El Salvador

El Salvador outdated water management

Water Tank Project

Status: Completed (December 2009)
Phase: Follow-up and Maintenance

Despite nearly 6 feet of annual rainfall, 82 percent of the region’s water becomes contaminated due to agricultural by-products, industrial pollutants and sanitation issues. In addition, similar water supply projects in the past had proven successful initially, but failed in the long run.

Project Milagro is a grassroots effort initiated and operated by the people of three communities in El Salvador; Las Delicias, Las Animas and El Rosario to bring potable water to roughly 1500 families. Water will be pumped to four distribution tanks and distributed to individual families, 5 schools and 10 churches.

Completed water tank

EWB-USA OC partnered with ENLACE and the community to install a 60 cubic meter distribution tank as part of the larger water supply system. To make the design sustainable, the team used local materials and methods of construction so they’d be easily available for any future repairs. They also provided the community water board with a training seminar to prepare them for system operation and maintenance, covering topics such as groundwater hydrology, system operation, purpose and function of the components, short- and long-term maintenance and protection of water resources.

Future projects may include water treatment/filtration as well as work on sanitation and sewage. If you are interested in leading or being a part of future efforts in this community, please contact info@ewb-oc.org.