harvest cycle known at this time? What is it?

At the moment we are using it to for Tabasco chili peppers in the community, and from December-April the land is used for growing different types of vegetables.

8. Does the village presently have flooding issues?

There are no flooding issues.

9. Is there any data on soil type?

The soil is clay loam.

10. How are the acres we are going to irrigate currently being used? What is the desire in the future- crop types, etc.?

Currently, the acres we hope to irrigate with help from EWB are only cultivatable during the rainy season. It sits unused the rest of the year (or just for corn and beans). With irrigation we hope to grow different vegetables such as tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers, cucumbers, squash, and others.

11. Also, do you know if anyone in Agros or a nearby university has rain gauges and data regarding rain fall for the area that El Eden is in?

Only INETER (Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales) or possibly the Mayor’s office in San Ramón has this information.

Documents Available on EWB-PSP Website!

The following documents are now posted on the EWB-PSP website in the Projects; Nicaragua area (http://www.ewb-pugetsound.org/?q=projects/nicaragua)

• 501 New Program Application (Approved)
  
• 507A&B Project Design Compendium (Site Assessment Pre-paperwork) (Approved)
  
• Health Assessment Final Document (Translated to Spanish by Juan Lara and sent to Laurie Werner of Agros to send down to the El Eden community)
  

Project Status Update 03-10-09

• Received travel approval letter from EWB-USA - all hoops are now cleared! - Travel team to depart April 16
• Received answers to questions about community from Laurie Werner and Mario at Agros
• Team leads working on perfecting task and material lists
• Health assessment being translated by Juan Lara - to be sent to Agros/El Eden in the next couple of days
• Great work team! We are really on our way!
  

Soil Website and Field Testing Schedule

Irrigation Team!

Here's the address of the soils testing site that I keep promising to send:
ftp://ftp.fao.org/FI/CDrom/FAO_Training/FAO_Training/General/x6706e/x6706e06.htm
The trick is to open the ftp.fao.org site and then click through the folders as shown in the address..the link does not appear to work directly.
Also you should have all received the excel file of site assessment tasks/tools. Cleary, this document is a work in progress, but I think it may help us work through the site assessment trip goals AND how we will reasonably achieve them. In addition, they can be used to add to the mind map created by Erin.
I will continue working on the doc, go ahead and make your edits as well, we can merge them all before next week's meeting. At that time we can presen the doc to the team and hammer out more/or less details as necessary. We don't want it to be wordy, but we want it to be clear.

How does Sunday March 29th suit everyone for a field testing date? 10:00 at Evans pool on Greenlake? It's a little farther down the road, but it seems the only time that most people are available. Kari, can you get a water kit before then?

Shoot me an email if you have any questions!
Lolly