Helping Rural Communities in Colombia with Improved Access to Potable Water

Helping Rural Communities in Colombia with Improved Access to Potable Water

Lack of water is one of the most serious problems that communities in the rural Montes de Maria region face. According to UNICEF, 92% of Colombians have access to improved water sources, but in municipalities such as El Carmen de Bolivar, residents do not have access to improved water sources and must rely on wells and rain water. 
During the dry season, residents in the urban areas of El Carmen de Bolivar must purchase water transported in a tanker truck from another municipality. Water availability is worse in rural areas, where residents do not have this option. The internal armed conflict resulted in deterioration of the water system infrastructure. In communities such as Raizal, Santa Lucia, Bajo Grande and Caracolicito, about 700 inhabitants obtain water from four community wells, all of which are usually totally dry by June.
Manuel del Cristo Martinez Delgado, a displaced farmer, says the situation is very serious. “The water we drink is full of mud, cockroaches, palm leaves and insecticide. We don´t have bathrooms so we do our needs anywhere. When the wells get dry, fish die in the water. By the time it starts raining again, we cannot afford to wait to clean the wells so we must use the well water to cook and drink because we have no other source.”
Oscar Segundo Oliviera, a resident from Caracolicito, describes some of the challenges they face in their community. “We suffer from violence, paramilitarism, guerrillas, displacement, extreme cycles of rain and isolation, but we have stayed in our communities. We are peaceful people – we  just want to enjoy access to water and decent housing.”
Common concerns of residents are that the first sip of water usually “comes with a guasarapo,” a mosquito larvae that grows in stagnant water. Residents also suffer from itchy skin after they take a shower and children are experience high rates of diarrhea and skin infections.
In response to these conditions, the USAID-funded Colombia Responde Montes de Maria (CR MdM) program supported these four communities in implementing a project to install 210 water collection systems (of 2000 liters) to improve access to water in each of the households. After a community process that allowed the community members to choose providers, the 210 households received the water tanks. The cost of this project was US$38,461.
Although the communities know that the ultimate solution requires greater investment, the residents are very thankful because the water tanks represent a step toward improving their quality of lives. The communities’ members are mostly  farmers who appreciate water as a “precious resource” and see it as a common, rather than private good. Even when facing the worst dry seasons, Manuel del Cristo, who has a well in his own property, feels he must share the water with others explaining that “Human beings should save and not waste water because it is a common good and everybody should work to preserve it.”