XEXULUL - New Drinking water supply

Approximately 43 km from Nebaj is Canton Xexulul, a community inhabited by indigenous Mayans of the Ixil linguistic community. It emerged in the 1980s, but in 1983 the Canton was razed, the houses and crops were burned, and 27 people were murdered by the Guatemalan army. The community is now home to over 200 people.

Xexulul’s current drinking water service is insufficient, only providing small quantities of water if any at all. The system was built 16 years ago by the organization called ASAUIXIL. In 2020, storms Iota and Eta destroyed the water spring that supplied the community. Subsequent improvisations to bolster the supply haven’t been completely successful.

The community has two springs that they would like to utilize for the new gravity-fed water system.

An assessment trip is planned for 2025 to verify project feasibility through technical studies and analysis.

Buena vista sechum - Increasing A community’s water supply

EWB-RMP has been working with the mountain community of Buena Vista Sechum since 2021 to design and implement an improved water distribution system.

Prior to the partnership with EWB-RMP, the community’s water system had historically been unreliable and unable to meet the community’s growing needs. Many members of the community were traveling to the community’s school or other locations higher in the mountains to collect water. As a result, households faced the challenges of not having enough water to stay hydrated nor care for common hygienic practices. The community of 300 people had reported stomach illnesses and symptoms associated with dehydration.

The project scope included a new water storage tank, connections to a new spring source, and a redesigned distribution system to support the community’s growth over the next 20 years.

An assessment trip was 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 within the community. Improvements were made to the water supply line in May 2023 to remove an air lock at a high point in the line, which immediately increased the water supply to the community, sufficient to meet their needs.

The new tank provides sufficient storage for the community and the improvements to the distribution system include larger piping and pressure reducing valves to control water pressure to the homes in downhill sections. RMP maintained contact with the community through the contractor after installation, and water supply and distribution issues appear to have been resolved. An implementation trip was made in Summer 2024 to confirm the operation of the new system and to assess if further improvements would be required. The community had located an additional well above the existing well, but was satisfied with the improved system over a full year of operation and decided they do not need more water. Several minor improvements were agreed to that would supply water to several homes not included in the distribution system expansion. With these improvements, the community will have a water system sufficient for their needs.

A monitoring trip is planned for 2025 prior to project closeout.

XEXUXCAP - WATER SYSTEM AUGMENTATION

Xexuxcap is located in the Cuchumatanes Mountains of Guatemala’s Ixil triangle region, 9 kilometers (km) west of Nebaj.

Prior to partnering with EWB-RMP, Xexuxcap had an existing functional water system fed by a single old spring. Because the population had grown significantly since the system was constructed, Xexuxcap lacked reliable year-round access to fresh water, with supplies diminishing during the dry season each year. 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 decided to expand their existing gravity-fed system by purchasing a second spring.

EWB-RMP began working with Xexuxcap in Spring 2018 with the goal of designing and implementing infrastructure to connect the new spring source to the existing water system.

Implementation Phase 1 was completed in March 2019 and consisted of constructing a spring catchment structure at the new spring source roughly 2 km from the village and routing a transmission line to the community. The transmission line originally included two break pressure tanks - a permanent concrete tank at the first location and a temporary plastic tank at the second.

The second phase of project implementation was completed in Summer 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the RMP team did not travel. Instead, EWB-RMP coordinated virtually with ACCMARI who completed the work. In this phase, the temporary plastic tank was replaced with a permanent storage reservoir for Distribution Sector 1 and a system for chlorinating the new spring flows was incorporated at this structure. Additionally, improvements to the existing infrastructure were made, including a new chlorination system to replace the existing one and larger storage tanks to replace the existing ones for Sector 2 and Sector 3.

Two major hurricanes washed out part of the transmission line in Fall 2020, but the community was able to make the necessary repairs.

A monitoring trip in May 2022 found that the system was functioning as designed and addressed the community’s water supply concerns. The project was formally closed in October 2022.

SUMAL GRANDE - WATER SYSTEM AUGMENTATION

EWB-RMP assisted 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 the process of recovering and rebuilding.

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 water committee and ACCMARI requested EWB-RMP’s help with designing the system expansion and raising supplemental funds for implementation.

In March 2017, Sumal Grande completed Implementation Phase 1 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.

The design and construction of Phase 2 of the project was continued in March 2018. During this phase, RMP expanded the existing system and constructed a distribution and mixing tank for a newly acquired spring water source.

Coinciding with the Xexuxcap Implementation Phase 1 trip in March 2019, RMP made a visit to monitor and evaluate the Sumal Grande project. Unfortunately, it was discovered that the system was not working. Another organization had come in shortly after RMP completed Phase 2 in Spring 2018 and made alterations to the system including: the addition of a larger tank at the end of the system that was never hooked up, overflow at the old spring, and a broken float in one of the tanks. Despite this, the water committee was satisfied, and the project was formally closed out.

Two major hurricanes hit the region in Fall 2020 and did minor damage to the piping and one of the catchments. Funds were wired to EWB-GUA to support the repairs.

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.