By Nora Tobin | Executive Director
Wow! Thanks to the generosity of the twenty two of you who invested in this project, the 170 families in Río Plata, Nicaragua now have clean, safe drinking water!
Thanks to you small group of committed change-agents, the children in Río Plata no longer suffer from regular bouts of acute diarrheal disease. Thanks to you, they now spend their time in the classroom, not the health clinic.
Several months ago, members of the of the Río Plata Clean Water Committee came together with other Clean Water Committees (CAPS) in Nueva Guinea municipality to learn from the Self-Help about the CTI-8 water chlorination system and how it works to eliminate biological contaminants in the water. The committee was eager to get clean water to their community, and to install this PVC-pipe-based system in particular for its affordability and effectiveness. We put the project on GlobalGiving and you answered the call! Now, the chlorinator is purifying up to 10,825 gallons of water each day from the community's water storage tank.
Because of your sponsorship, Self-Help’s Clean Water Program Officer, Orlando, has been able to conduct the preliminary study and analysis of the characteristics of the existing water tank, determine the best way to construct and install the CTI-8 system, and teach a CAPS member (pictured) how to install and maintain the system to ensure that the whole community can access clean, safe drinking water on a daily basis. He also taught the community about basic handwashing and sanitation now that they have regular access to clean water so they can take advantage of all of the health benefits that access to clean water provides.
Río Plata is about 83 miles away from the Self-Help offices, and it takes nearly 3 hours to reach the community by truck or motorbike due to poor road quality. Your generous financial support covered the costs associated with fuel and transportation to and from the community during the analysis, installation, educational, and follow up visits, as well as the time and materials for staff to train the clean water committees, and for the chlorinator system itself.
The community will repay the cost of the chlorinator ($150) in installments over the coming months to ensure community ownership over the system. Those repaid funds will be placed into a revolving fund to purchase the materials for to construct a CTI-8 chlorinator for the next community in need, so your gift will keep on giving!
Already, your gift of clean water has reduced the incidence of acute diarrheal disease, enabling children to spend time in school, not the health clinic, and empowering their parents to live healthier, more productive lives. On behalf of the the Clean Water Committee of Río Plata, thank you for this life-changing gift!
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