Project Launch: 7-21-15

This project will provide five small low-income communities in San Marcos, Peru with drip chlorination systems to purify their communal water sources. Community members are currently consuming contaminated water, leading to high incidences of acute diarrheal diseases. Three members of each community will learn how to install, operate and maintain the drip chlorinators, and the communities’ water committees will be in charge of monitoring and maintaining the systems, ensuring safe drinking water for years to come. In addition, community members will be trained on proper hygiene and safe water practices to ensure water is being stored in homes appropriately to avoid further contamination.

Project Update

Drip chlorinators have been successfully installed in the five communities and in each of the communities, water committees have been formed and are responsible for monitoring and managing the new systems. Community members are very excited and interested in the project and a handful even showed up during the initial installation and have volunteered to monitor the systems. After the chlorinators were installed, health center staff conducted home visits to construct handwashing stations and spread awareness about the benefits of clean water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Testimonials

"This project is good because now we have water that is clean and free of bacteria. We are happy to see results from the Health Center of San Marcos that showed the change in presence of bacteria from before and after the use of the drip chlorinator." - Project Participant

"I am happy because now my children know how to properly wash their hands and how to use a tippy-tap." - Project Participant