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,

Access to Drinking Water is Lacking in US Public Schools

Hello everyone,

The issue of access to clean water is not only an issue in developing countries but also in countries like the United States.

Please read the following shocking article about how many children in the United States do not have access to clean water during their school day.

Thirsty Students: Access to Drinking Water is Lacking in Public Schools

The situation in the communities we work with in Colombia, Costa Rica and Cameroon is even worse. They lack access to clean water at home and at school as well as have classes in extremely hot temperatures (95 degrees and above) without air-conditioning and lack the basic resources such as pencils, paper and notebooks. Many children also have to walk long distances (1 hour each way) to get to school on an empty stomach.

If you are interested in helping a school have clean water in Colombia, please check out our

water truck sponsorship program.

Thanks for your interest,

World Water Day and New Aguayuda Videos:

Happy World Water Day!

This World Water Day I will share with you some good news from the Millennium Development Goals Report from the United Nations.

• The number of people who lack safe drinking water is down to 884 million from 1.1 billion in 2006.

• Childhood deaths decreased from 12.6 million in 2007 to 9 million.

• Each dollar invested in safe drinking water and sanitation provides an eight dollar (8:1) return on investment in reduced healthcare costs and time savings.

It is great to see that we are on the right track and are able to reduce the number of people in need of clean water, but there is still much more to be done.

You can be a part of further reducing the number of people who lack clean water and children who die due to water-related illnesses by donating to Aguayuda.

You can also become a sponsor of water deliveries through water trucks for schools and communities in La Guajira, Colombia. To learn more about the schools and communities that participate in our water truck sponsorship program, please watch our new short videos.

Thank you for your support.