Our Work
Actively Working with Partner NGO and Communities in Guatemala
Our Work
Actively Working with Partner NGO and Communities in Guatemala
Guatemala Program
EWB-RMP works with indigenous communities in the Quiché region of Guatemala. Our local NGO partner is La Asociacion de Comites Comunitarios Medio Ambiental de la Region Ixil (ACCMARI). ACCMARI is comprised of community leaders from more than 54 villages who come together regularly to prioritize infrastructure needs across all the region's communities. ACCMARI's volunteer leadership then coordinates the planning, implementation, and monitoring of projects.
Guatemala Program
EWB-RMP works with indigenous communities in the Quiché region of Guatemala. Our local NGO partner is La Asociacion de Comites Comunitarios Medio Ambiental de la Region Ixil (ACCMARI). ACCMARI is comprised of community leaders from more than 54 villages who come together regularly to prioritize infrastructure needs across all the region's communities. ACCMARI's volunteer leadership then coordinates the planning, implementation, and monitoring of projects.
Buena vista sechum - Increasing A community’s water supply
EWB-RMP has begun working with the mountain community of Buena Vista Sechum, Guatemala to design and implement an improved water distribution system. The community’s historical water system has been unreliable and unable to meet the community’s growing needs. Many members of the community have to travel to the community’s school or other locations higher in the mountains to collect water. As a result, households face challenges having enough water to stay hydrated and care for common hygienic practices. The community has reported stomach illnesses and symtoms associated with dehydration. Buena Vista Sechum has a population of approximately 300 people. The project scope includes a new water storage tank, connections to a new spring source, and a redesigned distribution system within the community to support the community’s growth over the next 20 years.
An Assessment Trip was initially completed in Summer 2021 followed by two implementation trips in March 2022 and May 2023 which added a new water storage tank and addressed existing distribution issues withing the community. As a next step our chapter is planning to return to the community to connect Buena Vista Sechum with its new spring and expand the current distribution system to meet the community’s growth needs.
XEXUXCAP - WATER SYSTEM AUGMENTATION
Xexuxcap is located in the Cuchumatanes Mountains of Guatemala’s Ixil triangle region. The community’s primary drinking water source is a nearby spring. In order to continue to provide drinking water of an adequate quantity and quality to the roughly 320 taps spread throughout the community at homes, schools, churches, and medical facilities, the Xexuxcap Water Committee recently purchased a second spring source. This new water source is roughly 3 kilometers from the town center.
EWB-RMP began working in Xexuxcap in the spring of 2018 with the goal of designing and implementing infrastructure to connect the new spring source to the existing water system. To date, the spring catchment, transmission line from the new spring, a break pressure tank, and three storage tanks have been constructed. The team cannot currently travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however we are working closely with our NGO partner and the local water committee to complete the construction of chlorinator boxes in our absence. This will be the final phase of implementation. The team tentatively plans to return to Xexuxcap for project monitoring in the spring of 2021.
SUMAL GRANDE - WATER SYSTEM AUGMENTATION
EWB-RMP is assisting the community of Sumal Grande in its efforts to provide clean, reliable, and convenient drinking water to all of its residents. A military occupation during the violence of the Guatemalan civil war devastated the community’s way of life and they are still in a process of recovering. As a part of this process, the people of Sumal Grande are rebuilding their infrastructure.
Before the project with EWB-RMP, Sumal Grande had an older water system that did not meet the overall capacity requirements of the community, did not reach all homes, distributed water unequally between homes that were connected, and had no water treatment. Over the past 20 years, the water committee worked hard to maintain the system they had, raise local funds, and take steps to expand the system. The community had purchased a new spring and added a storage tank on their own before looking for outside input.
Due to the mountainous terrain and technical challenges of augmenting an existing system, the community water committee and ACCMARI requested EWB-RMP’s help with designing the system expansion and raising supplemental funds for implementation.
In March 2017, the community of Sumal Grande completed Implementation Phase 1 of their project, with oversight from RMP and assistance from ACCMARI. Phase 1 featured the construction of a spring catchment box and conduction line, to connect another spring to the community’s existing water system. In addition, a chlorinator was constructed, the existing water distribution network was expanded, and float-valves were added to existing tanks. The result is an enhanced water system with redundant spring sources, water chlorination capability, greater flow, and increased water storage.
In March 2018 RMP continued with the design and construction of Phase 2 of the gravity-fed water system augmentation project for Sumal Grande. During this phase of implementation RMP expanded the existing gravity-fed potable water system and constructed a distribution and mixing tank for a newly acquired spring water source.
A monitoring trip is planned for 2019 in preparation for closing out the project and to conduct follow-up water testing to verify that the new chlorinators are being used correctly.
NEPAL PROGRAM (CLOSED)
EWB-RMP partnered with the Namsaling Community Development Center (NCDC), an NGO based in Ilam, Nepal that facilitates projects related to waste management and reduction, drinking water supply, sustainable energy, and environmental conservation. EWB-RMP’s relationship with NCDC began formally in the fall of 2012, although members of EWB-RMP have worked with NCDC in the past through the EWB-CU Nepal student chapter. This program was closed in 2017, after successful completion of the Khosli Dhara project.
NEPAL PROGRAM (CLOSED)
EWB-RMP partnered with the Namsaling Community Development Center (NCDC), an NGO based in Ilam, Nepal that facilitates projects related to waste management and reduction, drinking water supply, sustainable energy, and environmental conservation. EWB-RMP’s relationship with NCDC began formally in the fall of 2012, although members of EWB-RMP have worked with NCDC in the past through the EWB-CU Nepal student chapter. This program was closed in 2017, after successful completion of the Khosli Dhara project.
KHOSLI DHARA - SPRING SOURCE PROTECTION
NCDC expressed to EWB-RMP that the Ilam community had identified the need for a spring source protection project at Kholsi Dhara. Some information on the Kholsi Dhara spring source was already available to EWB-RMP from the EWB-CU Nepal student chapter, such as land survey data. An assessment trip was conducted by EWB-RMP in January 2014 to collect additional data, including spring source flow rate, water quality measurements, dimensions of the existing spring source structures, and additional land survey data. Successful implementation of the spring protection project was completed in March 2015.
In late 2017, two members of the Nepal team traveled to Ilam, Nepal to monitor the Kholsi Dhara spring source protection project (SSP), and close out the project with the local community. The trip was a success - all general monitoring criteria indicate the SSP is operating as implemented. The local user committee and the Namsaling Community Development Center (NCDC) actively operate and maintain Kholsi Dhara without EWB involvement. NCDC continues to be involved with development projects throughout Nepal, and is expanding their Kathmandu office to better address earthquake devastated regions of the country. Overall, the partnership between RMP, NCDC, and the local community produced a wonderful project - over 300 families have directly benefited from the clean and reliable Kholsi Dhara SSP.