Today, we had the opportunity to go with two members of Cantaro Azul, Antonio and Alonso, to visit some of the communities that the NGO operates within. We visited a small community that is located around two hours away from San Cristobal. This is one of the closer areas that Cantaro works in, with many filtration units operating more than six hours away and requiring significant amounts of hiking to reach.

The ride was stunning. The mountains were gorgeous, with lush vegetation and fresh crisp air.

However, on the ride over to the site, we noticed that the roads leading to the site were in poor condition, leading to a bumpy ride. In some instances, this significantly slowed down the commute, but, more pertinent to our project, the continuous shaking could cause damage to the coils of our incubator. This is of particular concern as Cantaro has shown interest in using our design as a mobile incubator, requesting the ability to connect the device to a car by USB. We will be sure to test for this with the current prototype we are building for Cantaro.

The first location we visited was a home that had a standard Mesita Azul unit. The family told us that they used the unit twice a week and that before acquiring the unit their drinking water came directly from the tap. We asked to see the unit to take a water sample from the Mesita Azul and another from the tap. While it was fascinating to finally see the water disinfectant system in action, it was a little disappointing to see the device covered in dust, indicating a level of disuse. This was a reminder of the difficulty in the adoption of technologies, especially if the technology requires habits that are less convenient than previous methods. In addition, this stop helped dismiss any assumptions we had about our device being implemented in the average home with the Mesita Azul.

After that we visited a school that housed one of Cantaro Azul’s Kiosks. This larger water filtration unit acts as both a source of clean water for the school, and a center to distribute clean water for the community. As it is Mexico’s Mother’s Day, school was out, but a group of residents were cleaning the grounds. According to them, the Kiosk distributes over one hundred tanks of water to residents three times a week. There is a siren at the facility that sounds when community members can come to collect water.

Outside of the facility contained a pilot water recycling unit. The system would allow students to wash their hands with clean water. Afterwards, the soapy water would be filtered through a series of plants that separate out the particulates from the liquid. Then the water would be pumped to a tank at the top of the Kiosk that stores the unprocessed tap water using a bicycle. The idea behind this was that the cycle could act as a toy to encourage students to use the system. In addition, the system as a whole could be used as an educational tool for the school. However, despite the system being only six months old, the infrastructure had already fallen into disrepair. Many pipes were disconnected, the bicycle was missing, and the faucets at the handwashing station were dysfunctional. Once again, the project showed that community enthusiasm and participation are essential for the success of any effort to change the community.

The Kiosk itself is divided into two rooms. The first contains a sand filtration tank that draws water from a tank filled with tap water on the room of the facility. This part of the system runs continuously as the sand filter is slow to allow the water to pass through.

The water from the first room flows to the second, where a Mesita Azul Rey unit disinfects the filtered water. This unit uses two ultraviolet lights that allow forty liters to pass through every five minutes. In addition, the unit contains two additional membrane filters that further purify the water. A pump drives the entire system, which is powered by solar panels installed by Cantaro Azul to make the facility independent of the outside power grid. In here, residents can fill their tanks with clean water. The room also contains an area that allows residents to clean their tanks with pressurized chlorinated water.

With stable electricity, a large group population base using the system, and individuals responsible for testing the water, the kiosks are an ideal area for a potential implementation of our design. Most importantly, the kiosk come with a sense of community enthusiasm. While we were there, many residents came to ask Antonio questions about the maintenance of the kiosk, such as how to properly clean the sand filter, and they watched intently as he showed them the proper steps to preserve the kiosk. This showed, above all, that the people using the system cared about it, and I personally believe that that will make the greatest difference in the success of the project.

After our trip, we returned to the Cantaro Azul office, where we looked at the test we began yesterday. Our results showed a positive result, which we were expecting from the contaminated water. Unfortunately, the other test run with the same sample came out negative. This may have been because of differing sensitivities of the tests. For further testing, we began tests using the water samples gathered at the home using the Mesita Azul. Hopefully, the results seen tomorrow are consistent with expectations.

Today allowed us to check many of our assumptions regarding the ultimate use of our device, and I feel confident that the trip provided us with valuable knowledge that we can apply tomorrow with the continued manufacture of a new incubator.

-Scott