By Jake Kheel | Environmental Director
Since the last report was published in July 2013 the Puntacana Ecological Foundation and its project partners made a tremendous push to raise funds from a variety granting organizations and fundraisers to finance the construction of the wastewater treatment system. This portion of the Fuentes de Vida initiative is the necessary precursor to the potable water system and securing access to clean drinking water. With each member of the Fuentes de Vida project team including the Peace Corps, the Punta Cana Bavaro Rotary Club, the community of Domingo Maiz, and of course, the Puntacana Ecological Foundation, collaborating to raise funds from a number of different sources we were able to secure the necessary funds to complete the constructed wetlands water treatment system.
Funding was secured from several granting organizations including: Adventures of the Mind Foundation, USAID’s Small Program Assistance (SPA), Peace Corps Partnership Program, and most notably Positive Legacy. Additional funding was also raised through a generous benefit dinner hosted by the Puntacana Resort & Club with Iron Chef Geoffrey Zacharian preparing a special meal for the donors. Although small compared to the project’s total cost every dollar raised on Global Giving was a tremendous help in advancing the initiative and the Global Giving Fuentes de Vida project page also provides an invaluable forum, which the above groups and individuals were able to reference when considering their support of the project.
Moving forward we are currently receiving bids from contractors to excavate the constructed wetland treatment area and the sewerage (collection) system as well. The Response Peace Corps Volunteer, an engineering specialist with decades of experience developing wastewater and potable water systems all over the world, who helped finalize the system designs and budget earlier in 2013, has returned to the Dominican Republic and is assisting in organizing all of the necessary preparations. We expect to break ground in the next few weeks and are planning on hosting a brief ceremony to inaugurate the project.
As for this Global Giving page we ask that any and all potential donors continue to consider this project for their donations as we still need your help in raising the necessary funds for the potable water and integrated waste management systems. As we mentioned in the project overview section of this page the mission of Fuentes de Vida is to provide community-wide solutions to the most elemental environmental concerns of Domingo Maiz: providing safe drinking water, successfully treating its wastewater, and implementing an integrated solid waste management program to avoid trash collecting in the streets.
The potable water section of the project contemplates implementing a centralized community-wide aqueduct system that will affect the same area as the wastewater treatment system. The well would be equipped with a submersible pump and operate approximately 19 hours per day. The water will be chlorinated as it is pumped into the system ensuring that it is safe for bathing and consumption. The waste management portion of FDV includes purchasing an initial round of 15, 55-gallon, trash containers to be disbursed throughout the community every 200 feet, or 61 meters, as suggested by the community. The neighborhood association of Domingo Maiz is beginning to negotiate with the municipality’s waste hauling company, to establish pick-up times, locations and days for the collection of the community’s garbage. Once this is established the trash cans can be installed throughout the community.
In short, there remains a lot of work to be done and your continued support is crucial to the long term success of the initiative. On behalf of the community of Domingo Maiz and the rest of the Fuentes de Vida project team we would sincerely like to the thank the donors who have so generously supported the project to date and we kindly ask that you continue to support the potable water and solid waste management portions of the initiative . We will be submitting exciting pictures and reports as we begin to break ground and implement the first phase of the Fuentes de Vida project.
Hasta pronto!
By Jake Kheel | Environmental Director
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