Introduction
Diez de Abril is a community just outside the city of Tarija. Most of the community members commute to the city to work, but before our project, they lacked access to clean water in their homes. The municipality delivered water to the community’s storage tanks, but often the water would run out too quickly, and many community members complained of the quality. Some said that they would find dead fish or bugs in their water. Our partnership with the community started in 2017, and after our initial assessment trip, our team decided to design a groundwater pump system to supply water to the community. Over the course of 3 implementation trips, extra storage tanks, a well and pump, and an extensive distribution system were all added to the community. In January 2024, the team traveled to the community to evaluate the completed water system and determine if it fulfilled the needs of the community members. Next, we will decide what our next project with the community will be, or we will move on to another community.
Update 10/16/2024: Our team has recently closed out a partnership with Diez de Abril, Bolivia. It was an amazing community and they had made many advancements that led us to be able to partner with a new community. We are excited to announce that we will be beginning work with Urkupiña, Bolivia! This is a small community of around 280 residents, just outside Padilla, Bolivia that is currently without a reliable water source. They mainly rely on purchasing water from providers in trucks, which is not reliable and not guaranteed to be sanitary. This community has made remarkable steps to grow, demonstrating a promising and lasting relationship with EWB-S&T. Our team is in the process of designing potential solutions, such as a deep well and gravity fed water system, and preparing for travel for the first time in the next year!
