Policarpo Galindo Water Project

$28,600 still needed to complete this project

Total Project Cost: $57,330

Project Location: Policarpo, Roatan, Honduras

Community Background

The Policarpo Galindo community is comprised of 65 acres of very sloped topography on the island of Roatan, Honduras, and is home to approximately 800 families. The community members work either in the tourism trade connected to the island’s resort status or in construction and connected trades. Unfortunately, the unemployment rate of this community is currently 34.7%. The current water system constructed and operated by Living Water for Roatan (LW4R) serves approximately 400 homes by fixed connections. LW4R, is a mission group based in Florida who organized to build the water system including 3 ground water wells, transmission, storage, and distribution to household taps.

Water, Sanitation and Health (WASH) Concerns

The existing water system is supplied by three groundwater wells, which discharge to a central location (Pozo Central) for chlorination. Primary facilities include three groundwater wells, two booster pumps with forebay tanks, one in-line booster pump with hydropneumatics tank, one 65,000-gallon gravity tank, and web of PVC distribution pipe. All three wells run 24/7, the system produces roughly 49,000 gallons per day. Assuming 400 families are served by the system, this works out to approximately 122 gallons per household per day. Theoretically, this should be enough for every family to receive water service every day. However, families only receive water every 10-12 days. The water concerns for this community are that there are more users on the systems than previously planned which increases overall demand, and the existing piped distribution network may have multiple leaks. Given the overall hydraulic gradient of the community there is an inequity of pressure available to each household as well. All issues combine to cause a deficit in overall water supply to the growing population.

Proposed Project

The proposed project has two phases.

Phase 1: WEFTA in collaboration with our partners at Clinica Esperanza and LW4R, along with the community will rehabilitate all three wells, install chlorination improvements at the well houses, and install well meters to understand more clearly the total supply available to the community. Administrative solutions will include logging power expenses, water well meter readings, and chlorine monitoring. Phase 1 is already funded. The donated funds comprise 59% of the project, LW4R will contribute 18% of the project. The community contribution and WEFTA in-kind technical assistance is 23% of the project.

Phase 2: WEFTA in collaboration with our partners and the community will install pressure zone meters to understand more clearly the flow to the various parts of the community. In addition to the meters we will install pressure reducing valves in the distribution system to regulate and ultimately equalize flow to the sectors of the community. At the household connection level, we will install flow reducers at household connections to ensure equitable flow from each household tap stand. Administrative solutions will include monitoring system pressures, flows through sector meters, and household connection flow rates.

The completion of both phases will result in physical improvements, increased administrative capacity, and community involvement. The proposed physical renovations will improve well output, water potability, systems pressures, and faucet flow rates. Data will be collected to help us all better understand system hydraulics ultimately resulting in adequate pressure and flow to designated household faucets.

Sustainability Considerations

Our in-country partners, LW4R and Clinica Esperanza, along with the community members will monitor the project in the construction phase and evaluate the project annually to verify household use, payments, cash on hand of the water committee, and operation & maintenance performed on the system. WEFTA will complete post-construction follow-up visits to ensure project success.

Community Engagement

The 400+ connected community households in the service area will contribute 15% of the total project cost by way of labor and monitoring. This community component will be used for project implementation and for ongoing operation and maintenance of the system once complete. The community and water committee will also be trained on household and system water use to improve understanding and efficient water use.