Rural Water - Quarter 4, 2008 - (Page 32)

AQUA CHOCOLATE NO MAS Water Treatment in Honduras BY FRED STOTTLEMYER, INTERNATIONAL RURAL WATER ASSOCIATION WHEN INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT Rider Lupe Aragon and IRWA volunteer Fred Stottlemyer visited the small mountain town of Marcala Honduras in 1997, the town’s mayor, holding up a bottle of chocolate colored water, asked, “Can I clean up this water with filtration?” After examining the water, Lupe and Fred advised the Mayor that they felt it was going to be necessary to use chemical coagulation prior to filtration. This initial visit occurred prior to Hurricane Mitch ravaging the country, and it was over a year before Lupe and Fred had the opportunity to return to Marcala. On their second visit, they were surprised to ﬁ nd that with the advice of Honduras engineers and the support of a North American development group, the town had proceeded with construction of an up-ﬂow ﬁ ltration plant. The new plant was now in ruins after the walls had collapsed, apparently during the backwash process when the tanks had to be ﬁ lled to the brim. On a visit a year later, the IRWA team found that the ﬁ lters had been rebuilt but were no longer in use due to the fact that they were not effective in reducing the high turbidity levels of the Chiﬂador river source water. The people continued to draw the chocolate water from their water taps and had apparently given up on ever having clean water. 32 • Fourth Quarter 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Water - Quarter 4, 2008

Rural Water - Quarter 4, 2008
Contents
From the President
Rural Water: Where are We Headed?
The Future of Water in America
Bank Collateral Controls in Nervous Times
Bottle of Water or Billion Dollar Bully?
Aqua Chocolate No Mas
Why Even Small Water Systems Should Have Personnel Policy Manuals
Safe Drinking Water
Regulatory Update
2008 NRWA Industry Event
Throwing My Loop
Advertisers.com
Index to Advertisers
From the CEO

Rural Water - Quarter 4, 2008