After our initial meeting in which we got acquainted with Pastor Romaldo and the Consistory of the Getsemani congregation, we returned to our hotel in nearby Tecultan, ate supper and prepared for the next day. For some of our group, preparation was quiet time or bedtime. For others it was a competitive card game of Tic. Morning brought renewed energy and enthusiasm and, after breakfast, we boarded the van to return to the village of El Jute.
During our absence and over the course of the evening, the Consistory of Getsemani had decided that option [b] building an additional room onto the front of the church building, was their best choice. Having decided that, we sat down to work out all the details necessary for the installation, education, and operation of a water filtration system. The first order of business was to collect samples for immediate and laboratory testing. The day before, we had established that their water was from a reliable and high pressure source. Now that we needed to collect samples, however, the water had mysteriously stopped flowing.
How can you test water that won’t flow? With ingenuity, of course. One of the elders, who lived a few blocks from the church and received his water from the same source, still had water pressure at his home, so we sent Joseph and Robert with him to collect samples.
The first order of business was to fill a Whirly-Pak—a sealable plastic bag containing “bacteria food”—with sample water. When properly filled and sealed, Whirly-Paks accelerate the growth and accentuate the visible presence of a particular strain (fecal coliforms) of bacteria and serve as a marker species for other harmful bacteria. A positive Whirly-Pak test indicates that the pathways for the introduction of harmful bacteria exist. After 24-48 hours at room temperature, a positive sample in a Whirly-Pak will turn dark and stink to high heaven, as the “germ food” accelerates the growth of the marker contaminants, providing very powerful visual and olfactory evidence of the possible need for a filtration system.
During our absence and over the course of the evening, the Consistory of Getsemani had decided that option [b] building an additional room onto the front of the church building, was their best choice. Having decided that, we sat down to work out all the details necessary for the installation, education, and operation of a water filtration system. The first order of business was to collect samples for immediate and laboratory testing. The day before, we had established that their water was from a reliable and high pressure source. Now that we needed to collect samples, however, the water had mysteriously stopped flowing.
How can you test water that won’t flow? With ingenuity, of course. One of the elders, who lived a few blocks from the church and received his water from the same source, still had water pressure at his home, so we sent Joseph and Robert with him to collect samples.
The first order of business was to fill a Whirly-Pak—a sealable plastic bag containing “bacteria food”—with sample water. When properly filled and sealed, Whirly-Paks accelerate the growth and accentuate the visible presence of a particular strain (fecal coliforms) of bacteria and serve as a marker species for other harmful bacteria. A positive Whirly-Pak test indicates that the pathways for the introduction of harmful bacteria exist. After 24-48 hours at room temperature, a positive sample in a Whirly-Pak will turn dark and stink to high heaven, as the “germ food” accelerates the growth of the marker contaminants, providing very powerful visual and olfactory evidence of the possible need for a filtration system.
In addition to this most dramatic test, there are other important tests that can be done on-site that indicate a water source’s levels of other elements of concern. In chemistry-lab fashion, Joseph and Robert dipped, swirled, and color-charted test strips to get preliminary readings for calcium, total dissolved solids, chlorine, free chlorine, and other elements whose presence and concentrations help determine not only the need for a filtration system, but the particular type of system that will be successful and sustainable. Finally, we collected a sample to send to a testing facility in the USA, for more detailed analysis.
© 2009 Todd Jenkins
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