SHI: Safe Drinking Water for 20,000 Rural Families

In the humid overgrowth of Nicaragua’s dense forests lies the village of Cruz Verde, a rural region in the municipality of San Carlos. The city is home to 659 people and relies heavily on agriculture as a means of sustenance. The air is filled by the squawks of chickens running through the muddy roads, and the happy grunts of pigs rolling around in muck. The noise is almost enough to drown out the interviewees, CAPS (Comité de Agua Potable y Saneamiento  -- Water Sanitation Committee) leaders Pedro, Freddy, and Guillermo. Self Help International conducted the interview nearly four years after Cruz Verde elected to install the CTI-8 water chlorinator, wanting to know the broader long-term impacts the purification system had made on the community.

Lobbying the people of Cruz Verde to purchase the system was quite an impact in and of itself. Describing their grassroots effort, Pedro states, “We heard about the CTI-8 during a Self Help International presentation in 2011… Our water needed to be purified, so we walked, house, to house, to house, handing out brochures and educating every family on the importance of using chlorinated water”. When asked if they literally spoke with every family, Freddy reiterates, “each house, every house”. This initiative by the CAPS leaders was meant to inform the people on the importance of investing in their water system.

Guillermo expands on this, saying, “Many people knew the stomach illnesses they suffered were from the water – less people knew that chlorinating it would help – [still] less actually chlorinated their water with home purifying kits. I would say only 30% of the people were drinking clean water before you guys [Self-Help International] installed the CTI-8”. As they communicated the seriousness of access to potable water, they were met with almost unanimous support. The push for the chlorinator lead to a communal investment in a more advanced system, providing potable running water to each household.

Pedro explains that before the water purification efforts, “We had to walk 4 kilometers each way to reach the nearest fresh water source… Typically the women and children went to do it since we work… they would walk back carrying anywhere from 2-5 gallons each”. To give some perspective, 5 gallons of water weighs over 40 pounds, and is carried for a total of 2.48 miles. That grueling effort was performed on a daily basis, providing water that still contained a myriad of contaminants.

Life in Cruz Verde has changed quite drastically since the installation, as water is clean and plentiful. Freddy balances his son on one knee as he explains the health benefits of the system. He states, simply, “All my kids got sick from chronic diarrhea before the installation; since the installation, all of them have avoided it”. Though incredibly effective, the CTI-8’s functions are basic and have worked without error since the installation. “We just have to place a new chlorine tablet in every two weeks or so… it’s very simple and we haven’t ever had problems with it”. When asked if they thought the purchase was worth the lobbying labor and fiscal cost, Pedro responds, “You cannot put a cost on good health… not on mine, not on my children’s, not on my neighbors, not on anyone’s”.

Thanks to the generosity of donors, Self-Help International has now installed 66 chlorinators purifying 1,631,000 liters of water each day to ensure that 8,849 homes, or 56,687 people, in Nicaragua have access to clean water. For only $135 you can sponsor an entire water chlorinator unit and change the lives of an entire community.

Miguel and his wife Griselda live in a compact cement house in La Culebra, a rural village, home to just over one thousand people. In July of 2013, Miguel petitioned the people of La Culebra to install a CTI-8 water chlorination system after attending a purification demonstration presented by Self Help International employees. He promptly called a meeting amongst all 228 houses in the area, citing rampant acute diarrheal disease and other water-borne illnesses as dire concerns for the wellbeing of the entire community.

“We immediately held a meeting and voted on the purchase of the system… people were sick of being sick… they were sick of seeing their children sick”, he says sternly. His three children, ranging from ages 4 to 10, shoot marbles on the floor of the house as he continues, pausing between thoughts. “We have all had diarrhea and rash breakouts from drinking the impure water,” he states, gesturing to the children. “It was filthy… everyone’s children suffered the same symptoms… it was always worse for them than the adults”.

"Granos de piel por agua" is the local name for the rash contracted by ingesting or washing oneself with contaminated water. Affected areas can be local, or cover the entire body. Symptoms include itchiness and moderate pain – if irritated, the rash can lead to more serious infection. The ailments came as a result of fecal particles tainting La Culebra’s water supply. 

Self Help International’s Water Program Director, Orlando Montiel Salas, conducted a basic demonstration of contamination levels collecting water samples in petri dishes, then having samples analyzed in a nearby laboratory.The untreated sample that the community had been ingesting came back from the lab with 14 fecal cultures. Contamination levels between 10 and 100 are considered to be an extreme health risk. Each dot in the petri dish (pictured in attachment) is a thriving colony of fecal bacteria from La Culebra’s initially non-chlorinated water source.

After viewing the fecal content of the crude water, over 90% of the community immediately voted in favor of the purchase of the CTI-8 system, recognizing the effectiveness and the low cost of production and maintenance. Since the assembly, Miguel has become the leader of “Comité de Agua Potable y Saneamiento” (CAPS) in La Culebra, a volunteer group dedicated to ensuring basic levels of local water sanitation. He says that a variety of people within the community have similarly volunteered to clean and maintain the purification system. “Every month of purified water now costs each household only 30 Cordobas [roughly USD $1]… other systems are more expensive and the water tastes strange”.

While Miguel speaks fervently and fluidly on the functions of the CTI-8 system, as well as the duties of CAPS members, his wife Griselda is more interested in discussing how her life, and the lives of her children, have been changed as a result of Self Help International’s water purification initiative. Bobbing her youngest son on her lap, she states, “We knew it [water chlorination] was necessary, but we did not think we could afford it until Self Help came for the demonstration… I feel safe knowing my children don’t worry about getting sick from drinking or washing themselves. It has been one and a half years since the installation; it has been one and a half years of comfort”

Recently, Miguel and Griselda have received increasing amounts of positive feedback and interest from visitors in neighboring communities. With a proud grin, Griselda states, “A teacher I work with travels all the time and says the water in La Culebra is the best in the region!” Miguel nods his head in agreement, explaining that men from surrounding villages have begun asking about La Culebra’s water, “Word of mouth travels quickly here, very quickly. When the CTI-8 is this efficient and this cheap, why wouldn’t you want it?” Affordable access to potable water is often taken for granted amongst more developed populaces, but the people of La Culebra still celebrate this recent innovation. Miguel concludes very simply, “It has changed our lives and bettered our community”.

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• La Culebra Water Test Results with photos (PDF)