1 Million Liters of Safe Drinking Water in Mexico

Dear GlobalGiving Supporters, 

We are thrilled to announce that our new project with the Río Arronte Foundation, now being called “Agua para el Futuro” (Water for the Future), is officially off the ground! This is a continuation of the “Agua y Salud” project we closed out at the end of 2023 and was the focus of our last update. The “Agua para el Futuro” Project will be more than twice the size of Agua y Salud. 

There are many facets to this three year initiative. We are implementing an innovative health study in collaboration with the National Public Health Institute of Mexico, Columbia University, and the University of Colorado (learn more here). We are building 3 of our “Groundwater Treatment Systems” (GTS), which are our community-scale arsenic and fluoride treatment plants we developed internally here at Caminos de Agua (and which won First Prize in the 2022 RELX Environmental Challenge, learn more about GTS here). We will be doing a series of water quality analyses and educational forums and events on the impacts of arsenic and fluoride-contaminated water in Mexico. And, working closely with INANA A.C. and the UCIRED (The Campesino and Indigenous University Network), we will introduce a comprehensive educational program called “Escuela del Agua” (or “The Water School”), which, over the course of at least two years, will train 30 aspiring community organizers, mostly young women, to create a new generation of environmental stewards and community leaders dedicated to watershed revitalization and community well-being. 

But, most importantly for our dear GlobalGiving Community, we plan on building a lot more capacity for rainwater capture, storage, and filtration for families in the region impacted by water scarcity and/or arsenic and fluoride contamination. Working closely alongside long-time grassroots collaborators CUVAPAS, SECOPA, and the San Cayetano Community Center, and in partnership with the Municipal Government of San Diego de la Unión, we’ll be building upwards of 700 rainwater harvesting systems, and installing 1,000+ water filters, in over 70 rural communities – providing clean drinking water to thousands, during the three years of this project. 

We are happy to report that we’ve already hit the ground running. Since January, we’ve worked with our partners at CUVAPAS to build rainwater harvesting systems to take advantage of this rainy season that starts in June (we hope!). With CUVAPAS, we have already completed a staggering 75 rainwater harvesting systems, utilizing 12,000-liter capacity ferrocement cisterns, in 24 different impacted communities. 

In addition to this work, we have also been working closely with the Municipal Government of San Diego de la Unión. We signed a new contract with the municipal government, and together, we plan to build an additional 140 rainwater harvesting systems this year. We are currently working together in 4 different communities (La Sauceda, San Juan Pan de Arriba, Venadito y Varal, and Carboneras) with our government partner. We performed 12 educational workshops in these communities as well as 4 more in-depth technical capacity trainings focusing on how to actually build the rainwater harvesting systems. We finished the construction of 20 rainwater harvesting systems in the community of La Sauceda early this year, and we also delivered 40 water filters (with accompanying training on use and maintenance) to La Sauceda and Carboneras in April. Unfortunately, we have to pause our work for the time being on this project as elections are happening in Mexico. That means the Municipal Government is not allowed to do any more of this work until after the election in June. Once over, no matter who wins, we plan on implementing the additional ~100 rainwater harvesting systems by September. 

While our partnerships are vast and growing, we really cannot do any of this work without the support of individuals, like all of you in our GlobalGiving community. The fact remains that the Río Arronte Foundation, our main institutional partner, requires a 1-1 match for every dollar they provide to these projects. That means over the course of the next three years, we have to provide an equivalent amount of funding that the Río Arronte provides to implement all of this work, and most of that is done through individual donors like you. 

We hope you can see how your contribution goes further as it leverages the support of other institutions and individuals. Together, we can all make an important impact on the lives of real people suffering from scarce and contaminated water resources. 

So, to the entire GlobalGiving community, we sincerely thank you for all that we have accomplished together and your on-going commitment to support this work. 

Sincerly, 

Dylan Terrell on behalf of the Caminos de Agua Team