By Dylan Terrell | Executive Director
Dear GlobalGiving Supporters,
I am very excited to report that 2024 was our most successful and impactful year to date, in many areas, but specifically with our rainwater harvesting program. We have been promoting our rainwater harvesting program on GlobalGiving for many years now, and we are grateful to all of you for being such an important part of providing clean drinking water access through rainwater solutions.
In an era where water scarcity is one of the most pressing global challenges, the simple act of collecting rainwater has emerged as a powerful and sustainable solution. At Caminos de Agua, we have been dedicated to addressing water security in Central Mexico—a region heavily affected by one of the worst water crises globally, which includes not only severe water scarcity conditions due to over-extraction of groundwater and depleting aquifers, but also contamination of difficult-to-remove chemicals, specifically arsenic and fluoride.
Rainwater harvesting is a transformative approach that empowers communities and safeguards their water future. By capturing and storing rain, communities can access clean, safe water year-round, reducing their reliance on contaminated and depleting groundwater. We have embraced this practice as a cornerstone of our mission for nearly a decade now. Our rainwater harvesting systems are designed to address the unique challenges of Central Mexico’s environment and its communities. These systems are built to be durable and adaptable to local needs, and they are easy and affordable to operate and maintain over time, making them an accessible option for even those most vulnerable.
With the incredible support of our community, including all of you at GlobalGiving, and our growing network of rainwater partners, we have installed a record-setting 430 rainwater harvesting systems this year together, completely shattering our original goal of 350! These systems are providing sustainable and clean water access to more than 3,200 people throughout our watershed who, before, were suffering from severe water quality and scarcity challenges. Together, we’ve made rainwater a source of hope, health, and resilience for so many in areas where it was once a daily challenge.
This year, we received substantial support from the Gonzalo Río Arronte Foundation through our greater “Agua en Acción” (Water in Action) project. Their support provided the funds for materials for over 200 of these systems. We also partnered closely with the Municipal Government of San Diego de la Unión—a northern municipality that suffers from some of the highest levels of arsenic and fluoride contamination we have ever registered. Together with the municipality, we built a total of 244 rainwater systems this year, and we signed a contract with the government just this month to build even more systems together in 2025. By the end of the year, with support from the Community Church of San Miguel de Allende and Amistad Canada, we started rainwater programs in two new communities—San Pedro de la Sierra and Vivienda de Abajo—the former struggling from extreme water scarcity conditions and the latter with excessive levels of contamination in their water supply.
In 2024, we also worked with many other NGO and, especially, grassroots and community partners. With CUVAPAS, a coalition of dozens of communities in northern Guanajuato Sate, we built 104 large-scale, ferrocement rainwater harvesting systems. Each of these 12,000-liter capacity systems can provide upwards of 15 people with a lifetime of clean drinking water. We also worked with SECOPA and COENLAVIS, two grassroots initiatives in the municipalities of Dolores Hidalgo and San Diego de la Unión, to build 80 systems. At the end of the year, we were also breaking ground in a small village called Rincon de Canal with the support of Salvemos al Río Laja, a long-term partner NGO, to build another 14 systems.
We literally cannot do any of this work without this deep network of close collaborators, which includes all of you. While we have a growing base of institutional partners, most of them only provide limited support to purchase materials. We rely on individual donors, like our GlobalGiving network, to not only build more systems and leverage support from others, but also to support the educational programs, materials, and overall supervision that is necessary to make this projects successful, and sustainable in time. So, sincerely, thank you all for making 2024 an incredibly important year for changing the water reality for over 430 families.
The success of our rainwater harvesting program demonstrates the transformative potential of simple, community-driven solutions and collaboration. In 2025, we are looking to expand even further, thanks to our partnerships with the aforementioned grassroots and community organizations, local government, institutions, and network of individual donors. Together, we plan on building another 300+ rainwater harvesting systems across more than two dozen rural communities. We hope you will continue to support us and join us in the new year.
On behalf of the entire Caminos de Agua Team, thank you for being a part of this critical work.
Saludos from Mexico.
By Dylan Terrell | Executive Director
By Dylan Terrell | Executive Director
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