Projects

La Pradera del Quetzal, Guatemala
The objective for our first trip was to provide a sustainable and reliable water distribution system for the Guatemalan village of La Pradera del Quetzal. This village has access to several springs in the area, but the distribution system saves travel time and provides a sanitary water source. For our second trip, we intend to build a foundation for a large schoolhouse. The building will have removable interior walls to create a dual purpose building. It will function as the school and also as a community center for the entire village. By constructing this foundation we will be laying the foundation for the future of the village. Children will be adequately educated and the stability of the community will be strengthed by creating a sense of unity through a community center.


Rio Bravo, Guatemala
Rio Bravo is a community of 19,000 people struggling to transition into a better way of living. Currently the quality of life is diminished because of a lack of access to clean drinking water. Those with access to municipal water are unable to drink the water without a high risk of exposing themselves to parasites and harmful bacteria. Others are at a greater risk as they rely on the river or shallow ground water sources exposing them to Giardia and a variety of worms.

In January EWB-OU assessed the water quality, infrastructure, human health, and made contact with the local government in order to coordinate a program to provide 7,500 people, over 35% of the community, with access to clean drinking water. The health of the community was also assessed from annual health studies. Between 2005 and 2007 over 3,700 people suffered from various Intestinal Parasites. We found 549 cases of Giardia, over 75 incidence of E. coli, 332 people suffered from various worms, 32 cases of malaria, 1 case of Dengue and over 3000 people suffered from amoebas.

We propose to enhance the water quality for both the urban and rural populations in order to improve community health. These include the implementation of a primary water treatments system at both of the springs as well as study the appropriate levels of secondary chlorine to be added in order to ensure residual chlorine throughout the system. For those rural families we propose to implement a Point Of Use pilot project for 200 families. This project will be studied for the possibility of further expanding it to more people depending on its success. We also propose to explore deeper aquifers and establish community wells as an alternative to the Point Of Use system.

See a list of all EWB projects.