Well, the water box continued

I'll have to admit that it's a strange looking sight to see that huge blue water box and tower over on that side of the reception center. Nothing I would ever ask for Christmas, but given that it brings plenty of water for my plants, I'll overlook any resemblance to civilization. For the time being, no water in the bathrooms. The next step will be to have a plumber figure out the idiosyncrasies of the construction and how to connect things up. There are two bathrooms. One seems to be rather straight forward in terms of toilette and sink connections. The other one has a toilette vase that just doesn't match up with the flushing apparatus above because it's a few inches off to the side. Odd? Yes, but it's because two push-out windows above prevent the proper alignment of the two. I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Let the plumber figure how to connect the two. Like when one has health problems. What do we do? Take them to the doctor, of course. Let him figure it out!

Well, the water box

The 2,000 liters water box arrived too late for the well digging team to set it up, but Sr. Assis was back today with one of his men and an electrician to get it up on the tower and make the electrical connections. The "box" is made of fiberglass, so it's relatively light. After pumping nearly 2,000 liters of water into it, it's another story. I had some fear that the weight might be too much for the tower infrastructure, but there was no sign of stress on the wooden structure. Ney, the carpenter knew exactly what he was doing.

Well digging, final farewell

After working so hard over the last nine days, I don't know how the team finds the energy to flex their muscles. Not only the backbreaking work but camping out at night on the back porch of the Bosque reception center and cooking their meals over an open fire. I take my hat off to this fine group of young men. Thanks for the water and friendship.

Well digging, departure

And the welling digging team readies for departure. They'll be taking some of our dust back home with them, but they'll be leaving plenty of water for Bosque Santa Lucia.

Well digging, packing up

There's still a lot of work to be done to get the water system in order, but the drilling job is done and the team makes ready for departure. They leave in the same way they arrived - in a small compact pickup loaded to the hilt. Every piece of equipment used over the duration of the operation of nine days is on that vehicle!

Well digging, water at last

The electrical system was connected and the magic moment arrived. At first there was only the sound of air being pushed out of the pipes and then came water! Large quantities of sand came along with the gush of water, but in about half an hour it cleaned up. Cleuson and I quickly got our buckets out to use some of the water for trees and plants around the reception center. How sweet it was to give them the water they need. As we find time, we'll clean off dust from the leaves and fronds. End result: the well is 60 meters deep; 21 meters of water in the tubes; and an output of approximately 7,000 liters of water per hour. For the time being we'll take water from the pipe you see in the image. The water box should arrive tomorrow.

Well digging, pipes

60 meters of pipes being lowered into the well with the pump. The black cable is the power cable for the pump and the white cord is for lowering it all down. It'll remain in place for the purpose of bringing the pump back up in the future for maintenance.

Well digging, pump

The submersible pump being attached to pipes, which will be placed inside the large tubes.

Well digging, capped off

The larger tubes capped off and cemented into place.

Well digging, gravel

A bucket of gravel is placed in the well to help with the filtering.

Well digging, happy days

When it rains, it pours! This morning our weather pattern changed from a dazzling hot sun to a cloudy sky and a light sprinkle of rain. Enough to wet leaves and lower the dust factor. And best of all, the well drilling team finished up their work. We got water! In the image they lower the larger tubes, all 60 meters of them.

Hosing down the road

My neighbor, Olivar, decided to hose down the very dusty road in front of his place yesterday. It was a real test for his pump and newly drilled well. The operation used a lot of water, but he managed to cut down the dust factor considerably. I figure that our own well will be ready in the next few days, so I'll join in the fun. I'd like to think that we'll get some rain soon, but every day is another day of blue skies, blinding sunlight and winds roaring up the Amazon Basin onto the Planalto (highlands). Even a full moon isn't helping.

Well digging, food

Daniel Spurgeon asked if the meat strung up on a pole next to the camp fire was from wild game. No Daniel, it's beef provided by the team leader, who circulates between two and three well drilling teams. The workers don't really have time to hunt, even if they wanted to do so. Secondly, I don't allow hunting on the premises of Bosque Santa Lucia. In reality, I can't really enforce the law because it's a big area surrounded by small farms and ranches. Traditionally all of these people hunt and not always out of necessity. There used to be a lot of game in the immediate region of the Bosque, but not anymore. The Bosque is now an island of forest surrounded by lands which have been deforested over the last few years for the planting of soybeans.

Well digging, first tube

The first tube to be lowered into the well will be this one. It will be riddled with slits, thus allowing water to enter without infiltration of debris. The submersible pump will also be placed in this first tube, about 2 meters from the bottom of the well.

Well digging, preparing the tubes

The fittings for 60 meters of tubes are prepared by heating the ends of the tubes over a fire. They are then connected and after cooling off, separated again. The next fitting will be the permanent one in the well.

Well digging, mud

A closer look at some mud that was brought up from the hole. I normally don't get excited about mud but right now anything associated with water is good news.

Well digging, mud and water

Mud never looked so good! Better yet, the drilling team told me at midday that there was 12 meters of water in the hole. The next move will be to go down a few more meters to get to the sandy layer of soil and the main source of water. Evidently that will be soon because the larger tubes are already being prepared for lowering into the hole.

Well digging, new electrical box

In an earlier blog post I showed the electrical box provided by Celpa on the inauguration of the power line. It was for the basics of 110-120 living, like lights, television and so on. The electrical necessity for operating the submersible pump for a well is 220 watts of power, which means that the system had to be changed. Celpa didn't charge anything for adding the 220 option, but the wiring, box and other material ended up costing nearly 500 reais, some US$ 290! Fortunately, the cost was split into three equal payments.

Well digging, the tubes

60 meters of tubing wait for the happy day when they'll be lowered into the "hole" to shore up the cavity left by the well drilling team. Smaller plastic pipes will be inserted inside these, along with the submersible pump, for pumping water up to the light of day.

Well digging, pulverized rock

This pasty mud is the last material to come out of the well hole. I assume that it's the impeding rock that was ground to dust by the "needle", as shown in the previous post. It's quite possible that the drilling team will hit the vein of water by tomorrow. I'm told that the rest of the operation goes much faster. I hope. The dust on the road is getting to be more than a problem. It's getting to be dangerous.