The Peru Program’s Rainwater Harvesting Project is currently underway to build and provide a sustainable clean water drinking source with and for the community of San Francisco.
The roughly 400-member community currently relies on contaminated creek water for daily drinking needs, with household members spending an hour each day collecting the water. The village suffers from numerous cases of diarrhea and waterborne diseases as a result of water quality issues.
After witnessing the impact of the Peru Program’s previous rainwater harvesting projects in the nearby communities of Payorote (2016) and Mariscal Castilla (2018), the people of San Francisco reached out to Amazon Promise (our amazing community NGO partner) and our chapter in early 2019.
Enjoying a Game of Soccer 
Leveling Posts 
Supervisor In Charge 
Ferrying Materials from the River 
Pre-Construction Meeting 
Mark Illian, EWB-USA CHPC Peru Program Manager & San Francisco Community Member
Since the partnership was established, the chapter has been working with the community and Amazon Promise to understand the community’s needs and strengths to determine what technologies could be a viable solution. From there, the Peru Program’s project team has been working tirelessly to develop these designs while also solidifying financial partnerships to make this vision a reality. The program was fortunate to receive a Global Grant at the end of 2019 from Rotary International in partnership with the Rotary Club of Houston, the Rotary Club of Galleria River Oaks, and the Rotary Club Amanecer Loretano.
With that financial support, in addition to logistical aid via Amazon Promise, this dream started to become a reality in past weeks when materials began arriving via boats to San Francisco. The community is staging materials and pouring concrete foundations with field support from our chapter and developing maintenance systems to sustain this system long-term. Progress is being made every day and, with some sweat and good weather, sustainable clean water will be on tap before the end of March.
It takes a village to make these projects possible and, while there is still much work to be done – this is only the beginning of the Peru Program’s minimum of 5 years of support for San Francisco – there is real success and triumph in this work. You can share in this success and be an advocate for this work by supporting our Peru Program directly, which allows the team to take on this crucial and necessary work to support the communities at the heart of the Amazon River in Peru.
If you are interested in progress during the ongoing 5-week implementation trip and/or sharing this information with others , updates may be found on the Peru Program’s Facebook and Instagram pages.