North Carolina Water For People
Bolivia Trip
December 2004
Reported by Matt Fishman
A trip was made to Bolivia in December 2004 by Lars Balck, Eric Balck and Matt Fishman to film previous North Carolina Water For People (NC WFP) water projects and interview people for a documentary, visit projects currently being funded by NC WFP and to identify potential future projects or services for which NC WFP may be able to provide assistance. Outside of these immediate goals, our presence in the communities which have benefited from previous NC WFP projects was greatly appreciated by the people who live there.
Montero
The first day, Matt toured three Consejo de Salud Rural Andino (CSRA) Health Posts in Montero with Dr. Dardo Chavez and Mike Riley (Peace Corps). Two of the health posts were operational but under construction. Services provided at the health posts include pre-natal and birthing care, dentistry, ophthalmology, vaccinations, pharmacy service and other basic health services needed by the community. At one of the health posts a water quality lab is set up to analyze samples for E. coli. Providing access to safe drinking water is one component of the work CSRA is doing to improve the overall health of people in Bolivia. CSRA’s interest in providing access to safe drinking water appears to be the result of treating a large number of people sick with water-related illnesses after drinking contaminated water.
CSRA’s respected standing in the community and focus on health issues, make them an ideal partner for NC WFP to further the goals of providing safe drinking water to people in need. CSRA has employed a basic sanitation Peace Corps volunteer for the past 2.5 years to provide health education to several water cooperatives in the area surrounding Montero. The peace corps volunteer’s work is known as a circuit rider program where he/she travels frequently to each water cooperative to provide water system management training, reinforce the importance of chlorination and basic sanitation practices, train cooperative members to install/repair chlorination equipment and assist with collection of water quality samples to be analyzed. We were presented with water quality monitoring results from the 2.5 year period for nine water cooperatives, which indicate adherence to the Bolivian standards for chorine residual has consistently improved. Bacteriological tests for the water cooperatives indicate the absence of E. Coli in all samples for the past 2.5 years. It appears the efforts to educate the water cooperatives on the benefits and practice of chlorination are paying off.
Although COSMOL (Montero area water cooperative) is one of the nine water cooperatives serviced by the circuit rider program, it is by far the exception as far as size and capability. The water cooperatives we visited appear to be much smaller and lacking in the sophistication demonstrated by COSMOL. After the arrival of Lars and Eric, we visited Okinawa, Yapacani and Chane water cooperatives. Although these three cooperatives appear to be functioning well and appreciate the importance of chlorination, some of our observations indicate they may benefit from continued support from the circuit rider program. For example, in Chane, there was no sign of a chlorinator pump. It had apparently stopped working and was removed so no chlorination was being provided. Based on discussions with the peace corps volunteer (Mike Riley), it appears the biggest reason why the water cooperatives are sometimes not within Bolivian standards for chlorine residual is because of equipment malfunctions that are not addressed.
Mike is also educating the water cooperatives on the importance of purging their water systems to remove accumulated sediment and organic material from their piping systems. The three water systems we visited in the Montero area have installed purging stations in their piping systems. These stations appear to be located where the most taste and odor complaints are received.
According to our hosts, the area around Montero is one of the fastest growing in the country. With this growth will come a greater need for safe drinking water systems. An informational meeting held earlier this year to discuss the circuit rider program was well attended by representatives of water cooperatives that are not currently part of the circuit rider program. Mike Riley told us CSRA intends to expand the program to additional cooperatives.
Cochabamba
While staying in Cochabamba, we visited the villages of Koari, Carbon Mayu and Sanchez Rancho. The people of these villages are indigenous Quecha farmers and herders who earn money by selling products, such as straw mattresses, in local markets. Some of the family members were currently living in other countries such as Brazil or Argentina to make money working in large cities. All of the people were extremely grateful for assistance provided by Water For People. At Carbon Mayu, the people are currently constructing a water system under the guidance of a local NGO called LEMAG. LEMAG made a proposal to WFP (Abraham) for the project. Their fees are included in the project budget to design, supervise and coordinate installation of the water system. The new water system will replace the current water source, which is a spring shared with cows and donkeys.
The village of Sanchez Rancho currently has no water system and is requesting assistance from WFP. They currently get their water from a spring that is shared by cows and donkeys and receives drainage from pastures and agricultural plots where chemical fertilizers are applied.
La Paz
During our stay in La Paz, we visited water systems in El Alto, Kerani, San Lorenzo and Chacahuara. Jason Gehrig with the Maryknoll missionaries traveled with us to Kerani, a project in which he is involved.
At Kerani, they are constructing a spring fed water system with support from WFP and some other NGOs. The hillside where the system was under construction was one of the most scenic places we went to in Bolivia, with views of Lake Titicaca in one direction and the snow mountains dominated by the 6,000 meter plus Illampu in the other direction. The people there were enthusiastic about the project and they showered us with confetti and had us drink a lot of soda.
We spent the night at San Lorenzo in their community building on straw mattresses. It was a special experience to be able to spend some time on a more personal level in addition to touring water systems and discussing problems. Eric, who is a great chess player, found a worthy opponent in San Lorenzo and managed to pull out three wins in a row despite being informed of some special Bolivian chess rules towards the end of the second match. The people in San Lorenzo are farmers and herders. During the day, the village is very quiet since most of the villagers are with the flocks of sheep and llamas in remote pastures. Their water system appears to be functioning adequately. We discovered a few minor problems that are within their capabilities to fix. At the people’s request, Abraham and an NGO (Suma Jayma) representative gave a presentation on options for latrines and it appeared a latrine project may evolve from these discussions.
Chacahuara is on the border with Peru and the people that live there are building stores as fast as they can based on their belief that the Bolivian government will soon pave the road from Puerto Acosta to the border and traffic will increase dramatically. Although a water system was installed only a few years ago, they are requesting another water system to serve the new houses and stores at the main road. After investigating their concerns that water was not being delivered to some houses at the top of the water system, we concluded that there is either a leak that needs to be repaired or water from the drinking water system is being used inappropriately for irrigation.
In Montero, we found the vision of Dr. Chavez to be inspiring and the efforts of the Peace Corps volunteers appear to be effective thus far. Smaller water cooperatives are benefiting from the circuit rider program and are very grateful for the involvement of NC WFP. With funding, there is the potential for the circuit rider program to continue benefiting the water cooperatives served and expand into other water cooperatives in the Montero area.
In the Cochabamba and La Paz area, we found capable NGOs that can coordinate, design and supervise installation of water systems. These NGOs team with the villages and WFP to implement drinking water and latrine projects. Although there are certainly many villages worthy of assistance for drinking water and sanitation, the situation in El Alto appears to be the most desperate. The city has grown at an alarming rate as people move there to find jobs. However, water and sewer does not yet extend to many of the newly developed areas.