VPC's Living Waters Project Plan and Status

8 Jan 2012 update

Survey Trip. Our survey trip, May 29 – June 2, was very successful.  They were “muy” excited about this project and even purchased a house adjacent to the church to renovate for this purpose.  We visited a successful LWW installation in the nearby town of Ticul and got a great idea of what's involved.  And - we drank the water with no ill effects!  We completed most of the water tests (very hard water with no chlorination), sent away samples for other testing, and got a LWW project ID.

Fundraising.  Because of Mission budget cuts for 2009, we had to raise funds for this project.  Through the generosity of the congregation and the hard work of our team of fundraisers, we met the funding necessary for purchasing the water filtration equipment and renovating the building where the equipment will operate.

• During summer 2009, our VPC kids raised about $1500 by selling lemonade, root beer floats, cookies and milk, pizza, and ice cream sundaes, and holding a bake sale.
• Thank you Sally Pfleiderer for directing our fundraiser where we sold attractive and useful “green” items with the LWW logo: small nylon eco-bags and insulated lunch bags.

• On August 30, our own Stephen Pfleiderer (and friends) presented a benefit clarinet concert at VPC that was well-received.  Thank you Stephen!
  

Installation trip to Tekax on Feb 13-20, 2010 was a great success.  We bottled 4 5-gal bottles of purified Tekax municipal water before our dedication of the system on Thursday, Feb 18.  We trained 7 Tekax health educators who, in turn, educated 65 others in their community over 3 days filled with laughter and singing.

The participant list and other trip information is on this page.

Status update from Pastor Manasas in May 2010:

"..the plant is working well now; there had been a problem that it was passing salt, but are now regenerating twice a week and this controls the problem; they also bought a "capacitor de presion", and it is working.  The plant sells between 120 and 130 bottles a day at 7 pesos in the plant and 9 pesos delivered.  The hours are 7-13 and 14-17; there are 3 operators: Canul Enrique, Enrique Martin, and Carlos Gongora.  With the high temperatures there, the motors overheated and shut down the plant for half an hour.  They also bought a 2500 Rotoplas tank to give better service."

So, all this is good news.  They are bottling more water than we had estimated they might, are employing one more person than had been estimated, and are delivering water (the original thought was that it would be only picked up at the site).  Clean water is flowing in Tekax!

First follow-up trip: January 2011

Anita Wotiz and Ted Meeker conducted the first of 2 follow-up trips to Tekax.  The system is producing more water than originally expected, and the quality is good.

Second follow-up trip: February 2012

Status will be posted after completion of this trip

on the MdS LWW building

Women's class being shown the LWW system