Start Date: 2011-02-01

Completion Date: 2011-07-31

Technology Used:

The presence of a spring which does not dry up during summer and that is located above the community suggest a gravity system as the obvious first choice. These systems are the specialty of APLV which has designed and help build 63 of them- all presently functioning. The basic components are a spring-catching and protecting construction, a buried conduction line to a holding tank evening out the supply over the day, and a distribution network leading to individual water taps all by gravity.
APLV has developed advanced design tools for such systems which have performed excellently.

Phases:

Once the community is ready, (which this one is) the project will be carried out in one stage.

Community Organization:

The community has been organized. Family have each individually signed a commitment to work the required number of men-days. A CAPS (committee charged both to organize the daily work schedule during construction and to learn and provide maintenance after construction) has been formed. Monthly rates per family have been established to cover maintenance and its tools. The project is kept under observation by APLV for 4 to 6 months and is thereafter formally handed over to the community as its owner. The spring has been formally handed over to the community by its former owner.

Government Interaction:

No specific interaction. There is no government work in this area at the moment.
Nicaragua government tried to reinforce access to water in the countryside through law about water, saying that a community can requisition a spring if they need to. It is their only act till now.

Ancillary activities:

Reforestation is one component of our training of the community, because reforestation of the watershed is important to guarantee spring sustainability
Maintenance training is performed in order to have the CAPS (water comity) able to maintain the water system through the next years.

Other Issues:

This undertaking should of course be the responsibility of the local and central governments. While municipalities are just beginning to contribute to such projects, their resources allow them to be only minor contributors.