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Water Projects

In the UK we each use about 150 litres of water a day without even thinking about it. It’s available, it’s clean, it’s safe. But not everyone is so fortunate. Less than 50% of rural Ecuadorians have access to clean drinking water, yet 90% of all infectious disease in developing countries is caused by unhealthy water.

water1 Clean water is essential for good health. Everyday, at least 15,000 people die in developing countries due to diseases transmitted by water. Few rural Ecuadorian communities have convenient access to suitable quality drinking water. Our programme includes emphasis on clean drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. Additionally, a follow-up programme provides training in water system management and hygiene. Evangelism, discipleship and pastoral training are an integral part of the programme.

We are engineers, water and health professionals committed to improving the health of rural communities through clean water and preventive healthcare. We are committed to Biblical values and community development principles. In each project, the benefiting communities bear significant responsibility for the resources to obtain clean water. In Chimborazo Province, where community development has had a long-term presence, the communities provide over 60% of the resources necessary to build their water systems and provide significant leadership. The clean water work has been done in collaboration with Instituto Ecuatoriano de Obras Sanitarias (IEOS), MAP International, Georgia Tech, US AID, Swedish Alliance Mission, Swedish International Development Agency, Covenant Mission, Covenant Foundation, Jersey Aid, Canadian International Development Agency, For His Children, and Water for People. Concerned individuals, churches and a variety of interested organisations provide funding.

water2 Currently, our own staff design all the community water systems built and national field technicians, with whom we have a long-standing relationship, supervise construction. The communities provide all of the unskilled and semi-skilled labour. This arrangement allows us to promote community unity, employ community development principles and to emphasize a Biblical perspective of development at all stages of the project. Two teams of field technicians implement the clean water projects. One team works on community water systems and spring development in the sierra (mountains) and another team drills or digs wells mostly on the northern coast of Ecuador in Esmeraldas Province. The field technicians are primarily employed and paid by the benefiting communities they serve.

Design work includes, topographic survey, hydraulic design, spring protection/development structures and design of water storage structures. Community water systems vary in size from 25 to 500 homes. Well drilling is done using small Deep Rock Hydra-drill and Lonestar LS-100 rigs. Recently, a Eureka air-rotary was donated for the work.

In 2003 we began a new programme in the Ecuadorian jungle. To date, we have helped hand-dig a well, protect a number of springs and work in collaboration with the local municipality to repair and improve the water system in Makuma, a jungle community of 100 families. The jungle communities present a new range of problems that need solving as all the materials and personnel need to fit into small 5-seater airplanes. The programme is starting with small projects to form ‘model communities’ and hold workshops on sanitation, hygiene and water treatment while we train local technicians and experiment in what designs work best in this difficult terrain.

Martin Harrison is a British water engineer who moved to Ecuador in August 2006 with his family, to work with the water projects. To find out more, visit their family web site: www.harrisonfamily.org.uk .

Visit YouTube to see a video of Water Projects on the Cayapas River.

 
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