1 Million Liters of Safe Drinking Water in Mexico

Dear GlobalGiving Supporters, 

As the rainy season came to a close in 2021, we were ecstatic that so many new rainwater harvesting cisterns were overflowing with water. Last year was far and beyond our most impactful year to date thanks to supporters like you and our other partners like the Gonzalo Río Arronte Foundation, Inana A.C., United Communities for Life and Water, Pozo Ademado Community Services, and the San Cayetano Community Center. This really was a year of profound collaboration – so many people and organizations coming together to create clean water access together with so many community families that desperately need it. 

Here are some highlights of our rainwater harvesting work in 2021:

1. We built 169 new large-scale rainwater harvesting systems, representing nearly 2 million liters of clean water storage – nearly tripling our impact from the year prior!
2. We installed these solutions in 30 different communities throughout the region who suffer from extreme arsenic and fluoride contamination in their water as well as severe water scarcity conditions in most. 
3. We created a new educational water quality monitoring program to better inform those who are impacted. This program was implemented across 20 community wells, which provide water to more than 65 different rural villages throughout the region. Roughly 14 of those 20 wells exceeded levels of arsenic and/or fluoride. Arsenic levels were as high as 5 times the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations and the fluoride level in one well was more than 8 times the WHO recommended maximum limit.  
4. We implemented dozens of workshops, week-long technical capacity trainings, and 4 “Water Learning Community” events – 2-day workshops that brought together upwards of 60 community leaders throughout the region to learn about water issues as well as new community organization techniques. 
5. To do all of this, we partnered with two foundations, six NGOs and grassroots organizations, 30 communities, dozens of community leaders and organizers, and hundreds of individual donors, just like you. 

Aside from rainwater harvesting in 2021, we also extended our work to begin installing composting toilets in 30 community homes, launched an urban education initiative, and installed our first Groundwater Treatment System, which removes arsenic and fluoride at the community level – the first of its kind in the worlds. You can learn about all of our work and different projects by subscribing to our news bulletin (link below).

Moving into 2022, we are gearing up to have a similarly impactful year. Along with our ongoing “Agua y Salud” project, funded largely by the Gonzalo Río Arronte Foundation and individuals like you, we are starting conversations with municipal governments in San Miguel de Allende and San Diego de la Unión to design new rainwater harvesting projects for this year. 

Additionally, 2022 already started out with some huge news! At the end of 2021, we managed to secure a donation from Rotoplas – the largest manufacturer of prefabricated water cisterns in the country. Rotoplas is generously delivering us 75 rainwater harvesting systems with a 5,000-liter capacity, a value of more than USD $100,000 in materials!

However, our work with the foundations, companies like Rotoplas, and even municipal governments, provide support almost exclusively in the form of materials for these projects. We rely on individual supporters, like those of you here on GlobalGiving, to help us provide deliver these projects, educational programs, water monitoring, and everything else that is required to actually provide clean drinking water access to thousands in this region. 

Please consider supporting this work by making a donation today. 

On behalf of the entire Caminos de Agua, and all of our partners, we sincerely thank you so much for all of your support. 

Saludos,
Dylan

Links:

• Caminos de Agua's News Bulletin - La Gota