Fred Stottlemeyer

We met Fred Stottlemeyer at his home in Marcala before going to the Marcala Rotary Club. Fred is the former manager of the South Putnam Public Service District in Charleston, WV. He was a founding member of the WV Rural Water Association. He also founded the International Rural Water Association and served as its President.

Fred retired in 2004 and decided to start a second career using his expertise to help people in rural parts of Honduras and El Salvador get potable water. He is the principal design engineer on many of these systems. He has brought many people together by developing a circuit rider program (an engineer or five technicians that periodically visit a number of plants to provide help where needed.) He has also set up a chlorine bank and worked on small system loans.

As most of you know, I spent my professional career designing water and waste treatment systems, including one in Honduras. I was thrilled to see Fred's pictures of his water plants. He asked me if I would like to visit.

At 7:00 AM on Saturday morning, he picked me up. In the car were Dan Smith, a graduate environmental engineer from Cornell who was in Honduras on a Fulbright Scholarship, and Sarah Long, an intern from Cornell.

The processes in the Marcala plant are almost identical to drinking water plants in developed areas, with just a few notable exceptions. There is no electricity. All processes are gravity flow from the water source above the plant to users below. All chemical mixing must be done by the turbulence of the water. The are no pumps, except for a small pump used for washdown water and driven by a 2-cycle engine typically used on a chain saw. There are no computers or instrumentation. Light at night is provided by a 12 V battery, which also runs the radio. The chemicals must be continuously adjusted to remove mud (turbidity) and maintain a chlorine residual. The operators never know what is happening to the water source. If it is raining upstream of the water intake, the mud in the water may be too high to treat and the plant must be shut down. For these reasons, the plant must be manned continuously. (See Oscar and Edwin)

Fred Stottlemeyer is a water genius. It is not surprising that Al Steele hauled him into his circle of water partners. I suspect the satisfactions of Fred's second career far exceed the first. I also have a feeling that Fred and I will meet again.