It has been quite a month. We are moving forward as best we can. The National Alliance for Water Innovation seems to have been affected; at least two government researchers we know have been laid off. Fortunately, I can confirm that we are still able to withdraw funds from our two Bureau of Reclamation accounts, so our pilots do not seem to be in jeopardy.

We have overcome several challenges this month ranging from cold weather to electrical gremlins and late vendor payments. Still, it looks like we are on track to ship out Searay (our seawater pilot) and to commission Chimaera (a 5-process hybrid) by the end of March.

Some proof of government function in Texas
Last Tuesday involved two encouraging developments:

• Plum Creek Conservation District approved a resolution to contribute $200,000 in local matching funds so that they can apply for the same amount of funds from the Agricultural Water Conservation Grants Program administered by Texas. These funds will be used to deploy a groundwater desalination pilot and to study the benefits of using desalinated water on soil health. While the grant must be submitted by a political subdivision (PCCD), we will help to prepare and implement the grant.¹

• The City of Socorro’s Planning and Zoning commission approved a motion to add A-1 (Agricultural) zoning districts to their regulations. Our upcoming pilot was the driver for this amendment. In reviewing zoning with city planners, we discovered that agricultural zoning districts had been left out of Socorro’s migration from paper to digital records. With this motion approved, our project will be in compliance with local regulations.

• The next step for our Socorro pilot is to receive clearance from the Texas Historical Commission. Our pilot site is just a quarter mile away from La Purísima Socorro Mission, so THC is requiring an archaeological survey of and under the ground where we will dig our ~0.1 acre evaporation pond to dispose of the brine from our desalination unit. We are finalizing the pond design with a local engineering firm (ESSCO) and the site owner (Ralph Loya) and then will proceed with the survey.

Meanwhile, Haig has been diligent in reaching out to agricultural agents, groundwater district managers, and producers in Texas. He has identified several gatherings which we plan to attend later this year, including the Texas Well Owner Network.

Design & manufacturing in Massachusetts

Last week we were also approved for an Express Grant from the Massachusetts Workforce Training Fund Program. We will be reimbursed just over $10k to enroll employees in two training courses: AutoCAD Fundamentals and AutoCAD Plant3D. It will serve us well to combine our team’s piping intuition with solid CAD capabilities.

We are making full use of the facilities at Artisans Asylum, including the CNC lathe. The CNC lathe allows us to make NPT threads in-house, reducing cost and lead-time for niche adapters and custom pipe lengths.

Last week we met with a car designer to review our pilot design. Ben had some great advice, which basically boils down to: make it simple enough a child can understand it. We are hard at work to implement these suggestions for Searay to benefit all who will see it in Singapore and Saudi Arabia.

regards-
quantum