By Dylan Terrell | Executive Director
Dear GlobalGiving Supporters,
As 2026 moves forward, we’re excited to share both what this work made possible in 2025 and how that momentum is already carrying into the year ahead. Thanks to your support, along with the leadership of communities and partner organizations across the region, our rainwater harvesting program continues to grow in both scale and depth.
What We Built in 2025
Last year was our biggest year yet for rainwater harvesting. By the end of 2025, Caminos de Agua and our partners had completed 302 household rainwater harvesting systems across the region.
This included:
This growth reflects something important: our impact is not expanding because Caminos de Agua is centralizing more and more work internally. It is growing because communities, grassroots organizations, municipalities, partner NGOs, and local leaders are increasingly taking ownership and helping carry the work forward.
What Is Already Underway in 2026
That momentum has continued strongly into this year.
In the neighboring communities of Marroquín de Abajo and La Mesita, we are now implementing a project that will bring 25 additional household rainwater harvesting systems to families before the start of the rainy season. This work responds to a very concrete need: local groundwater is both insufficient and contaminated with arsenic and fluoride, while many families must rely on expensive bottled water for drinking and cooking. By helping households capture and safely store rainwater, the project offers a healthier and more affordable long-term alternative.
We also recently completed 11 systems in the community of Agustín González through our collaboration with Salvemos al Río Laja. That partnership continues to grow. We are now well underway with another process in Estancia de Canal, where 19 families are participating in workshops, training, and installation activities as they move toward completing their own systems.
At the same time, we have signed a new agreement with the Municipal Government of San Diego de la Unión to build at least 120 more rainwater harvesting systems this year, continuing one of the most important large-scale collaborations in the region.
In Pájaro Bobo, we have already completed a second phase of 7 additional systems in 2026, and conversations are underway about how to expand further. In San Pedro de la Sierra, where community members had already led their own second phase in 2025, we are now evaluating the next stage together and expect to support at least 15 more systems this year.
Strengthening Community Leadership
A major part of this year’s work is not just building more systems, but expanding the local capacity to carry this work forward.
One part of that effort is the strengthening of community-based technical installers: people with prior experience in rainwater harvesting projects who receive technical training so they can help ensure systems are installed correctly and efficiently, with clear responsibilities and fair compensation. This helps improve quality while making implementation more agile across different communities and collaborations.
Another part is what we sometimes call our multipliers or community facilitators. These are local groups or committees that, after going through a process themselves, can help organize, guide, and accompany future implementation processes for other families or communities. This approach emerged with even more structure through our work in San Pedro de la Sierra in 2025 and is expanding this year, and we are now also exploring how to expand it to Pájaro Bobo as well.
These strategies matter because they allow the work to grow through local leadership, not only through Caminos de Agua staff.
Looking Ahead This Year
In 2026, our goal is to install 294 rainwater harvesting systems across the region, while also improving long-term water quality support for families through updated household disinfection systems and replacement filters where older models are no longer the best fit.
We are also continuing to connect this work with youth leadership and technical learning through our Water School. Right now, students are participating in a major hands-on workshop with our team and Isla Urbana to build a 50,000-liter cistern together. We look forward to sharing more about that process in our next update.
Thank you for making this work possible. Your support through GlobalGiving helps us stay flexible, strengthen partnerships, and continue building toward a future in which more families have reliable access to safe water.
With gratitude,
Dylan Terrell
Executive Director
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