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Gracias a Dios

Following the success of previous rainwater harvesting projects in San Jacinto which introduced the concept of rainwater harvesting to the community of Gracias a Dios, Nuevas Esperanzas has begun a new project to construct 18 rainwater harvesting systems in this community.  Gracias a Dios is a small, impoverished rural community of around 400 people close to the town of San Jacinto in the Maribios range of volcanoes in Western Nicaragua.  The community increased in size significantly after Hurricane Mitch in 1998 when many families were relocated there after losing their homes in floods and mudslides.

However, although the community was connected to a water supply, no water ever flowed from their taps because the original water source was unable to meet the increased water needs.  There has been a long history of investigations and proposals for potential projects at San Jacinto and Gracias a Dios to address this problem, including the possibility of drilling a well, but the location of the community in an active geothermal field meant that this option was most unlikely to succeed.  A recent project to install a new borehole and pipeline to pump water to the community still failed to provide water for families in the highest parts of Gracias a Dios.  The previous rainwater harvesting projects undertaken in San Jacinto were very successful and the systems continue to work well.  The quality of the water has been analysed and is considered to be very good.  Having initially regarded the concept of rainwater harvesting with interest but suspicion, now that the tanks are built and in operation, the community can see the benefits more clearly and there was a keen interest from those still without water, to build systems of their own. 

In May 2007, Nuevas Esperanzas undertook a survey of Gracias a Dios to evaluate exactly how many houses are still without running water.  This survey concluded that of the 70 houses in Gracias a Dios, only 22 have running water.  The 21 families which could most benefit from rainwater harvesting systems were identified and as these include three pairs of adjacent houses which could share tanks, channelling water from both roofs to fill the tank, a proposal was drawn up for the construction of 18 tanks.  Five sizes of tanks have previously been constructed in San Jacinto.  The two largest are for large public buildings only.  Domestic models have been constructed at 31,000 litres, 27,000 litres and 14,000 litres.  Monitoring of the operation of these systems over two years has shown that the 31,000 and 27,000 litre systems are too large; although they were designed to fill and store water for the whole dry season, they have not been operated in this way.  For future construction at Gracias a Dios, two new sizes are proposed: 23,000 litres and 16,000 litres. 

A desire to work together to serve the poor of their community has started to spread from the churches.  Inspired by the churches project, the community leaders at Gracias a Dios (which include Catholics, Pentecostals, Baptists and non-churchgoers) have asked Nuevas Esperanzas to continue this work in future projects.  In response to this request, workshops will be given in the community, alongside the construction work, including topicssuch as “Working together as a community”, “Social justice” and “Resolving Conflicts”.

The project duration is expected to be around 5 months (essentially the duration of the construction activities), but subsequent monitoring of the systems and evaluation of the project will be undertaken for at least one year after the construction is complete.  The rainy season is from May until November and it is hoped that the majority of tanks will be ready to collect and store rainwater before the end of the wet season in 2007 so that the systems can provide water for the dry season from November 2007 – May 2008.