Our last update was just before I left on a short project trip to southern India. We were asked to investigate a large pit on an existing campus and how best to use the space. Myself and an EMI volunteer arrived at the campus on Tuesday and realized just how huge the pit was and what the rest of the campus looked like. Turns out that 25 years ago the land was in the middle of nowhere and the pits were filled with water from rainwater runoff and ground water. Since that time the area around the campus has seen significant development and the ground water has been depleted so much that the pits haven't had water in them for the last 8-10 years.
After touring the campus, we meet with the ministry and heard their 5-10 year vision. We then spend a few hours brain storming ideas, running numbers, taking measurements and sketching out ideas. We ended up with 5 different options along with pro's and con's of each one to present to the ministry. The options were:
Do nothing
Place a large tank for campus wide fire protection
Place 3 large tanks for fire protection, rain water collection and gray water collection
Take either option 2 or 3 and place a building over the tanks
Fill in the entire hole with soil
(Unfortunately, we didn't think of a rock climbing wall which would have been a great idea later suggested by Russ Tuckerman)
Developing options, making notes and drinking Mt. Dew!
Here are our options along with some pro's and con's of each one.
After reviewing these options and sketches we quickly realized that doing anything with the pit was going to be VERY expensive. Actually, this area of campus would turn out to be the most expensive piece of campus to ever develop! Fortunately, there were large pieces of open space on their campus that we thought could be used. We looked at the master plan and sketched some ideas. The open ares of the campus could easily be used for fire tanks, parking areas and a generator and would be quicker, easier to construct and much less expensive.
With sketches and options in hand met with the ministry and made our recommendation to do nothing. The ministry was very grateful for our analysis and to have a team of experts look at the problem. They readily accepted the decision and are now moving forward with placing the tanks in areas we suggested.
The ministry has also invited us to come back in February to assist in the rest of the campus master planning effort. They also want us to do a detailed design of the water system, electrical system and help them strategize how to enlarge their warehouse and publication areas. They are the largest Christian printing and distribution center in Asia with over 6 tons of materials being sent out each day!
Thank you so much for your partnership! It is exactly for projects like this that we moved to India and are on our way to Cambodia.
This is the master plan concept showing the pit remaining and a required parking area, generator building and fire supression tank. All are able to fit without putting anything in the pit - saving the ministry hundreds of thousands of dollars!
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