Back to Work!
(The Haat MeN Sehat Treatment System in a household.)
(Adam replaces a clogged cartridge.)
The project members are glad to announce their return back to business in Mumbai. We have decided to stay, and feel safe in doing so.
Adam continues searching for the perfect reservoirs to house the one-micron cartridges, Scott waits with anticipation to find the right assistant to conduct his epidemiological study with, Anu creatively employs her graphic design skills as she works on a new, compact version of our “Educator’s Kit”, and Erin is making preparations for a collaborative project workshop for all project members (around 40 people at this point) that will take place at the end of the month.
Friday found Scott and Erin in Behram collecting water samples at 7:30 am together with a newly-formed team of students from the microbiology department at the Somaiya Vidyavihar Campus. Once per week, we collect samples from twelve sites in Behram, and test for pH, chlorine residual, and bacteria (E. Coli and Total Coliforms) in the tap water, the household storage containers, and from our water treatment units currently installed in houses. The tap water only runs in the pipes from 5am to 9am every day, so we must get up early enough to make it to every location before the taps run dry. This rationing of water is due to the extremely high demand throughout the city; the main water supply pressure is only enough to deliver to maybe a quarter of the city at one time. The more fortunate areas have large holding tanks for the interum period. But for most, water four hours per day is the reality–and the cause for primary contamination. For when the lane pipes sit unpressurized for 20 hours, fecally contimated water can be sucked into them. Though this is often the case, there are even days where our water tests show very little bacterial contamination in the lane pipes, and nevertheless high levels appear in the household storage containers (ceramic or stainless-steel vessels). This is because of poor hygiene and water handling/storage practices. How ironic is that. Even clean water in the pipes would not guarantee clean drinking water. Constant findings such as this truly reinforce our focus on hygiene education.