SHI: Safe Drinking Water for 20,000 Rural Families

It's been seven years since the implementation of Self-Help International’s Clean Water Program in Nicaragua, which has brought simple, understandable, and efficient chlorination technology to disinfect water storage systems in rural Nicaraguan villages. That's been Program Officer Orlando Montiel’s experience, who explains:

Self-Help International started the water program in two rural communities in the San Carlos municipality, Cruz Verde and Los Chiles. Community members participated in the water quality tests and the demonstrations of the disinfection and purification of the contaminated water. When Self-Help saw the success of the CTI-8 chlorinators, it began extending the experience to other communities in the municipality.

There has been a lot of need in rural communities - water shortages, unsafe drinking water, needing to construct community water systems and aqueducts to meet the demand for water, etc. The clean water program has greatly improved the water quality in the communities where chlorination equipment has been installed. 

In the last seven years, Self-Help has managed to provide better quality water to 92 rural communities in nine municipalities of the departments of Río San Juan, Central Zelaya, Chontales and Boaco, benefiting 81,712 people. 

During these seven years, innovations have been essential in the process of improving the water quality in rural communities. Each chlorinator must be designed around the specifications of the pipes, batteries, and water distribution tanks, so that the chlorinator may effectively disinfect water. 

Since clean water is so vital to communities, it is important that the installation of each device be thoroughly investigated and analyzed prior to installation. This requires the necessary materials, pipes, fittings and tools, so that water can best be decontaminated. 

Self-Help’s latest focus has been on modifying the vertical laminar flow and laminar chlorinator to ensure duration of a newly recommended type of tablet which is calcium-based. The new modifications must allow for sufficient water circulation to achieve chlorination, but not so much water circulation that the calcium hypochlorite tablet dissolve too quickly.

A switch to calcium tablets from sodium tablets was necessitated by a study released in 2019 entitled “Study on the Chlorine Supply Chain in Rural Systems of Operational Water Supply.” In Nicaragua, there have been three locally available forms of chlorine tablets. Self-Help has historically distributed the most cost-effective locally available form of chlorine tablets, which is made of sodium dichloroisocyanurate. 

However, the new study assessed CTI-8 systems in Nicaragua by comparing the different forms of chlorine tablets in use. The report referenced the World Health Organization’s 2017 findings that sodium-based tablets should be used “as a means of primary disinfection in cases of emergency” but common operator error makes it undesirable for daily use.

 47-year-old Arle has lived in the community of Las Bellezas, Nicaragua for more than 25 years. He and his wife have two sons and a daughter. He is currently the president of the Water and Sanitation Committee (CAPS) in his community. Self-Help Clean Water Program staff interviewed him during a 2019 trip to his community, and he expressed his motivation to continue working on improving water for his community. Read the interview below!

What was the main problem for your community?

In 2014, our city hall and community worked together on a water project to bring water into families’ homes, but the water didn’t was still untreated. It wasn’t safe to drink.

How did you learn about Self-Help International’s Clean Water Program?

We heard about an organization that was installing chlorinators to improve water. We wanted to contact them so that we could have a chlorinator that would disinfect the water in our community.  

What motivated you and your community to install the chlorinator?

We were motivated by the idea of a chlorinator in the community because the water we had was poor quality. We were drinking piped water that was not suitable for consumption. Plus, there were outbreaks of diarrheal diseases which greatly impacted our children. There were 97 registered cases of diarrhea in children from ages 0-5, and 8 cases of stomach bacteria. The Ministry of Health (MINSA) informed us that our community was one of the worst affected by diarrheal diseases due to our unsafe water.

How did the community come together and agree on installing a chlorinator?

The six-person CAPS board met, then it held an open community meeting to debate the installation of a chlorinator. Orlando, Self-Help’s Clean Water Program Officer, attended this meeting to explain the installation of the chlorinator and how it would disinfect the water. He explained how it would work on our community’s aqueduct.

Did you have any cases of illness in your family due to the poor water quality?

In 2014, my wife had a bacterial infection in her stomach. I took her to the medical center in Juigalpa and then to the capital city, Managua. A bacteriologist tested her and told us that the unchlorinated water was to blame for her infection. She spent six months being treated for it.

What happened after the chlorinator installation?

When the chlorinator was put in, the number of cases of diarrhoeal diseases dropped by 98%. Community members noticed that they were healthier and realized how important the chlorinator was. Today the population of the community is extremely grateful - to God, and to the organization that installed the chlorinator and has supported us in every way possible.

How do you feel, as the president of the CAPS in your community, about the Self-Help Clean Water Program?

I am sincerely telling you that I feel totally grateful, as does my community. Improving water quality is a process every day. We have seen the importance of water being sanitized and of always having safe, good quality water. Personally, I am very grateful for the support Self-Help has given me as a leader of the CAPS and the community. I feel motivated to continue working on this project that is having a great impact on my community.