EWB-Drexel: Miramar, El Salvador Water Project
Overall Project Scope (Miramar and La Ceiba)
The overall objective of this project is to provide clean water year-round to two small communities, Miramar and La Ceiba, in rural, southwestern El Salvador. The two communities are separated by about 1.5 kilometers - Miramar is situated on a ridge between two rivers (rio Quequeishque and rio San Francisco Menendez) and La Ceiba is located at the base of the ridge on both sides of the rio Quequeishque. Both villages are small (##s) and poor. Provide lots of details about family sizes, income, etc.
This project is a joint effort between two EWB student chapters - Drexel University is designing and implementing the water supply system for Miramar while Rowan University is designing and implementing the system for La Ceiba. However, because the water demands of the communities are small enough and they are located close enough together, Drexel and Rowan have decided to supply water to both communities from the same well - a well located at the northeast end of La Ceiba (the highest point of La Ceiba which is also closest to Miramar). In December 2007, Drexel had a 200 foot well drilled in the center of Miramar which did not yield sufficient water supply; the current proposed well location at the base of the ridge and closer to the elevation of the rivers is much more likely to yield sufficient water supply.
Having two communities served from the water supply source adds some complexity to the system and social but significantly reduces the overall project costs. The Drexel and Rowan EWB chapters are confident that the proposed design will meet the needs of both communities. In this project, only the water source (well, well pump, water treatment) will be shared by the two communities. The piping (and pump for Miramar) delivering water to each village, water storage tanks, and distribution systems will be designed and implemented separately for each community.
Components of Miramar Water Supply System
The water supply system for Miramar will be composed of several parts - some of which will be implemented jointly by EWB-Drexel and EWB-Rowan and some that will be implemented separately:
Water Source (joint EWB-Drexel and EWB-Rowan)
Local Water Treatment and Storage at Well-Head (joint EWB-Drexel and EWB-Rowan)
Pump and Pipeline Delivering Water to Miramar (EWB-Drexel)
Miramar Water Storage Tanks (EWB-Drexel)
Miramar Gravity-Fed Water Distribution to Tap-Stands (EWB-Drexel)
La Ceiba Water Storage and Gravity-Fed Distribution System (EWB-Rowan)
Water Source - Hydro-geological Survey and Well Location
During the two EWB-Rowan assessment trips and the two EWB-Drexel assessment trips, numerous options for supplying water to these two communities have been considered and explored. Because the dry season extends for almost nine months and the near-surface formations have low permeability, groundwater collection options do not seem feasible at this time and rainwater catchment required excessive storage. The most viable option for both communities is a well. A 200 foot deep well drilled from the center of Miramar (at top of ridge) did not yield sufficient water supply - however, this well did not reach the elevation of the rivers on both sides of the ridge. Both EWB-Drexel and EWB-Rowan are confident that a suitable aquifer exists and is accessible to a well drilled from the base of the ridge.
To assess the likelihood of a suitable aquifer and determine the best location for drilling a well, EWB-Drexel has been in contact with several Salvadoran hydro-geologists and with the Vice-Minister of the Environment, Roberto Escalante. Two quotes for hydro-geological surveys have been obtained (see appendix) and a complete hydro-geological survey will be completed in March. The design presented in this report is based on the assumption that a suitable well-drilling location will be determined in between La Ceiba and Miramar. The cost of the hydro-geological survey will be shared by EWB-Drexel and EWB-Rowan.
Well drilling and pump plan
PLAN B for the Water Source
In the event that a suitable well location is not determined by the hydro-geological survey, EWB-Drexel will proceed with development of a ground-water harvesting system based on data collected from the past assessment trips. At this point, the groundwater collection system is not our preferred solution because the required infiltration gallery is very large based on initial estimates and measured groundwater permeability. A design plan for the infiltration gallery is included in the appendix. In the event that an infiltration gallery is required, the May implementation trip will be used to gather additional data for the infiltration gallery design and to construct the water supply and distribution system in Miramar. The infiltration gallery will be likely require an additional trip at a later date.
