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Update! Final Student Report is now Available as WRP Publication. Click on Publications Index to access "Sustainable Water Development for the Village of Miramar, Honduras" (WRP-5) in a variety of formats.
Water
Resources 573 is the summer capstone course of the professional Master of Water
Resources degree curriculum. Each year, the course focuses on a single field
problem or closely-related group of problems, which the students address in
detail. This year we conducted the field portion of the course in a village
in Honduras, where we produced a sustainable development 
plan
and helped the villagers construct a village water system. This trip presented
an unsurpassed opportunity for cross-cultural learning and true hands-on experience
in a developing nation. Steve Kolk, Barak Bruerd, Eric Riebsomer, Rosemarie
Chora, Jessica Bentley, Sherry Weber, Mark Van Eeckhout, Andrew Sweetman, Michael
Gabora, and Rick Shean made the journey along with instructors Michael E. Campana
and Michele Minnis. Most of us were in country from June15 to June 26. July
and August were used to prepare the final report.
Miramar
is a village of about 50 dwellings (c. 300 people), located about 1000 m above
mean sea level in the steep hills just south of Masca, a village on the north
coast of Honduras just west of the city of Puerto Cortes. The village subsists
on farming, cultivating the steep hillslopes to grow maize, beans, chiles and
other crops. A new gravity-flow water system is being designed by a local teacher
and "water activist", Alex Uriel del Cid Vasquez. The water system will be fed
by a dam to be constructed on a spring-fed stream. We had originally planned
to work in the village of Nueva Vida, but Alex decided that Miramar was a better
match for us.
How did this come about? On a January 2001 trip to Honduras I (MEC) met Alex
and learned of his work in the remote villages in the mountains west of Puerto
Cortes. He works in villages that are too difficult (poor access, rugged terrain)
for
others to tackle. He prides himself on getting the villagers to buy in to the
project - he does not believe in handouts. Before the water systems are constructed,
he requires that the villagers construct sanitary latrines and develop a plan
to maintain the system. He receives some money from the Honduran government
for supplies, but it is not enough; he winds up donating a lot of his time (he
is a teacher in Omoa) and money. Alex has plans to develop water systems in
four villages: Nueva Vida, Miramar, Cerro Negro and Nueva Florida. When Alex
took me to the village of Nueva Vida to show me what he planned to do, I was
so impressed with his enthusiasm and knowledge that I knew the Water Resources
students would benefit greatly from working with Alex. I discussed with Alex
the propsect of having students work with himself and the villagers to develop
a plan to manage their community in a sustainable manner and help the villagers
with their water system. Alex was extremely enthusiastic at this prospect, so
I set about to raise the necessary $20,000.
Funds were then sought to pay for the students' expenses. At the end of March, the last piece of the funding puzzle fell into place: $10,000 was contributed by UNM's Vice Provost for Research Dr. John McIver, which was added to the $10,000 previously raised by me from various sources and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Sustainable Development and Intergovernmental Affairs, which has generously provided support for three previous WR 573 classes. As a result of the fund-raising effort, all the students' expenses were covered.
We arrived in San Pedro Sula, the financial and economic hub of Honduras, on
June 15. We were met by Rolando Lopez, his daughter Julissa, son Guillermo,
friend Manuel (Manny) Jaco and Alex. Rolando is a Puerto Cortes businessman
who has been instrumental in helping Alex with his work and was invaluable in
setting up the trip. It was great to have them there - it's 
always
nice to see friendly faces in a strange place. We loaded our gear into Rolando's
Toyota pickup. Most of us got into Alex's van (I recalled Guillermo's riddle
-- Q: How many Hondurans will fit in a car? A: One more.). We headed to Price
Smart (a Price Club-type store) to buy our food, then headed for Masca to mount
mules for the three-hour trip to Miramar. It was dark by the time we made it
to the village.
Living
accommodations were simple; Michele, Sherry, Rosemarie and Jessica stayed in
the schoolteacher's house and the eight men "camped out" on the floor of the
old schoolhouse. Two welcome aspects: 1) we were high enough so that mosquito
nets were unnecessary; and 2) the rainy season had not yet kicked in. Three
village women were hired to prepare our meals. Manny Jaco served for a few days
as our interpreter, then Julissa 
Lopez
took over that task. Both were indispensable.
Since the PVC 
pipes
and other materials had not yet arrived, we spent the next few days hiking around
the village, visiting the dam site and familiarizing ourselves with the area.
Miramar is not in a valley; the houses are scattered over the hillsides so there
is a lot of climbing involved. We learned how to thread galvanized steel pipe.
I demonstrated the proper way to use a machete as a saw. We cleared a portion
of a ridge where Alex decided to locate the 5000-gallon water tank and also
dug a pit for the tank's foundation. The tank would be fed by a 1.5 kilometer
pipeline from the reservoir behind the dam and would then feed into the village's
distribution system - a spigot at every dwelling. The dam itself would be a
little over 2 meters high. 
The
terrain is quite rugged, so laying and burying the pipeline will be quite a
feat. Alex said he hoped for a mid-September completion date.
The students had a great time playing with the local schoolchildren, who would play "futbol" (soccer) at the drop of hat. We also managed to play soccer with the villagers (mixed teams of gringos and Hondurans, otherwise it would have been ugly) and fared pretty well, despite the fact that one team had a 53-year-old goalie. The game was tied 1-1 until two quick goals were surrendered by the aforementioned goalie.
After
seven days, we departed. The village held a ceremony for us, and it was very
touching. Alex thanked us for coming; several villagers noted that they were
amazed that a bunch of Americans would come all that way at their own expense
to help them with their project, so it must be important. We headed back down
the mountain on foot, where Rolando was waiting. We headed a few miles east
to the village of Omoa, where we stayed in a motel on the beach, relaxed a bit,
and explored the 
surroundings.
We took a one-day trip to see the Mayan ruins at Copan, and on our last full
day, June 25, we were treated to a barbecue at the home of an American woman
who travels between Honduras and Florida. She recently established a school
for budding artists -- young men -- and she had plenty of their wares on hand
for our perusal and purchase. It was a great afternoon -- a fitting conclusion
to a remarkable trip.
Most of the group departed on June 26; Steve Kolk, Barak Bruerd and Michael
Gabora stayed around to visit Utila (one of the Bay Islands) and other places.
I stayed in the Puerto Cortes area for a few days of work (and a wonderful trip
to 
Valle
de Angeles in the pine forests outside Tegucigalpa, courtesy of Rolando Lopez),
and then a two-week stint at the Central America Spanish School in La Ceiba
(I highly recommend the school).
The students are now hard at work assembling the final report, which will evaluate various village sustainability aspects - land, water, etc. - as well as the trip itself.
The experience was more than we imagined; it was so positive that Michele and I are committed to doing this again in Summer 2002. Alex has three more villages to do, and should have a few left by the time June 2002 rolls around. Fund-raising efforts have already begun.
--MEC
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