Project Timeline

Today in class we took a look at all of the deliverables for our project and came up with some solid deadlines that will keep us on track. 

Our first important deadline is this Thursday, when we will first speak with our contact in Cape Verde. It is still to be determined whether we will talk by email or phone. After speaking with Ms. Cortet, we will be able to further narrow our project focus and hone our research in on what is really relevant to the Poilão Dam in Cape Verde.

We determined that we will need to develop a Pugh chart of best techniques for combatting soil erosion that will be incorporated into our poster. Our poster will be an overview of our project thus far. 

After this poster session, we will begin writing our final report, which we will be delivering to the Ministry of Agriculture in Cape Verde. In order to have a comprehensive and successful final report we have decided to write two drafts, so that we will have time to get feedback from Amy and anyone else who might be a helpful source of critique. 

Below see our timeline:

Thursday, October 31st - First meeting with contact (email/phone?)

Monday, November 11th (by end of class) - Pugh chart of possible erosion-preventing techniques

Thursday, November 21st - Poster presentation

Monday, November 25th - First draft of report

Wednesday, December 4th - Second draft of report

Monday, December 9th - Final report due

For now, we are working on building up our knowledge of the different techniques for fighting soil erosion. Meetings with professors are in the works, and we are excited to begin talking with Ms. Cortet.

Community Partner Update

In an effort to really understand the context of our project and the specific needs of the community surrounding the dam and the Cape Verdean government, we have decided to make contacting our community partner our highest first priority. Last class we drafted some questions that we would like to ask Eva Verona Cortet during our first phone call. We worked on making the questions very open-ended and gearing them in a way that would give us indicators of what we need to be focusing on in our research. Here are some example questions:

Where is erosion occurring?
At what rate is erosion occurring?

Who is currently in charge of maintaining the dam?
Would you be interested in collaborating with other engineers that we connect with?

After generating questions, we began drafting an email asking Ms. Cortet if she would be available and willing to talk with us about our project. The interesting thing about this project is that, not only are we learning about a whole new type of engineering, but we are also learning how to create a professional relationship from the ground up. Despite a potential language barrier, we are hoping to represent Wellesley well to the international community.

Gallery Walk

Last Thursday in class each team presented their research thus far to the class by way of a gallery walk. Our team decided to present an overview of the Poilão Dam and three research topics that we were considering delving into. Each team walked around to each poster display and made comments/suggestions on sticky notes. This exercise was very helpful for our team. We came across some new questions that helped us hone in on what we're interested in accomplishing and what is reasonably achievable by the end of the semester, given our constraints. 

Below see some pictures of our gallery walk.

Narrowing our Project Focus

There are numerous important issues that must be addressed in order to maintain the Poilão Dam in the longterm and to maximize the efficiency of water use for irrigation in the region. However, after evaluating our strengths as a team and the needs of our community partners, our team has decided to direct our energy toward addressing soil erosion on the slopes of the dam impoundment. 

When the dam was constructed, soil was dug out of the hillsides in order to create a basin for the reservoir. Consequently, the slopes of the hillsides surrounding the dam have begun to erode significantly. Soil erosion is a threat to the longevity and functionality of the dam because the soil can silt up the dam and reduce its ability to store water. Soil erosion also leads to a loss of potentially productive land and topsoil. 

Our team will explore a range of techniques to mitigate soil erosion on the slopes surrounding the dam. Some strategies that we may explore include soil bioengineering, such as terracing, mulching, and revegetation. 

Check out our blog periodically to see our progress!

Team Roles

For this final project we have decided to divvy up the roles as follows:

Fiona will be our blogger and documenter, Kalyani will be our community partner liaison, Zehra will be our timeline and goal-point coordinator, and finally Mack will be our research coordinator.

Stay tuned for our timeline, idea sketches, and much more!

Introducing the Final Project: Dam Management in Cape Verde

Project: Soil Erosion Surrounding the Poilao Dam in Santiago, Cape Verde

Welcome to the team engineering blog of Kalyani, Fiona, Zehra and Mackenzie! As a final project in Professor Amy Banzaert's Extra-departmental 120 class at Wellesley College, we are researching the Poilão Dam, located in Santiago, Cape Verde. We are excited to be collaborating with Parliament member and engineer Eva Verona Cortet to develop a report on soil erosion surrounding the dam. We hope that our research on this project will be able to be applied to other dams that Cape Verde builds in the future.

Context:

The island of Santiago in Cape Verde suffers from severe drought, which makes agriculture on the island challenging and unproductive. With the goal of storing and controlling water to improve crop irrigation, Cape Verde's first concrete dam, the Poilão Dam (Barragem de Poilão), was built by the Chinese government in 2006. This 26 m tall x 25 m wide dam collects rainwater that moves down from the surrounding mountains. This water is then distributed to local farms through drip irrigation systems. The use of drip irrigation has replaced earlier practices such as flooding, and has increased water efficiency and resulted in higher quality agricultural produce.The dam irrigates an area of about 65 hectares, and currently benefits about 300 farm families. It appears that the Poilão Dam is contributing to the development of agriculture and tourism on Santiago, and should increase the island's resilience to desertification due to climate change.

The Cape Verdean government has plans to build numerous other dams. However, there is a distinctly limited understanding of best management and maintenance practices for the Poilão Dam by the local authorities. Before additional dams are constructed in Cape Verde, it is critical that a dam management plan be created for the Poilão Dam. 

Goal:

Our team's goal is to consult with the Ministry of Agriculture in Cape Verde to help officials understand and implement best practices for maintaining soil erosion on the banks of the impoundment of the Poilão Dam.