Calgary at CAWST

It is nearly 3AM Sunday morning as I write this.

I arrived here in Calgary on schedule having left Manila during the height of the recent typhoon (Sat 8:20AM). I left Brentville in the dark with the wind howling and the rain pouring down. Had to detour around several downed trees just getting out of our 'not sheltered from the storm' subdivision.

Why would I even try to catch a Jumbo Jet during a typhoon? Well a couple of reasons come to mind. First, I wanted to go as I anticipated attending an interesting workshop in Calgary Canada. Second, both the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and the Northwest Airlines web sites listed my scheduled flight as on time and not cancelled. Archie my driver carefully drove north along the South Luzon Expressway toward Manila. About half of the way to the airport the rain all but ceased and the wind abated. I took that as a good sign but still somewhat expected to find NW 280 had been cancelled only after making the trek.

Typhoon Mininae (also called Santi) was also visiting NAIA though it had just that morning been downgraded from a category 1 typhoon to a tropical storm. That means the sustained winds could have dropped from 74 to 73 MPH.

My flight did leave and the 747 was airborn with only a one hour delay. At the Narita Japan airport they held the connecting flight for Philippine stragglers and I virtually walked off one plane and onto the other. There are some advantages to close connections. I've never really enjoyed the layover there. It put me a half hour late into Seattle where I had to clear customs and catch a twin engine turbo-prop to Calgary. But that transition went smoothly so here I am.

I was picked up by Sanjay my gracious host who has opened his home to me for the week. Certainly a man of hospitality. He was willing to take in a stranger as a favor to Craig who he had only met once on a plane flight this past summer. And he introduced me to rugby. Not as in playing it but as in watching it on the tube. There was a sort of 'super bowl' class game being played in South Africa which we enjoyed? with some of his friends who were having a sort of tail gate party. And there were lots of good South African goodies to munch on. It brought back memories of watching my first hockey game about 25 years ago in Edmonton in which I had great difficulty following the puck.

I had taken steps to 'acclimate' myself to the time difference with the intent of minimizing jetlag and though I did sleep soundly for about four hours I was just done sleeping at 2:30AM - so here I am. I am an early riser anyway.

The workshop begins Monday at the CAWST office here in Calgary. I'll keep you posted. All I can say about it now is that for one to travel from tropical Philippines durng a typhoon to Calgary this time of year you gotta have sand - Biosand that is. I escaped the last typhoon there by going with Craig to Palawan. He 'cawst' this!

Samaritan's Purse Canada & BioSand Filter

Samaritian's Purse in Canada has done a lot with the BioSand Filter and I found they have several good videos and even one that's titled "How it Works". See it here.

Please note: My recent trip to Palawan was in no way connected with Samaritan's Purse. Rather they have been doing this for sometime and have produced some videos etc that do an excellent job of explaining it. I went to help Craig and the Palawan Project . The filter is one and the same but was manufactured by the PCC in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan using their form.

The Samaritan Purse "The BioSand Filter: In Depth" page says this:

________________________________________________

BioSand Water Filters

In Depth

The BioSand Water Filter is an adaptation of slow-sand filtration that is designed for use by families at the household level. This award-winning water filtration technology was developed by Dr. David Manz, a former University of Calgary professor.

The filters are a proven, effective, and inexpensive technology. From start to finish the filters can be constructed in roughly 10 days, at an average cost of $100, which covers the raw materials, construction, transportation, supervision, training for the family in filter maintenance and personal hygiene, as well as monitoring and evaluation.

The filter removes organisms responsible for diseases spread by water, such as cholera, typhoid fever, and amoebic dysentery. The filter also strains out particles causing cloudiness, and much of the organic matter responsible for taste, colour, and odour.

One of the UN Millennium Development Goals is to reduce, by half, the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and hygienic sanitation by the year 2015. Samaritan’s Purse is helping make this possible. Already more than 104,000 BioSand Water Filters have been installed, bringing safe water to an estimated 832,000 individuals worldwide.
The Filtration Process

The filter is very durable, constructed from concrete, sand, gravel, and PVC piping. These materials can be found in almost every country and enable community members to help construct the filters on location.

Water is poured into the top of the filter and flows down through sand. Water that requires filtration usually contains various types of organic matter, sediment, and living organisms. The water first passes through the diffuser plate, which reduces the disruptive force of the input water and large debris, and protects a delicate biological layer. The filter sand functions as a physical barrier that traps particles and larger organisms, causing them to accumulate in the uppermost layers of the filter. Organic material and organisms caught in the sand eventually develop into a dense population referred to as the biological layer, or schmutzdecke.

As the water passes through the biological layer, microbial contaminants such as parasites, bacteria, viruses, and organic contaminants are consumed by the organisms. The filter is designed to hold water above the top of the sand to sustain the biological layer while the filter water is not in use. This provides the constant aquatic environment that is necessary for the organisms present in the biological layer to survive.

The fine sand acts as a microscopic sedimentation bed as the water passes through the filter, helping remove cloudiness, odour, taste, and harmful micro-organisms from the water. The size and shape of the sand grains are critical to the formation of the biological layer and therefore the effectiveness of the filter. Sand is specifically selected and prepared to achieve proper filtration. By the time the water reaches the layers of coarse sand and gravel at the bottom of the filter, 95 to 99.0 per cent of microbial contaminants have been eliminated by the BioSand Water Filter.1

The filtered water flows out of the spout and is collected in a safe storage container to prevent post-treatment contamination. The average flow rate of the filter is one litre per minute, which allows for 60 litres to be filtered per hour, enough to provide a family of eight with sufficient water for their daily drinking, cooking, cleaning, and hygiene needs. An individual requires a minimum of 7.5 – 15 litres of water per day for basic needs2, which is well within the capabilities of the BioSand Water Filter.

Maintenance

As the filter is used, the biological layer matures and thickens, causing the flow of water through the filter to slow. Recipients of filters are trained to watch for decreased flow and can renew the filter simply by skimming off any debris from the top of the sand, and by gently stirring the sand to break-up the biological layer. The quality of source water will determine how often this process is necessary.

1.Elliot et al., 2006. Intermittently operated slow sand filtration for point of use water treatment. Safe Drinking Water Symposium, University of North Carolina.

2.The Sphere Project, 2004, Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response.

______________________________________________

Hey! Tell me more about this BioSand Filter

I thought you'd never ask. And even if you didn't I'm going to tell you anyway!

A concrete box about 12" square and 1 Meter high with 3 layers of sand and gravel, a difusion plate and a lid. Designed so it can be easily made virtually any place in the world.

And look what it is touted to do.

I drank from one for the duration of my stay in Brooke's Point.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.
For more information see: Dr. Manz - Inventor, CAWST

Installation of BSF #2 & #3

This little guy should be drinking safe clean water by now.

And these as well. Both filters were installed on Monday Sept 26, 2009

Check out BSF #2 & BSF #3 http://picasaweb.google.com/wmodavis

Water Filters in Palawan

It's been over four months since I've added an update to my blog. So I'm finally getting to it.

I just returned from a ten day trip to Palawan

where I had the opportunity to help Craig Sutherland install seven BioSand Water Filters
for several tribal villages living in the foothills of southern Palawan. There I am helping Wilson wash sand.

The filters were made in Puerto Princesa, Palawan by the Palawan Conservation Corp. Here's a couple of the guys showing me the form they use to make them.

I have also put up several pictures on a web album that you can see at http://picasaweb.google.com/wmodavis/BioSandFiltersInPalawanPhilippines

The finished speakers

I completed the speakers and delivered them to Michael today. Here's a couple of shots of the finished product.

Front (Well duh)

Good view showing the dovetail joints.

Wow! The back even looks OK.

Here they are at Michael's place. You can't tell it from the picture but we were listening to them and they sound pretty good.

And Michael showing proper affection for his Narra speakers.

A fun woodworking project and my first using Narra.

Narra Speaker enclosures by Bill

Thought I'd show a bit of what has been occupying me (Bill) of late. No, not mountain biking again - though that is still in there but a bit reduced due to another pull at my time. Woodworking!

I am building a pair of speaker enclosures for a teacher here at Brent. They are made from the treasured national tree of the Philippines - Narra. Click on the links if you want to know more than you wanted to know about the species Pterocarpus indicus.

Here is a couple of pictures taken after the first coat of lacquer was sprayed just last Friday. I'm not sure why I am always so surprised when I get to experience how the finish makes the grain pop to life, but it surely does.

Here is a shot taken before the finish was applied.

Since Narra is a protected species due to over harvesting I purchased some reclaimed wood which, I believe is quite old, and was rescued siding from an old building. It started out pretty ugly!

And so it took a bit of work to see its striking beauty show through. First - Sandpaper.... It helped but a ways to go yet.

Then hammer, chisel and pliers to remove these....

(Old reclaimed wood remember.)

Glad I didn't try running it through my thickness planer before checking. Even with the above metal being removed there is still several pieces left in the finished cabinets - I hope without any future bad news to be reported (but let me know Mike as it features my full, unqualified, 'Tail-Light Guarantee*).

After a bit of layout work and some careful cutting etc.,

I ended up with this pile of boards.

I used my Akeda rig to machine dovetail joints.

Then glue and clamps.

Did I design these enclosures? Nope. Though I dabbled in that in bygone days (Heath Co 1967-1973), I cannot take any credit for this design. Rather it is a copy of Mike's current speaker cabinets. Here's a picture of them side-by-side. (Hint - the particle board one is on the left and the Narra on the right.)

















What do you bet he switches back to the original cabinet when he gets to his next post?


* -Tail-Light Guarantee - When my tail lights are out of sight the warantee has expired!

Corregidor Island

Dea and I with Keith & Ginny Edwards posing before a mural of the Filipino-American War





















Keith Edwards was here in PI from California doing some teaching and we were fortunate that he and Ginny took some time off from adjusting to the time change and teaching to take a trip with us to the historic Corregidor Island. It sits at the mouth of Manila Bay and Saturday morning we took the 1hr 15 minute ferry ride out there. You are welcome to look through my web album displaying many of the sites. click on: http://picasaweb.google.com/wmodavis/20090110#





























Dea pointing the ways to Tokyo and Sydney.





























Dea, Bill & Ginny after the Malinta Tunnel Sound and Light Show.































Dea and I with Douglas.


Also added some of our pictures to my Facebook.