Update from Meredith Foyle ---
Monday February 8th, the day before we left for Colombia, I bused to Pacto from Quito for a meeting with the Hidroequinoccio (HEQ) people, now a public company (Provincial and National governments) charged with managing the ambitious Rio Guayllabamba integrated hydroelectric system. They presented the team they've contracted to do the pre- and feasibility studies, a consortium ("TCA") between a French company (TRACTEBEL -experienced in hydroelectric projects) and an Ecuadorian one (CAMINOSCA -experienced in civil engineering design). Ricardo Buitron, the co-director and design chief of TCA was the main presenter. The technical staff then explained the process to a mixed audience of local parish and even more local community government officials and interested citizens of Pacto Parish. TCA will directly undertake topographic, geological, geophysical and hydrological studies. Raul Nu–ez is one of the technical people; the other didn't give his name but I can find out. Silvana Ibarra is their environmental and public relations person. The more technical environmental part of the studies will be subcontracted to yet another, more specialized company, whose name they have yet to give me.
Both HEQ and TCA did a pretty good job of presenting the project, definitely with more pertinent detail than ever before, and they were open to questions and patient with us. In a word, professional. Basically, the 3 feasibility studies have begun, and we will be seeing these people in the area for the next 16 months or so. They say they will never enter anyone's land without prior notice, and explained each part of the study with pictures of the tools they will use to drill for samples, gave us details of the magnitude of intervention necessary (not too much, for the most part, except that the site is pretty difficult to access), what kind of samples they take, what is left in situ afterwards, and what kinds of jobs will be on offer to local people (very few, low-level, and mostly very short term). TCA will spend 3 months on the first study (pre-feasibility), 7 months on the second, and 6 months on the third, advanced one. The whole series is expected to be completed in April of 2011. After a while I stopped asking questions because it will be more informative to talk with their technical staff one on one. A working relationship is developing with both the HEQ and TCA teams, as we are not only stakeholders (who must go through HEQ to communicate with TCA) but also members of an affected community (Santa Rosa) AND property owners in said area, with whom they will communicate directly in order to complete their mandate. AND we happen to have been in the area a long time and have records of rainfall, wildlife, etc that no one else has, so we are fairly good informants for them. In truth, they seem quite solicitous of our goodwill (never a bad thing, as long as we don't let it go to our heads.
The Manduriacu site downstream of us is slated to produce 170 mw, with a 70 m high dam and a 3.5 km pressure tube (shunt?) (passing under Guayabillas?). Its 8-10 km long "embalse" -the Guayllabamba river backed up behind the dam- would probably flood the low-lying areas of our farm (certainly the Bocana, where R. Guaycuyacu enters the Guayllabamba, but also possibly ALL of Jim's orchards (our livelihood, the seeds of those 500+ spp of tropical fruits from all over the world), and our house. At one point in the presentation, it sounded as though the big river would be backed up all the way to Chontal! Naturally, we are not the only ones affected in the area, though we -and Don Pepe Yanouch, the famous "Gringo Pepe"- are among those who have developed their low-lying lands more intensively than most folks.
So Jim and I are gathering documentation of the value of our farm as it stands -letters of recommendation, at this point. And we are gathering information gleaned from the experiences of others who have been up against similar projects.
From an environmental standpoint, it occurs to me that an independent, multi-disciplinary team of scientists (a range of biologists, botanists, but also geologists, geophysicists, and hydrologists) might come in to do a Rapid Area Assessment (survey) before the project gets underway, as it is an area where little or no scientific studies have occurred, and it would be good to catalog what is there now, to determine if there are important species or conditions that should be taken into account; test water, etc. Are there minerals that would turn toxic underwater and become pollutants? (some kind of mercury does this, i read in a NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC article) It would offer the possibility of new species discovery (e.g. a couple of new frog species discovered recently in nearby Pedro Vicente Maldonado). Obviously, the company that's sub-contracted to do the feasibility studies will do some of this, but the idea of a second, independent opinion sounds comforting to me.
I pray that in the course of it all they will discover the site is not viable for geophysical reasons (best case scenario). We are hydro-users ourselves, so it isn't so much about what they propose (though a smaller SCALE would be less intimidating) as it is WHERE they propose it... Some of what they have planned is quite good: the Guayllabamba River could USE to be cleaned up, and Quito's sewage treated to something more wholesome than a trip downstream to Esmeraldas. It wouldn't be bad to have chemical farming taken to task for the pollution it causes through runoff or direct dumping, and the cost of that factored into their pricing (it could give organic farmers a better edge in providing wholesome food, etc.) And the studies could boost local appreciation of just what we are living with here, of the value to good water, good soil, wildlife, etc. So stay tuned, we're in it for the long haul.
After their presentation was over (2 hours!) the HEQ people (Lorena and Veronica and their driver) took me to lunch and then we drove to our farm, because Lorena felt she needed to respond to Jim's letter, and also I think they were curious. We gave them plenty of weird fruits, some gorgeous ginger flowers, guayabilla juice and rum balls, Jim took them to the Poza and then I returned with them to Quito. Wham, bam! But they were enchanted, and called the place paradise. I refrained from mentioning they might well flood it out. At this point, discretion is the better part of diplomacy. I do not want to be adversarial unless it becomes necessary. Kindness is never out of place, nor generosity.
