By Charles Bennett

Hello again from Bougainville! This week I’ve continued to travel to the villages we are working in, surveying potential sources for the water supply systems we will be constructing.

I’ve spent this week in the Kokoda district, surveying Siorovi, Amumapong, Posinami and Sirovai. A complication of working in this district is that there is no mobile phone signal, meaning we have to rely on the ‘bush telegraph’ to get in touch with people in the village to tell them we are visiting. This generally means tracking down someone from the village at the market and asking them to pass a message back to our volunteer in the village. It seems to have worked pretty well so far, but it takes considerably longer than a text message!

In each village at least one or two people have volunteered to be our main contact and when we visit we typically meet with them, along with the Chief. One of the main roles that the volunteers help with is to collect money to pay towards the cost of the system. Each village is required to pay 10% of the material costs of the project. This is partly to ensure that an improved water supply has been identified as a need by the village, and also to emphasise that the water supply system belongs to the village and that it’s their responsibility to maintain it and keep the water flowing.

The village health volunteer, Lester, and family from Siorovi

Getting to the water sources often involves trekking through amazing forest. At first it seems completely wild – a mass of every shade of green with huge, ancient trees and new life spurting from everywhere. Red, white and green parrots criss-cross the sky, adding their screech to the constant symphony of sounds from hornbills, squeaking crickets, other insects and often the rush of water hurtling along in forest streams.

On these walks I’ve realised that almost all the forest is managed or used in one way or another – people garden, high up in the hills away from the pigs and chickens in the village, growing green vegetables, ferns, fruits and nuts to eat or take to the market. People cultivate small patches of cocoa or palm trees, grown for copra or palm oil, to be harvested and taken to Arawa to sell to the traders. Almost all the trees seem to have a specific use – whether it’s for building canoes, harvesting for timber or making baskets.

Trekking through the lush jungle to another potential source

We are conducting the survey using a handheld GPS. This gives us longitude, latitude and elevation above sea level. Having collected data points for the water source, the proposed pipeline route and the location of the tapstands, I can estimate the lengths of pipe needed. With the height data I can plot long sections of the network, allowing us to calculate the water pressure and the required pipe sizes and materials.

I’m now around two-thirds of the way through collecting the data we need and I’ll spend the next couple of days putting it onto the computer and making drawings.

I’d like to quickly mention Engineers Without Borders UK. They are a mostly student run organisation that, amongst other things, gives young engineers the opportunity to gain experience working in developing countries. I’m very grateful to them for their support, which has enabled me to take up this placement.