Change For Children: Water Well

THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN COMPLETED! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

Project Description:

This project provides a community at the base of the Las Casitas Volcano in Chinandega, Nicaragua (population 1800+) with a well and potable water system. The project also provides for the training of a local community water committee who will manage and ration the water resource if necessary and provide for its maintenance.

Since 2004, working with Centro Humboldt www.humboldt.org.ni, in Nicaragua, and with the support of CIDA and our generous donors, Change for Children has provided potable water systems for 73 communities (over 25,000 people) in northern Nicaragua.

But this project has accomplished far more than the awesome task of providing clean water to 25,000 people, it is a project with a holistic vision of environmental protection and preservation as well as a project that promotes access to water as a human right.

This project provided the resources for Centro Humboldt to participate in the drafting and consultation process for Nicaragua’s new legislation regarding water, which leaves control of the precious resource in the hands of local people and empowers community water committees to control the resource locally. Furthermore, the project also involves measures to maintain rights and access to water under local control through a training process for municipalities without sufficient capacity to manage water resources.

Update from the field: June 2010

During the last six months, our Nicaraguan partner, Centro Humboldt, was able to support the work of the national Coalition of Community Water Committees (http://capsnicaragua.blogspot.com), by facilitating the participation of the 702 water committee members who were trained to participate in the public consultation process around the drafting of a supplementary law (Community Water Committee Law), which will recognize these bodies as official organizations with local responsibilities and rights, that are capable of receiving funding from the National Water Fund and from external sources to execute and manage water projects in their communities. 

In order to preserve the water table in this ecologically fragile area for the long term, this project also supported the distribution of eco-stoves that burn the amount of wood that a traditional adobe stove consumes on a daily basis. 

This well is complete; water quality is potable as demonstrated by testing; Water levels are monitored and meet community needs; Beneficiaries provided qualitative indicators of satisfaction. 

Community members also benefitted from information campaigns about environmental preservation, reforestation and health and hygiene. Reports, documentaries and testimonials indicate that people are changing their health and hygiene behaviour and prioritizing the environment.

Workshops for municipalities were realized in the area which resulted in improved knowledge about the laws relating to water and environmental protection by municipal authorities. After the workshop they demonstrated concern for the state of their aquifers and suggested reforms to the Water Law that was passed recently by the Nicaraguan National Assembly.

Video: Every Drop Makes a Difference

http://www.changeforchildren.org/involved/watercampaign10.html

This short film produced by CFCA partner, Centro Humboldt,  captures the impact that Change for Children projects have had in communities across the Northwest region of Nicaragua. This film captures the work, the people and the stories of achieving water as a human right.

Update from the field: November 2009

The construction process for this well is underway, the community water committee has been formed and trained in water management and the beneficiary population participated in site selection and design procedures with our partner NGO, Centro Humboldt (www.humboldt.org.ni) that is implementing the project. This well is part of a larger water well drilling and capacity building project in the region that provides training for local water committees and municipalities to improve their capacity to manage the precious resource and ensure the health of the aquifers in the region. In Nicaragua, 50% of the rural population receives water through the administration of a community based water committee (not from the national water company owned by the government), so community water committees are very important for water management and system maintenance in remote rural areas like Chinandega.

Update from the field: June 2009

The water committee in the community has been formed and inhabitants are participating in site selection and design procedures with our partner NGO which is implementing the project. This well is part of a larger water project in the region which provides training for local water committees and municipalities to improve their capacity to manage the precious resource. In Nicaragua 50% of the rural population receives water through the administration of a community based water committee (not from the national water company owned by the government), so community water committees are very important in terms of water management and system maintenance in remote rural areas such as the location of this well. In the region, training for the municipal officials is underway and local officials and civil servants are building their capacity for water management. They have been alerted to their responsibilities in regional water management as well as their obligations to ensure sustainable management of water projects and the health of the aquifers / watersheds that provide water for the region.

Anywhere you travel in northern Nicaragua you will find communities with limited or no access to safe drinking water. In this drought stricken area of cash crop agricultural production, people are struggling to survive and make a better future for their children.