Blogs from Quilotoa, Centre, Ecuador, South America

Quick blog to share photos of school life in Malinguapamba. School was grim before the wonderful enhancements by Centro Educativo La Minga (CELM) under guidance of Pamelita Gilbert, now Malinguapamba is a vibrant, kid-rich place on school days with classes, sports, and cafeteria for 80 kids each week. One of my goals was to teach watershed science along with technical/vocational training on field survey techniques (see Blog 11). After sitting in on some teacher meetings and attending some classes, it became clear the teachers are already covering "Medio Ambiental" + climate + geography well, so i focused my efforts on the younger kids and our project to develop a watershed coloring book based upon an existing book by Porvenir. Our aim would be to develop more Ecuador-specific detail with the younger age groups so they can ... read more

One of my primary technical goals of this trip was to better understand the water source areas and collection techniques in the Malingua Yaku area (see Blogs 10 and 11) including source-water protection. In photos 1-4 here the protected area is clearly visible as a heavly vegetated area between the (resistant volcanic) peaks, in an otherwise well-grazed landscape. Paulino Sacatoro explained that before conservation, a farmer cultivated land and grazed animals near the intakes and drinking water had moderate quality. Photos 6-7 show a similar area. After a fire ~ 10 years ago, the entire area burned and water quality plumetted, with obvious issues in terms of sediment and health effects in Malinguapamba/Tunguiche/Pucara. Everyone in community recognized water quality problems. The community began a conservation effort including buying out the farmer working that area and working ... read more

Tech Monitoring Blog for October 2012 Erosion Control Minga Project Area = Will Mahoney's Site 96 Site 96 is a drainage immediately north of Malinguapamba with an eroding scarp uphill from the road and gully (riochuelo) downstream. EWB-guided Minga last October installed rock revetment, check dams, drop structures, cutback slopes, laid in erosion control blankets, and planted shrubs. (Profesor) Ignacio Sacatoro told me it was very dry for first couple of months but there has been recent rain and we saw good evidence of significant runoff. Overall great success downstream from road, comparing photos it looks like all BMPs remain in place with no new downcutting or flanking. In fact, the channel downstream from road is now collecting as much as 25 cm new sediment which in turn reduces stress on banks but sandy texture limits ... read more

Quick monitoring blog for Site 9 where road from Malinguapamba to Latacunga crosses upper Yanarumi below Malingua Yaku. This is the site where EWB removed boulders from upstream end of culvert and Minga planted shrubs upstream along channel. Big boulder remains in place. Downstream is still VERY sketchy with steep cut below culvert putting road at risk; on the other hand the conservation work upstream probably limits the amount of material and peak flows expected from upstream. Lots of rock available below culvert to create some check dams, maybe better to import more rock (+ ogs?) to create drop structures between culvert and channel below? Hard to see in photo 6 but note light blue pipe is broken end of water collection pipe lost during channel downcutting and now perched above channel bed. Suggest bringing channel ... read more

Technical blog monitoring vivero (plant nursery) progress in community of Guantugloma While visiting springs, tanks, and existing irrigation system, the Guantugloma Water Committee showed us their vivero which uses same bags and planting techniques as Malinguapamba. Wonderful growth in only 2-6 months including a good diversity of plants, mostly shrubs, all native to the area, all from sprigs (cuttings planted into the ground rather than seeds). The plants are protected on the SW (i think) side of a Yawal shrub line to protect from wind but generally full sun. Successful plants include: Mortino (native blueberry), Yawal both Peruvian and "natural," Chilco, Cullia, Yurapanka, Malua (looks like gooseberry), and Aliso Peruviano. I won't try to sift through Quichua vs Spanish on these, but suffice to say they have ~ 1,000 plants ready for use in erosion control ... read more