This August a team of nine undergraduate students from the University of Michigan met our staff in the Managua airport to spend two weeks building a Rain-Harvest and Drip Irrigation System in the north. The team is called NicarAGUA and is part of the BLUELab of the University of Michigan (Better Living Using Engineering Laboratory). The year before, they worked with ACI staff to build an ACI Facility Filter Unit in a school in Managua. On that trip, they started the planning of their own system to install at the Rancho Los Alpes in rural Leon, Nicaragua. Two weeks were spent at the Ranch constructing a system that had taken the previous year and a half to plan. The project was completed and now the Ranch, which serves the poorer population around it, has almost 14,000 gallons of water for drip irrigation and whatever else the surrounding community may need in this year of draught.

Daniel, ACI's Technician, and U of M Students Busy at Work
Daniel, ACI’s Technician, and U of M Students Busy at Work
The Frame of the Catchment System and the Beginning of the Store Tank
The Frame of the Catchment System and the Beginning of the Store Tank
Team NicaraAGUA's Leader, Mario, and ACI's Daniel, Explain the System to Local Farmers
Team NicaraAGUA’s Leader, Mario, and ACI’s Daniel, Explain the System to Local Farmers
The Catchment, Collection & Drip-Irrigation System
The Catchment, Collection & Drip-Irrigation System
The Ranch Staff, Team NicarAGUA, & ACI Staff in front of the 14,000 Gallon Collection Tank
The Ranch Staff, Team NicarAGUA, & ACI Staff in front of the 14,000 Gallon Collection Tank