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The Search for Drinking Water in Nicaragua
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Violates Torture Convention
Guatemala President
Denies Murder
The Search for Drinking Water in Nicaragua
By Jill Bruning , Michigan Technological
University
Boaco, like many communities around the
world, has serious water supply and quality
problems. My thesis research brought me to
the small, rural town in Nicaragua, where I
have been working with my advisor John
Geirke to identify geological lineaments
(fractures) from satellite imagery that will
improve groundwater exploration and siting
of wells in this rugged terrain.
Working towards my master's thesis in
geological engineering from Michigan
Technological University, I experienced the
water scarcity first hand at our motel in
downtown Boaco. The motel water supply was
intermittent, only on for what seemed like a
few hours every other day. A holding tank in
the motel courtyard would fill up and
provide water for the business and guests
during the long intervals of time when the
water was off.
To conserve the small water stash, the two
motel showers were pilas, troughs from which
you dip in bowls to collect water to dump
over your body.
Similarly, a visit to the bathroom first
required a visit to the holding tank for a
bucket of water for flushing.
Of course, this water isn’t drinkable — it
is contaminated due to its source, mostly
from a polluted river, and from
cross-contamination of the distribution
piping system with the wastewater lines.
One objective of my field work was to see
what geologic lineaments, identified from
satellite imagery, actually look like from a
ground perspective. So I sought out the
lineaments by rental truck, with maps in
hand.
Often, "roads" on the map turned out to be
what I would consider cow paths. Bridges
were lacking, giving us no choice but to
simply drive through rivers. An unexpected
benefit from this method of travel was an
inside view of the Nicaraguan countryside.
Besides lineaments, I saw a wide variety of
wildlife including sloths, monkeys, many
exotic birds and a few ominous-looking
snakes.
A particularly challenging facet of this
research was performing well-pumping tests
on drilled, hand-pump wells, to check the
validity of my lineament interpretations.
Significant time and effort was necessary to
acquire community cooperation, since every
well we tested had to remain unused for
several hours prior to the test.
Finding the "keepers" of a well often sent
us on a wild goose chase where we talked
with just about everyone in the community.
Getting a well-keeper to agree to let me
test the well often meant performing tests
before 6 o’clock in the morning in order to
minimize disturbance to the community.
Once the pumping test began, we would try to
gather people to fill their buckets with the
water that was being extracted, instead of
wastefully dumping it on the ground.
It was the same for every well. At first,
just a few curious kids with their buckets
would show up and carry the water back to
their homes. Quickly they would return, only
this time with their families, friends, and
neighbors — and everyone brought buckets. By
the time pumping stopped, it seemed like the
entire community would be present, always
interested in the test, the results, and, of
course, the gringos.
I feel very fortunate to have had the
opportunity to perform field work in
Nicaragua. Carrying out a successful
scientific investigation under less than
ideal circumstances required me to be both
creative and flexible when solving problems.
Rolling with the punches was the only option
at times, which was a hard, yet important,
truth for my engineering mind to come to
terms with. Also, experiencing and learning
from the Nicaraguan people, their culture
and way of life, was invaluable. This has
given me a new, wider perspective on many
issues our world is facing today and has
produced in me a gratitude for the relative
ease of my own daily life.
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