Pignon Water Project

Pignon is a town of 7,500 people located in the central plateau of Haiti. The majority of the population has to walk miles to reach rivers, springs and wells to obtain water. A water distribution system exists in Pignon, but it is completely deteriorated.
Haiti Outreach (HO) has been working with the town of Pignon to improve the situation and provide potable water to the entire population. HO partnered with IIT engineering students for the design and planning of the project. A group of five students flew to Pignon in March 2007 and spent a week surveying the topography of the town. The data collected permitted the creation of a digital map of Pignon, including topographic elevation data critical for sizing pumps and pipe, and population data critical for determining demand. In August 2007, three more students from IIT, assisted by Professor Krishna Pagilla, flew to Pignon in order to update the town on our progress and to perform a socio-economic survey of the population. Two hundred and fifty households responded to a questionnaire providing us with valuable information needed for design.
With this information, the students prepared a preliminary design report. The report consists of:

1. A detailed assessment of the existing system
2. Literature review
3. Feasibility study
4. Socio-economic survey results
5. Design criteria
6. Preliminary design of a water supply system
7. Preliminary design of a water distribution system
8. Implementation / management strategies

This detailed report was completed in April 2008, and a group of students flew to Washington D.C. to compete in the EPA P3 People Prosperity Planet Competition. Students had received the Phase I $10,000 grant the previous year and were competing for the Phase II grant. Although they fell short of winning the grant, the IIT student group was awarded an honorable mention. Despite this setback, design work on the project continued and an NGO from Virginia, Community Coalition for Haiti (CCH), pledged to help out with the project.

With a preliminary design complete, work was focused on how to make the project a reality. Some initial cost estimates for this project topped $300,000, so a system of phases was used to guide construction of the system. Phase IA, complete last year, involved rehabilitation of the spring basin, including replanting hundreds of trees. Phase IB is currently underway and involves repairing spring caps, water supply lines, and installing new ram pumps to feed the existing deteriorated distribution network. Construction for Phase IB will be managed by Haiti Outreach, with a completion date projected to be around April 2009. Phases II through V were laid out in such a manner that each phase would provide water to more people. In Phases II through V, work includes installation of a new water distribution network with public water kiosks, a new cistern above the town, a water treatment system, an electric pump, a photovoltaic system, and eventually private water connections.

An important component to the success of the project was the donation pledged by PVC manufacturer JM Eagle. In February 2009, CCH approached JM Eagle about taking a stake in this project, and JM Eagle decided to donate over 8 miles of PVC pipe. PVC cost is a large portion of the project budget, as it leaves only the electric pumps, photovoltaic system, water treatment system, and new cistern to be paid for. There appears to be a bright future for the project, with a completion date now estimated to be around 5 years away.