plan 356HEALTHY SCHOOLS 2011-2012

Summary

THE PROJECT CONSISTS OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF WATER, RAIN WATER AND HAND WASHING FACILITIES IN 19 SCHOOLS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF OF HUEHUETENANGO, GUATEMALA IN SUPPORT FOR THE "HEALTHY SCHOOLS" PROJECT WITH PEACE CORPS.

Background

Agua Para La salud has been working in support of the "Healthy Schools" Peace Corps initiative since 1999. The majority of the schools in Guatemala have some sort of water supply problem and lack of sanitary facilities to allow the Peace Porps volunteer from certifying the school as a healthy school by the Guatemalan Ministry of Education. The facilities proposed will allow this work to continue with the proper infrastucture.

Location

Huehuetenango, Huehuetenango, Guatemala

Attachments

  • APS_APPL...
  • HUEHUE-P...
  • HUEHUE-P...
  • Rincon_d...
  • Kom1.jpg
  • Handwash...
  • Cerazo.JPG
  • Handwash...
  • Tziza_ri...
  • IMG_1218...
  • IMG_3566...
  • Kom2.jpg
  • IMG_0001...
  • BC_1.jpg
  • HUEHUE-P...
  • HUEHUE-P...
  • SAJCAP_0...
  • SAJCAP_0...
  • RIO_AZUL...
  • KANAQUIL...
  • LA_ESPER...
  • CHUCHUN_...
  • IMG_1463...
  • CHUCHUN_...
  • Peace_Co...
  • _89-PEER...
  • APS_342-...
  • BAPS_676...
  • PEERWATE...
  • BAPS_703...
  • BAPS_705...
  • BAPS_706...
  • BAPS_716...
  • BAPS_723...
  • BAPS_749...
  • BAPS_823...
  • BAPS_858...
  • BAPS_869...
  • BAPS_921...

Focus

Primary Focus: Hygiene Education
Secondary Focus: Rainwater Harvesting

People Getting Safe Drinking Water: 0

The project will serve the 2978 children in the 19 schools and benefit the families of the schildren by improved hygiene habits.
Parents and teachers are encouraged to buy class room filters and train children to use them for drinking water.

School Children Getting Water: 2,978

The project will serve the 2978 children in the 19 schools and benefit the families of the schildren by improved hygiene habits.

People Getting Sanitation: 2,978

The project will serve the 2978 children in the 19 schools and benefit the families of the schildren by improved hygiene habits.

People Getting Other Benefits: 6

Two men from each of the area municipalities will be trained in the constrution of the facilities so as to support the Peace Corps program in the future.

Start Date: 2011-09-05

Completion Date: 2012-05-25

Technology Used:

The designs in this project have been constructed in dozens of schools through out the highland region. They are flexible enough to be adapted to various school needs. Many of the schools are located in villages that have no water system and little hope of receiving a system because of the lack of springs and the high cost of drilling deep wells.
Rain water is readily available for about 6-7 months of the school year. See calculation and comment on this resource in the application attached.

Phases:

The project will be done over an 8 month period.

Community Organization:

Each school and village has signed a contract with the Peace Corps volunteer to cooperate with the project and provide un-skilled labor and some materials for the construction. The communities ahve also agreed to provide housing and food for the skilled masons in the project if this is needed. The villagers and school teachers will be instructed in the care of the facilities.

Government Interaction:

The Ministry of Education is working in conjunction with Peace Corps to improve the hygiene habits in the schools and will certify the schools as healthy Schools once they have reached certain voluntary, practiced habits observed by the Peace Corps volunteer.

Ancillary activities:

Peace Corps " Train the Teacher" healthy Schools project will have the facilities to train the teachers to train their students.

Other Issues:

Two local men will be trained in the construction of the facilities.

Maintenance Revenue:

The designs call for minimum maintenance which will be directed by the school and Peace Corps volunteer.

Maintenance Cost: $50

Metrics:

Prior art before metrics

Cost: $45,006

See attached file for specific information.

Co Funding Amount:

See notes on the political situation this year in Guatemala.

Community Contribution Amount: $7,059

the community will contribute non-skilled labor and some materials.

Fund Requested: $37,947

Attachments

  • APS_APPL...
  • HUEHUE-P...
  • HUEHUE-P...
  • Rincon_d...
  • Kom1.jpg
  • Handwash...
  • Cerazo.JPG
  • Handwash...
  • Tziza_ri...
  • IMG_1218...
  • IMG_3566...
  • Kom2.jpg
  • IMG_0001...
  • BC_1.jpg
  • HUEHUE-P...
  • HUEHUE-P...
  • SAJCAP_0...
  • SAJCAP_0...
  • RIO_AZUL...
  • KANAQUIL...
  • LA_ESPER...
  • CHUCHUN_...
  • IMG_1463...
  • CHUCHUN_...
  • Peace_Co...
  • _89-PEER...
  • APS_342-...
  • BAPS_676...
  • PEERWATE...
  • BAPS_703...
  • BAPS_705...
  • BAPS_706...
  • BAPS_716...
  • BAPS_723...
  • BAPS_749...
  • BAPS_823...
  • BAPS_858...
  • BAPS_869...
  • BAPS_921...
  • 1 participant | show more

    Following up on Lynn's questions

    Gilles Corcos of Agua Para la Vida (APLV)

    Most of us are sold on the desirability of well integrated solutions to the healthy water problem. And most of us are also conscious of other needs, just as pressing (such as dispensaries, the ability to transport gravely endangered or sick campesinos to hospitals, diatary deficiencies of babies and kids, lack of income etc.. ) But a cho...

    Most of us are sold on the desirability of well integrated solutions to the healthy water problem. And most of us are also conscious of other needs, just as pressing (such as dispensaries, the ability to transport gravely endangered or sick campesinos to hospitals, diatary deficiencies of babies and kids, lack of income etc.. ) But a choice has to be made, especially for those of us who belong to organizations with a feeble financial basis.
    The path of reason seems to me a certain specialization which solves reasonably and more or less completely a piece of the problem. That of course is a difficult call. It is clear that Lynn's approach to the school water problem, presented here is not a complete solution and equally clear that he is aware of it and that his other work in the province where he specialises in gravity flow systems is a more satisfactory solution to him. But that is not a reason to turn away from this project.

    We ourselves also run into similar problems: In Nicaragua even are terribly dispersed, which of course raise the cost of all developments including potable water. We think we do OK with these villages, but there remains an important part of the rural population that is even more dispersed and for which there seems to exist no solution providing enough water except for drinking and cooking. So individual family filters in this case provide a partial (in a sense unsatisfactory) but better than nothing solution.
    Gilles Corcos

  • 2 participants | show more

    RWH construction

    Rajesh Shah of Blue Planet Network

    Which pipe (i like the pink!) do you use for the gutter? And the brackets? How sturdy and long-lasting are they? In India i see much construction that would not survive the onslaught of a heavy downpour or rust after one season. Do you have a first rain diverter? I could not see any in the pictures in the spreadsheet. Thanks, Rajesh

    Which pipe (i like the pink!) do you use for the gutter? And the brackets? How sturdy and long-lasting are they? In India i see much construction that would not survive the onslaught of a heavy downpour or rust after one season.

    Do you have a first rain diverter? I could not see any in the pictures in the spreadsheet.

    Thanks,
    Rajesh

    • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

      Our normal gutter system is to split a 3" pvc pipe length wise and clamp it over a the end of a galvanized roof and wire the pipe to the roof. The steel supports we often see do not last long exposed to the climate, thus we use this split pipe method which does not need hangers. This split pipe also stops larger debris such as leaves, ston...

      Our normal gutter system is to split a 3" pvc pipe length wise and clamp it over a the end of a galvanized roof and wire the pipe to the roof. The steel supports we often see do not last long exposed to the climate, thus we use this split pipe method which does not need hangers. This split pipe also stops larger debris such as leaves, stones, fruit, etc; from entering the gutter and collection system. Where the roof does not have galavanized roffing but other materials we are obliged to use the open pvc rectangular gutters that have pvc hangers if you have a wood roof rafter support system where you can nail these to the ends of the rafters. If no wood rafter are are available then we are obliged to use the steel fabricated hangers that have a life span of about 10 years by observing the ones on my own home. At that time they will have to be repaired or replaced.

      We have found through experience that the diverters of all types usually are not functional unless serviced routinely. The fine material that does get past the gutter system settles out in the bottom of the tank where we have installed a pull out 2" drain pipe so that the tank can be cleaned. The drain in the tank is about 6 inches below the tubes that feed the faucets allowing for this settling of material to occur. The teachers are given instuction on how the clean the tanks and the Peace Corps volunteers are around for an extended period to oversee the servicing of the tanks. We have recently convince Peace Corp that a viable maintenance program should be part of certifying the schools as "healthy".

  • 2 participants | show more

    School timings and age group

    Rajesh Shah of Blue Planet Network

    What is the age group of the targeted schools and what are the school hours? Thanks.

    What is the age group of the targeted schools and what are the school hours?

    Thanks.

    • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

      In Guatemala schools are financed on a limited basis by the government for ages kindergarden through the 6th grade or age 5 through 12. Beyond this the parents are entirely responsible for education out of family incomes and limited private scholarship programs. School hours are from about 7:30am to 12:30pm five days a week. These facili...

      In Guatemala schools are financed on a limited basis by the government for ages kindergarden through the 6th grade or age 5 through 12. Beyond this the parents are entirely responsible for education out of family incomes and limited private scholarship programs.

      School hours are from about 7:30am to 12:30pm five days a week. These facilities are sometimes used by secondary school programs in the afternoon and evenings again paid for directly by families.

  • 2 participants | show more

    Filters

    Madan Kumar of Team Blue

    Hi Lynn, 1. I'm curious, how successful has the program been in convincing families and teachers to purchase filters at the other healthy schools? 2. Would adding the construction of BSF, or other filters, be a useful skill to add to the construction skills of 2 men being trained during the project? They can use it during future RWH pro...

    Hi Lynn,
    1. I'm curious, how successful has the program been in convincing families and teachers to purchase filters at the other healthy schools?

    2. Would adding the construction of BSF, or other filters, be a useful skill to add to the construction skills of 2 men being trained during the project? They can use it during future RWH projects.

    thanks,
    Madan

    • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

      I do not have specific information about the introduction of filters in the schools and homes of the students. I do know that there are several organizations in Guatemala such as Rotary Clubs;Helps International; Unicef: Beta Filters; and EcoFilter that provide these filters to schools and families and sell them on the open market in hardw...

      I do not have specific information about the introduction of filters in the schools and homes of the students. I do know that there are several organizations in Guatemala such as Rotary Clubs;Helps International; Unicef: Beta Filters; and EcoFilter that provide these filters to schools and families and sell them on the open market in hardware stores and large markets. I have seen many of these in use in schools and homes as I have travelled around the country. They are gaining general acceptance in the country with families that can afford the filter. The competition between manufacturers has kept the cost down.

      The cost of accualy constructing a cement BSF is higher than the purchase of a filter if someone is hired to construct the filter. There is a appropriate technology NGO near where we work that consturcts cement BSFs and they are having difficulty selling their product because to the price to make cement filters and the weight of the filter as opposed to buying a plastic bucket type with ceramic filter elements.

      Our masons know how to construct these filters ( ferro-cement style), but we have had little or no requests from communities to build them.

  • 3 participants | show more

    General questions

    Claire Rumpsa of Aqua Clara International

    Hi, It was great to have the opportunity to read your proposal and learn more about your model of working with schools. Your working relationship with the Peace Corps is obviously a bonus for the projects and I like the fact that you help schools reach a standard that is government certified. I have a few general questions. Who is res...

    Hi,
    It was great to have the opportunity to read your proposal and learn more about your model of working with schools. Your working relationship with the Peace Corps is obviously a bonus for the projects and I like the fact that you help schools reach a standard that is government certified.

    I have a few general questions. Who is responsible for supplying the soap to the hand washing facilities? How did you select the schools that are the beneficiaries for this project? Are you promoting water treatment after the water has been collected in the rainwater harvesting systems? If so, which type of treatment are you promoting?

    Thanks!
    Claire

    • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

      The Peace Corpsmodel is to convince thew school directors, teachers and parents committees that it is their responsibility to provide all of the materials for the hygiene education. This is part of the certification process. The schools are selected by Dr, Sergio Mack who is in charge of the program for Peace Corps. My understanding is th...

      The Peace Corpsmodel is to convince thew school directors, teachers and parents committees that it is their responsibility to provide all of the materials for the hygiene education. This is part of the certification process.

      The schools are selected by Dr, Sergio Mack who is in charge of the program for Peace Corps. My understanding is that he first seeks approval on the education department and then the municipal level education supervisors that they are willing to support the project. Schools are then interviewed and given a chance to participate or not. Not all schools decide to participate. This is due in great part to the competency of the school directors and teachers.

      There are several 5 galon bucket filters available ( Beta ; Ecofilter; and HELPS)in Guatemala. The schools are encouraged to filter the water or chlorinate before drinking. Water is used directly from the rain storage and water system storage tanks for flushing toilets, cleaning the school, and cooking. Purchase of these filters again is the responsibility of the parents and teachers with encouragement from the Peace Corps volunteers.

      All of the above practices are to develop self sustainability in the projects by the schools and parents developing an awareness and responsibility for the hygiene education of their children.

      • Rick McGowan of Team Blue

        Chlorinating buckets of water is not usually something that kids would like to do because of the smell. If you chlorinate water on the spot in a bucket, you will have to wait sometime for the chlorination to make the rainwater palatable, however, if you drink it soon after chlorination, it will not likely be drinkable because of the smell...

        Chlorinating buckets of water is not usually something that kids would like to do because of the smell. If you chlorinate water on the spot in a bucket, you will have to wait sometime for the chlorination to make the rainwater palatable, however, if you drink it soon after chlorination, it will not likely be drinkable because of the smell. Can't you find a nearby stream water source and build a gravity flow water system, purified with a low cost slow sand filter, and build a storage tank so that you would always have treated water available?

    • Rick McGowan of Team Blue

      Chlorinating buckets of water is not usually something that kids would like to do because of the smell. If you chlorinate water on the spot in a bucket, you will have to wait sometime for the chlorination to make the rainwater palatable, however, if you drink it soon after chlorination, it will not likely be drinkable because of the smell...

      Chlorinating buckets of water is not usually something that kids would like to do because of the smell. If you chlorinate water on the spot in a bucket, you will have to wait sometime for the chlorination to make the rainwater palatable, however, if you drink it soon after chlorination, it will not likely be drinkable because of the smell. Can't you find a nearby stream water source and build a gravity flow water system, purified with a low cost slow sand filter, and build a storage tank so that you would always have treated water available?

    • Rick McGowan of Team Blue

      Your proposal states that the project will serve the 2978 children in the 19 schools and benefit the families of the schildren by improved hygiene habits. This seems to suggest that only the school children would be the consumers of the water, but not necessarily the teachers, admin people, cleaners, etc., all of whom would be water consu...

      Your proposal states that the project will serve the 2978 children in the 19 schools and benefit the families of the schildren by improved hygiene habits.

      This seems to suggest that only the school children would be the consumers of the water, but not necessarily the teachers, admin people, cleaners, etc., all of whom would be water consumers. So do you need to increase the water production to cover your proposed consumers?

      Also, in many rainwater catchment schemes that I have seen before, the water quality was often not so good, not because the rainwater would have any contaminants, but because of the water transmission and storage facilities often become contaminated.

      How will the O&M process work? You will likely need to clear out the gutters where leaves, bird shit, etc. It is not a big problem, but it just has to be done a regular basis. Unless the captured rainwater is used fairly quickly, it would have to be stored in such a way as to minimize contamination. What is your plan to deal with this? I see that you chlorinate the water captured water. Do you use it quickly (on a day to day basis, or does it sit in the tanks for prolonged periods?

      You mentioned about the school latrines. Who pays for these and who constructs the routine repairs and upkeep? Do you have problems with water access during the dry season.

  • 2 participants | show more

    Numbers

    Rajesh Shah of Blue Planet Network

    Please correct the numbers. This is a school project so the numbers in "People Getting Safe Drinking Water" and "People Getting Sanitation" should be zero. Those are for community or household systems and schools, being part-time, have their own field. Also, i noticed that the same spreadsheet is attached in the finance and the main docum...

    Please correct the numbers. This is a school project so the numbers in "People Getting Safe Drinking Water" and "People Getting Sanitation" should be zero. Those are for community or household systems and schools, being part-time, have their own field.

    Also, i noticed that the same spreadsheet is attached in the finance and the main document. I assume one can be deleted.

    Also, our platform has sophisticated photo management so it is much better to attach photos than to embed them in a spreadsheet. One of the photos of a completed project on the spreadsheet shows the rainwater gutter on only one side of the roof - interesting.

    Please explain (or expand) on your rainwater calcuations. "7,000 to 10,000 liters of rain from May through October from a roof 6 meters x 10 meters"

    Its much bigger in my rough calculations.

    Thanks,
    Rajesh

    • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

      The basic calculations are as follows. We use the average rain fall for the region between June to Nov. of .15- .20 m of rain per month. If this falls on a space of 6m x 10 meters you will have collected about 9,000 liters of water. 6m x 1m0 x .15m = 9cubic meters or 9000 liters of water. Depending on the school population we...

      The basic calculations are as follows. We use the average rain fall for the region between June to Nov. of .15- .20 m of rain per month. If this falls on a space of 6m x 10 meters you will have collected about 9,000 liters of water.

      6m x 1m0 x .15m = 9cubic meters or 9000 liters of water.

      Depending on the school population we try to collect this as a minimum and use both sides of the roof if needed.

    • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

      The edit section does not say safe drinking water, but it converts to safe drinking water in the application section.

      The edit section does not say safe drinking water, but it converts to safe drinking water in the application section.

    • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

      Sanitation in our view has a number critical areas. Building a latrine or flush toilet is half of the sanitation challenge. The route of infection from the stuctures is the " ano-mano-boca" " anus-hand-mouth" cycle of infection. Building the structure and providing education and hand washing facilities are a critical package of sanitatio...

      Sanitation in our view has a number critical areas. Building a latrine or flush toilet is half of the sanitation challenge. The route of infection from the stuctures is the " ano-mano-boca" " anus-hand-mouth" cycle of infection. Building the structure and providing education and hand washing facilities are a critical package of sanitation responses.
      Peace Corps and APS have a process in which they deal with the hand washing and the " ano-mano-boca" issue first by stabalizing the water supply; building hand washing stations; and providing training in hygiene. The second step is to improve bathroom structures, and the third is to deal with food security over a six year Healthy Schools process. These are the three most important areas to concentrate hygiene and sanitation program according to World Health.

      • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

        I was not able to address the concerns of Life Water International that appear in the ratings section concerning bathroom facilities in the schools, so will comment here. The Peace Corps Healthy Schoold project has three stages toward certification. The first is the stabalization of water supply for general hygiene and to teach hand wash...

        I was not able to address the concerns of Life Water International that appear in the ratings section concerning bathroom facilities in the schools, so will comment here.
        The Peace Corps Healthy Schoold project has three stages toward certification. The first is the stabalization of water supply for general hygiene and to teach hand washing and breaking the ano-mano- boca infection cycle; the second is the improvement of convenient bathroom facilities to insure confinement of human feces; the third is food security in the school and school kitchen. This project addresses the first of these certification requirements. Solutions are being sought in all of the schools for these three school needs.

    • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

      I was not able to address the concerns of Life Water International that appear in the ratings section concerning bathroom facilities in the schools, so will comment here. The Peace Corps Healthy Schoold project has three stages toward certification. The first is the stabalization of water supply for general hygiene and to teach hand wash...

      I was not able to address the concerns of Life Water International that appear in the ratings section concerning bathroom facilities in the schools, so will comment here.
      The Peace Corps Healthy Schoold project has three stages toward certification. The first is the stabalization of water supply for general hygiene and to teach hand washing and breaking the ano-mano- boca infection cycle; the second is the improvement of convenient bathroom facilities to insure confinement of human feces; the third is food security in the school and school kitchen. This project addresses the first of these certification requirements. Solutions are being sought in all of the schools for these three school needs.

  • 3 participants | show more

    What about out of school?

    Gilles Corcos of Agua Para la Vida (APLV)

    Lynn: That schools project looks fine. But is there a parallel program to provide good drinking water in the home of the school chilodren? Or ar most of the children borders? Thanks, Gilles

    Lynn: That schools project looks fine. But is there a parallel program to provide good drinking water in the home of the school chilodren? Or ar most of the children borders?

    Thanks,
    Gilles

    • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

    • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

      All of the school children come from the village in which is located the school. The schools are primary schools with classes from pre- primary through 6th grade. After 6th grade education if in the hands of the parents to fund. The majority of the schools are located in villages where there is a viable water system that delivers water to...

      All of the school children come from the village in which is located the school. The schools are primary schools with classes from pre- primary through 6th grade. After 6th grade education if in the hands of the parents to fund.

      The majority of the schools are located in villages where there is a viable water system that delivers water to schools more or less daily. There are a group of schools that are not connected to a water system primarily because the village does not have a spring located above their village; have not received funding for a water system; or the school was located on a high ridge that was not productive for agriculture where they will never have a water supply.In these latter cases we try to find a rain storage solution or shallow wells/pumps for the school. We normally select a rain storage size that suits the limited space most schools have. No attempt is made to supply water for 3- 5 months of the dry season.

      Agua Para La Salud only executes water projects in the limited area of northern Quiche department and most of the Healthy Schools projects are in other depsrtments. Lack of funding also restricts our village water system solutions.

      Since the end of hostilities in Guatemala in 1996 the vast majority of villages have been served with water systems. The village that have not received projects have very expensive solutions that only the governement and large NGOs can provide. Little by little they are working on this as funding and political will conincide.

      • Rick McGowan of Team Blue

        Unless the local people are willing to co-fnance the cost of a gravity piped water system, or the house-mounted rainwater catchment schemes supply sufficient water, and the local government is willing to finance improved water systems, then there little else that can be done to resolve this all too common situation.

        Unless the local people are willing to co-fnance the cost of a gravity piped water system, or the house-mounted rainwater catchment schemes supply sufficient water, and the local government is willing to finance improved water systems, then there little else that can be done to resolve this all too common situation.

      • Rick McGowan of Team Blue

        Unless the local people are willing to co-fnance the cost of a gravity piped water system, or the house-mounted rainwater catchment schemes supply sufficient water, and the local government is willing to finance improved water systems, then there little else that can be done to resolve this all too common situation.

        Unless the local people are willing to co-fnance the cost of a gravity piped water system, or the house-mounted rainwater catchment schemes supply sufficient water, and the local government is willing to finance improved water systems, then there little else that can be done to resolve this all too common situation.

        • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

          Villagers are willing to co- finance water systems, but the problem is to find donors or government agencies who are willing to take on the very expensive solutions in the amounts of $50,000 to $100,000 projects. This will take time and is outside the capability of these fundings and APS donor base.

          Villagers are willing to co- finance water systems, but the problem is to find donors or government agencies who are willing to take on the very expensive solutions in the amounts of $50,000 to $100,000 projects. This will take time and is outside the capability of these fundings and APS donor base.

      • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

        Villagers are willing to co- finance water systems, but the problem is to find donors or government agencies who are willing to take on the very expensive solutions in the amounts of $50,000 to $100,000 projects. This will take time and is outside the capability of these fundings and APS donor base.

        Villagers are willing to co- finance water systems, but the problem is to find donors or government agencies who are willing to take on the very expensive solutions in the amounts of $50,000 to $100,000 projects. This will take time and is outside the capability of these fundings and APS donor base.

    • Rick McGowan of Team Blue

      Unless the local people are willing to co-fnance the cost of a gravity piped water system, or the house-mounted rainwater catchment schemes supply sufficient water, and the local government is willing to finance improved water systems, then there little else that can be done to resolve this all too common situation.

      Unless the local people are willing to co-fnance the cost of a gravity piped water system, or the house-mounted rainwater catchment schemes supply sufficient water, and the local government is willing to finance improved water systems, then there little else that can be done to resolve this all too common situation.

    • Rick McGowan of Team Blue

      Unless the local people are willing to co-fnance the cost of a gravity piped water system, or the house-mounted rainwater catchment schemes supply sufficient water, and the local government is willing to finance improved water systems, then there little else that can be done to resolve this all too common situation.

      Unless the local people are willing to co-fnance the cost of a gravity piped water system, or the house-mounted rainwater catchment schemes supply sufficient water, and the local government is willing to finance improved water systems, then there little else that can be done to resolve this all too common situation.

      • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

        Villagers are willing to co- finance water systems, but the problem is to find donors or government agencies who are willing to take on the very expensive solutions in the amounts of $50,000 to $100,000 projects. This will take time and is outside the capability of these fundings and APS donor base.

        Villagers are willing to co- finance water systems, but the problem is to find donors or government agencies who are willing to take on the very expensive solutions in the amounts of $50,000 to $100,000 projects. This will take time and is outside the capability of these fundings and APS donor base.

    • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

      Villagers are willing to co- finance water systems, but the problem is to find donors or government agencies who are willing to take on the very expensive solutions in the amounts of $50,000 to $100,000 projects. This will take time and is outside the capability of these fundings and APS donor base.

      Villagers are willing to co- finance water systems, but the problem is to find donors or government agencies who are willing to take on the very expensive solutions in the amounts of $50,000 to $100,000 projects. This will take time and is outside the capability of these fundings and APS donor base.

    • Rick McGowan of Team Blue

      I addressed this question somewhat in the previous section. If possible, a physically longer term and more effective solution for accessing good quality water supply would be to build a gravity flow water system tying into a permeant concrete storage tank(s), which would be a much more sustainable and effective solution to this problem, i...

      I addressed this question somewhat in the previous section. If possible, a physically longer term and more effective solution for accessing good quality water supply would be to build a gravity flow water system tying into a permeant concrete storage tank(s), which would be a much more sustainable and effective solution to this problem, if the physical situation is appropriate and people are willing to pay a modest fee for a community water system, you could expand that piped water system to provide water service in the more densely populated areas in the community, if people were willing and able to co-finance the construction and O&M.

      • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

        As I mentioned earlier the many of these villages do not have a viable solution for a water system and will have to depend on trucking of water and rain harvesting. Some of these more difficult water solutions have found sources of water at great distances , but the cost of piping 20 kilometers , or drilling 250 meter deep wells at $50,000...

        As I mentioned earlier the many of these villages do not have a viable solution for a water system and will have to depend on trucking of water and rain harvesting. Some of these more difficult water solutions have found sources of water at great distances , but the cost of piping 20 kilometers , or drilling 250 meter deep wells at $50,000 are not viable because they cannot find financing and acnnot as a village afford the operational costs. Financing is available at local banks for 22% per year, but the villagers are reluctant to pay these prices for financing when they cannot feed their families.

    • Lynn Roberts of Agua Para La Salud (APLS)

      As I mentioned earlier the many of these villages do not have a viable solution for a water system and will have to depend on trucking of water and rain harvesting. Some of these more difficult water solutions have found sources of water at great distances , but the cost of piping 20 kilometers , or drilling 250 meter deep wells at $50,000...

      As I mentioned earlier the many of these villages do not have a viable solution for a water system and will have to depend on trucking of water and rain harvesting. Some of these more difficult water solutions have found sources of water at great distances , but the cost of piping 20 kilometers , or drilling 250 meter deep wells at $50,000 are not viable because they cannot find financing and acnnot as a village afford the operational costs. Financing is available at local banks for 22% per year, but the villagers are reluctant to pay these prices for financing when they cannot feed their families.

  • Rating: 8

    review by Aqua Clara International

    This proposal has a good combination of improving water access through the rainwater harvesting systems, and hygiene promotion through the hand-washing stations. The long-term partnership with the Peace Corps is clearly a bonus to the project in terms of oversight and training. Another interesting aspect of this proposal is that it helps the school to reach the ‘Healthy Schools’ standard that is certified by the Guatemalan government – this certification will help build community pride in the local school as well as improving the overall WASH standards for the students and staff at the school. I appreciate the difficulty of achieving balance in the partnership between APLS and the partner schools, but think that the approach of encouraging the recipient schools and parents to take responsibility for the ongoing maintenance and upkeep of the units is workable. As with all water projects, the ongoing oversight of the project, as well as strong local community buy in are going to be vital to the long term use and proper use of these technologies.

  • Rating: 5

    review by Lifewater International

    This project seems to successfully provide access to water and handwashing facilities; however, ensuring the quality of the water is an important component this project is lacking. The application also lists all students as sanitation beneficiaries and the schools are described as lacking sanitation facilities. However, no provision for improved sanitation is included in the proposal. Sanitation is a key issue affecting health, especially in schools, and diarrhea can be prevented much more effectively when sanitation facilities are provided.

    While I support this project's aim and provision of water and hygiene education, and I understand how crucial it is for schools to have a sufficient supply of water, this project would be much more successful if it included sanitation facilities and provision for water quality.

  • Rating: 7

    review by Agua Para la Vida (APLV)

    The team clearly has the capability to carry out the project successfully and the project has significant benefit for a large population. Weaknesses include the unrealistic $50 annual maintenance budget and the fact that the project will result in no water for 3-4 months in those schools that will depend on rainwater. However, these are tradeoffs that need to be made when funding resources are insufficient.

  • Rating: 9

    review by Blue Planet Network

    Based on their past performance, we are very happy with their work.

    We would like to see more regular reporting of work and progress.

    This proposal is solid on its own and hope it expands with more funding from other sources.

  • Rating: 8

    review by Team Blue

    This proposal provides an excellent picture of the challenges faced by the implementers of water related community improvement programs in remote locations. As stated by the last Q&A contributor there are clearly no perfect solutions. The goal of the proposed project is hygiene education via rainwater harvesting for schools using the resources of the 18 local communities involved and Peace Corps volunteers. The small, focused APLS staff appears to have been successful in similar projects. While theoretically there may be a better way to provide safe water, we must respect that the local communities and implementers have found the best of the solutions for the area under consideration. Assuming that to be the case, this project deserves support.

  • Not Reviewed

    by Schools for Water

Name Status Completion Date Final Cost
Com School completed Feb 2012 3,039
Plan Grande School completed Feb 2012 3,059
Tziza school completed Feb 2012 2,969
Empaminondes School completed Oct 2012 2,300
Kuluz School completed Feb 2012 4,063
Talmiche School completed Mar 2012 3,407
Panimatzalam completed Jun 2012 2,411
Instituto Xoy completed Jun 2012 2,279
Plano Grande completed Aug 2012 2,423