Talking with Colombia:

Paula Delgado-Kling from the blog "Talking with Colombia" wrote a blog about co-founder Simón Zimmer and Aguayuda.

Please check it out at:

Talking with Colombia Blog Post

Best regards,

Making Progress in Many Areas!

It is a very exciting time for us here at Aguayuda. We are growing in the number of volunteers, in the number of prospective projects, while learning about new technologies that we hope to utilize on future sites. Every time we go to Colombia we come across another community in desperate need of a water solution, and our growing tool box of resources allows us to plan appropriate interventions for their specific needs.

Aguayuda would also like to welcome our two full time summer interns Ariel and Phyo, as well as thank our worldwide network of volunteers and donors, especially Kathleen and Bonnie who are helping with grant writing and fundraising, Rebekah our social media volunteer, Stefanie, Ana and Mario who translated our new website update as well as Jack and Jorge who are helping in the project planning. We cannot do the work we do without all of you, and every completed project is a result of your own dedication as well.

We just returned from a six week trip to Colombia where we went to a rural community called Comején. There are about 100 indigenous Wayúu living there, with only a failing windmill and a leaking water distribution system as their sole source of water. The newly formed windmill company from our project in  El Pájaro made necessary repairs and maintenance to the windmill, water storage tanks, and constructed a water basin for the animals, while the community dug trenches for the new water distribution system. They were incredible workers in the heat, and as a result every home in the community now has its own faucet.

This was an incredibly successful project implementation, but unfortunately as we completed the work in Comején, several other communities in desperate need of clean water emerged. We see a lot of the same problems in our work; shallow wells, broken windmill pumps, leaking raised water storage units. For the amount of suffering that arises from using impure water sources, it is amazing how simple and relatively inexpensive repairs or installed technology are all it will take to provide an entire community with clean water and sanitation.

Some of the technologies we are looking at implementing are: solar powered pumps, hand pumps, dry latrines, constructed wetlands, and ceramic filters. These are high-impact, affordable technologies that will increase the health of the communities we work in. We will keep you updated as we roll these out. Speaking of...

We have just undertaken a massive website overhaul and are proud to share photos from our recent projects, and other exciting news from our work. Click here to check it out.

If you have any questions about current or future projects and what you can do to help, explore our new website or feel free to contact us anytime.

Thanks for your support,

Rain Harvesting in Costa Rica

Simón and Sabrina just came back from Costa Rica, where we successfully implemented three rain harvesting systems in the remote community of Barra del Colorado. The project went very well, thanks to the community members, Agua Solutions (a Costa Rican subcontractor) and you, our generous donors and supporters!

The previous water situation in Barra del Colorado was severe. Barra del Colorado is located between the Caribbean Sea and a river that is contaminated river due to banana and pineapple plantations upstream. In addition, the community was built on top of a landfill, which is further contaminating the ground water. Fortunately, the area’s rainfall is an abundant resource at 230" annually. However, the community lacked appropriate rain harvesting systems to take advantage of this resource.

In order to provide the 320 residents of this remote community with clean water, we installed three rain harvesting systems at the local kindergarten, at a church, and at a home. We had the help from many community members, as well as from Alex, a technician from Agua Solutions. To ensure that the captured rainwater remains potable, we included rain heads and first flush diverters (donated by Rain Harvesting) in our systems, as well as closed plastic water tanks from EcoTank.

The community members are very happy about their new clean water supply, especially Claudia, a young mother who lives across from the kindergarten. She said: "Thank you for providing us with clean water. It will help me keep my 2-month old baby boy healthy, because the water I have at my home is dirty and it would make him sick."

These new clean water systems will improve the health and make a real difference in the lives of many local residents, including Claudia and her baby.

In the future, Aguayuda plans to expand this project to provide more clean water to the greater Barra del Colorado community through additional rain harvesting systems.

To see pictures of our exciting project in Costa Rica, please click here.

Thanks for your support,