Start Date: 2012-01-23

Completion Date: 2012-07-31

Technology Used:

We found a spring that gives 68 litres/minute in the summer. The consumption of the whole community estimated in 15 years will be of 15 litres/minute, so the spring is big enough for the community needs.
This project is designed to carry water to the community estimated at 304 people in 15 years.
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 72 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.
In the case of Palan Bilampi, the conduction line from the spring to the tank will be 1460 m long with two subterranean crossings and one 44 m long suspension bridge. The storage tank will be of 10 cubic meter. The distribution network will be 3500 m long.
Water system : It begins with spring catchment (concrete retention walls, filters...) and follows with the conduction line digging.
After that, we build the storage tank and we dig the distribution
network. It finishes by building the waterstands in each home with its valve and a watermeter.
All carrying material and digging work is done by the people of the community.

Sanitation : we provide the families with the materials to construct their own latrine. The model is Ventilated Improved Pit latrine (VIP latrine).
Our team builds a demonstration latrine with the community so that everyone sees how it has to be built. Each family is then responsible for digging their hole and getting the materials in place. APLV staff works with the families to help them building
the foundation and assembling the superstructure.
Beside this, each family member receives, through the heath & hygiene promotion program, a training about how to use latrines and the importance of it.

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 (65 days per family). A CAPS (committee charged both to organize the daily work schedule during construction and to learn and provide maintenance after construction) has been formed (9 people). 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 (0.7 ha of land around the spring).

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 laws about water, saying that a community can require a spring if they need to. The water committees CAPS got a legal body and can now own land and manage funds on their name.

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.