I got up before the rooster started its incessant cock-a-doodle-doo every 30 seconds. There had been a problem with the apartment’s gas and we had been showering in icy cold water for the past few days. The heat was supposed to get back on early in the morning today, and I was looking forward to finally enjoying a hot shower. But no, it turned out that the water was still icy 🙁

Today was going to be an important day for my project as we would be visiting two schools with Cantaro Azul’s rainwater harvesting system. I was looking forward to finally seeing the schools my team had thought so much about as we designed our prototypes, but at the same time I was filled with a lot of uncertainty and apprehension. I wasn’t sure what to expect. My objective of the trip was to get a better understanding of the systems, see how people in the schools interact with the systems, and maybe, just maybe, do a taste test as well. I was most worried about the taste test – I had come up with a protocol for the test and prepared the logistics, but given the Mothers’ Day celebrations that would be going on, we probably would not be able to conduct the taste test. True enough, we ended up unable to conduct the test.

However, seeing the actual rainwater harvesting systems did provide some insights into the feasibility of our prototypes, areas in which they could be further developed, and other ideas we could consider. I took down a lot of notes on the systems in the schools and how this new knowledge would affect our prototypes and future teams. It’s not mind-blowing news to most, but it struck me then how important on-site experience was to a design project. Throughout the semester, we had been emailing Sinead back-and-forth with our questions and asking for feedback, but there were some important facts that we just never even considered to ask. For example, it never occurred to us to ask whether the rainwater harvesting system was also used to purify normal tap water in the schools. We found that in the large school, this was the case; rainwater and tap water were sometimes mixed together in the storage tank. During dry seasons too, only tap water would flow through the system. This definitely affected our project, as the two waters had different hardness levels, and we wouldn’t want to mineralize tap water to the extent that the hardness level exceed the WHO safety standards. Furthermore, Pablo, who brought us to the schools, is the person who built all the rainwater harvesting systems in the schools. When he walked around the school, he honestly had a fan club following him. The children all recognized him, and would come up to say hello. I was really amazed with the personal connection he’s managed to form with the students in the schools.

I thought of other ideas that could be explored. Both teams had been working on using rocks and solids to mineralize the rainwater, but what if we had tried using liquid minerals instead? My team had reflected on our work at the end of the semester and thought that we could dissolve minerals inside water and then add it drop-wise to the rainwater. From the visit to the schools, I realized that this was a huge possibility. People had to rinse the garrafones with chlorinated water, and the chlorine taste would remain unless they rinsed it out afterwards. What if they rinsed it with a mineralized solution we prepared? I was excited to talk to my team about this.

Apart from the information I managed to gather regarding the system and our devices, I also learnt more about the efforts to address water issues in this region. In the large school that we visited, there had been 3 initiatives – Cantaro Azul’s rainwater harvesting system, Coca-Cola’s water fountains, and the Mexican government’s water fountains. Seeing these three initiatives in close proximity was very striking, and reflect a lot about the different ways to approach water issues in low-resource areas. The Mexican government’s water fountains had been neglected for years and was no longer functioning. We found out that it was because the government hadn’t sent anyone to maintain the system after it was implemented. As such, the filters no longer worked and children started getting sick from drinking the water. For Coca-Cola’s water fountains, they still worked, but similar to the Mexican government’s water fountains, they were not as well-maintained. The pumps were not able to spray the water high enough, and the children would have to go very close to the fountains to get their water, allowing for the spread of diseases if their lips touched the fountains. I was pleased to hear that Cantaro Azul’s water fountain (providing water from the rainwater harvesting system) was the more popular among the children. The water fountain was still working well. We initially crowded the water fountain and the children stared and watched us from afar. As we left, the children immediately ran up to the water fountains.

It’s easy to be critical of the government and Coca-Cola especially after being able to compare the three initiatives, but I suppose it’s more useful to think about why some initiatives turned out the way they did. For the government, a possible explanation is that their initiatives are targeted at various schools. As such, they have to come up with a system that is applicable to a wide range of situations, and this compromises on the systems’ effectiveness in individual contexts. Given the scale of the projects too, it is difficult to constantly monitor the status of the systems and send in workers to maintain them as necessary. As for businesses, it’s all about branding and reputation. As Sinead put very astutely, Coca-Cola knows that they are harming the health of the children in Chiapas. Installing a water fountain in schools is just their way of having a clutch to defend themselves with against these (very justified and true) accusations.

Speaking of Coca-Cola, during our visit to the indigenous communities, we finally understood the extent of the attachment the people here have to the drink. Part of the religion requires the use of different colored candles and drinks. Before, they used different corns, but now with soft drinks readily available, they use the soft drinks instead. In this sense, Coca-Cola has successfully weaved itself into very fundamental tenets of the society, making Cantaro Azul’s challenge to encourage children to drink more safe water instead of sugared drinks even tougher. As we were driving around Los Altos, where the medium-sized school was, we saw huge trucks transporting Coca-Cola drinks into the community too. It’s truly remarkable how far-reaching and “omnipresent” multinational corporations may be. I know I’m being overly critical of these businesses, but I can’t help but feel a sense of loss when I think of how effective they could be if they were to use their influence for other meaningful purposes.

Over the next few days, I’ll be analyzing the samples of tap water, rainwater, and storage tank water I gathered in the schools today. I’ll also be working on a report that includes literature review on drinking deminineralized water, a proposal for a taste test protocol that Cantaro Azul can consider if they choose to conduct a taste test in the future, and write-ups on the two prototypes that the teams in my class came up with.

On a side note, we did our laundry yesterday after we realized we had seriously packed too little. How it works is that we pass our clothes to the staff in the laundry shop, and they’ll help us wash, dry, and fold the clothes. I had my misgivings about such a procedure because I didn’t know how these shops ensured that they returned to us everything that we passed them, but I went along anyway. After we collected our clean clothes, we separated them among ourselves, and found 3 pairs of socks that belonged to neither of us. I suppose that should’ve immediately sent off warning bells in my head, but I was still operating under “blind-faith” mode. Unfortunately, I soon discovered to my dismay that one of my socks was missing too. Not the pair, just a single sock. And it was my favorite pair of socks!!! We went back to the laundry shop this afternoon but they said they couldn’t do anything for me.

Dónde está mi otro calcetín??? RIP :'( 

-Su Chen