Chiquitano Forest Safe Water Project – Potentially 200 Water Wells and 12,000 Families
EIA has joined an elaborate partnership which includes the Chiquitano Forest Preserve Foundation (FCBC), EIA, Canadian Rotary Clubs, and a variety of Municipal (County) Governments in the Chiquitano Forest area of far, far eastern Bolivia.
The Chiquitano is one of the world’s largest dry Tropical Forests in the world, covering 44 million acres, or roughly the size of Florida. The Municipal Governments, with help from the Japanese Government, have drilled over 200 bore holes in villages throughout the Chiquitano. However, these were often done for quick political gain, and with little thought going into the correct location, or checking of water quality. In fact, none of them even had pumps.
The FCBC, with financial help of Canadian Rotary Clubs installed hand pumps to 71 of these wells. However, this too had problems as the water was never tested for its safety or taste (the way they wells were drilled had led to bad tasting water in some cases – we don’t know about the safety of it.) Also, many of the hand pumps have become inoperable and have gone unrepaired because of the lack of know how.
Project Update
Starting in April, EIA will be hiring an additional Engineer to with the following goals:
- To improve borehole and water well installation of wells in the Chiquitano
- Maintain and test the existing wells
- Rehabilitate Abandoned Wells
- Create Community Maps for future Water distribution systems utilizing EWB Teams
- Train Municipal Water Technicians in Pump Maintenance and Repair
This project alone has the potential to bring potable water to 60,000 people in Bolivia.