Starting in 2016 DCC began a partnership with the Organizacion pour le Development de Bassin Bleu, Jacmel (ODBJ) aimed at supporting the development and implementation of an irrigation project in Bassin Bleu, Jacmel that would benefit the community by providing farmers with a dependable source of water for their crops. Through the support of colleagues in the Department of Civil Engineering at Rowan University and with the efforts of members of ODBJ, plans for an underground PVC-based irrigation system were developed.
Simultaneously, DCC's Founding Chair worked to seek funding for the implementation of the project. On January 2020, the Bassin Bleu project was re-energized with DCC's successful application for a grant from the Haitian Professionals of Philadelphia (HPP) to help fund the implementation of one of three strands of the Bassin Bleu irrigation project. Unfortunately, as is often the case with international engineering projects, recent global events (from the Covid-19 pandemic to the rise of gang violence in Haiti following the assassination of the country's sitting president) resulted in the postponement of the implementation of phase one of the project as funded by HPP.
Bassin Bleu Irrigation Rehabilitation Project Set to Break Ground!
On November 22, DCC received official confirmation from the Haitian Professionals of Philadelphia (HPP) that our request on behalf of the community of Bassin Bleu to remediate one of three strands of the irrigation project was approved.
In the year 2022 however, DCC worked with ODBJ's new leadership with the approval of HPP to identify a way forward for the project. After officially presenting the final plans as developed by colleagues in the Department of Civil Engineering at Rowan to ODBJ's leadership, it was decided that was is most pressing and would have the most immediate impact for the community of Bassin Bleu would be to rehabilitate the Koton branch of the existing concrete irrigation canal. Thus working with ODBJ, DCC acquired the exact GPS coordinates for the stretch of canal in question that needs remediation and consulted with an engineer on the ground in Haiti to articulate a proposed budget for the rehabilitation.
DCC subsequently submitted a formal request to HPP on behalf of the community of Bassin Bleu to remediate one of three strands of the irrigation project instead of implementing the originally approved underground PVC-based system. And on November 22, 2022 official approval by way of an updated award letter was received from HPP. Since receiving this important news, ODBJ has held the necessary meetings with members of the community of Bassin Bleu including key stakeholders as the rehabilitation project is set to be implemented in the new year.
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