Wednesday and Thursday were a blur, as we plan to complete and turn on the water system unofficially on Friday, with a community ceremony on Monday to officially turn on the taps. Our system is pretty basic, but the challenges of site accessibility, altitude, and communication (say, between someone testing a tap and someone at a water tank) mean that working out all the kinks is very time- and energy-consuming.
The overall system is as follows: two spring catchment walls that capture water trickling and weeping out of the mountainside; a collection box to allow sediment to settle out of the water; 1.5″ HDPE pipe to take the spring water down to a 600 gallon tank; two tapstands below tank 1; a second 600 gallon tank below these taps; and three additional tapstands below tank 2.
Wednesday we worked fast to complete concrete forms, rebar cages, plumbing, and drainage at each tapstand (see below for a partially-completed tapstand), and by the end of Wednesday the community had poured concrete for all five tapstands.
Theoretically, Thursday should have been relatively straightforward with only the collection box connections and leak checking as the remaining tasks. It did not turn out to be so easy.
Bold work Joel! EE