Final Training Session

It's been a week since I updated the blog. Time sure does fly! We have been very busy for the last week. I am going to spread the work out into several posts.

Making New Partnerships.
Chancellor Funes (UPi), me (UTEP), and Mr. Rodriguez (AHJASA)
(photo credit: Victoria Amador)

The third seminar was held on August 10 at UPi’s campus. Nine representatives from a combination of regional governmental agencies and a rural water organization called  the Asociación Hondureñas de Juntas Administradoras de Sistemas de Agua (AHJASA) attended. AHJASA is a rural water association that provides benefits such as training and equipment monitoring to its members in various communities in rural parts of Honduras. The representatives from AHJASA included Mr. Lenin Alberto Rodriguez, who works with rural communities. Mr. Rodriguez provided valuable information about the problems with salinity and access to clean water in the southern part of Honduras. The other AHJASA representatives were from member communities in Valle and Choluteca. Since this was the final presentation, UPi students were invited to learn about desalination and the USAID project. Eleven students attended the seminar. After lunch, all participants were transported to the UTEP-UPi pilot site for a tour and demonstration of the equipment.

Final Seminar Participants (photo credit: Victoria Amador)

Visiting the Los Almendros well and talking the AHJASA representatives

We were interviewed onsite - LIVE - during our tour. We were nervous and didn't know she was truly live. There's a joke about now, now, or later, later here. It's really funny watching this after the fact. I understand what I was asked and could have responded (in English, of course), but totally froze. Oh well, it's great that the Hoy Mismo came to learn about our project and I hope they (and others) will come back. We enjoyed meeting the reporter, Gabriela Castillo. Mr. Rusbel got volunteered to be the videographer (it is really amazing what you can do with a cell phone...) for this.

Here's what we wanted to say, English and Spanish (courtesy of Clara):

• The goal of the project is to demonstrate that our technology (called Zero Discharge Desalination) is capable of producing water for both irrigation and drinking purposes while having no liquid waste leave the site. We produce a useful solid byproduct (gypsum) which can be used by farmers to improve soil conditions and a liquid product (NaCl, or table salt) which is used by the technology.

• El objetivo del proyecto es demostrar que nuestra tecnología (llamada Desalinización con Descarga Cero) es capaz de producir agua para riego y potable ademas no deja residuos líquidos el sitio. Se recupera un subproducto sólido útil (yeso) que puede ser utilizado por los agricultores para mejorar las condiciones del suelo y un producto líquido (NaCl o sal de mesa) que utiliza la tecnología.