Donating in the US? Go to https://bit.ly/2OJnWsb

For many rural communities in Western Nicaragua, access to water is a challenge. The problem is particularly acute for those communities located high up amongst the volcanic hills of the Telica-Rota Protected Area, where some families face a daily three hour journey on foot or horseback to collect water to meet only their most basic needs, from the nearest source located more than 3 km away for some, consuming time and energy to the detriment of farming and education.

Nuevas Esperanzas has promoted the concept of rainwater harvesting in several communities located within the Telica-Rota Protected Area, where rainwater harvesting is the only viable solution to the water needs of some of them. The climate of this area is such that plentiful supplies of rainwater can be collected from roofs during the wet season, but the real challenge is to store sufficient water to last for the five months of the dry season and to protect this water from contamination.

The systems promoted by Nuevas Esperanzas have large, closed, ferrocement tanks designed to let rainwater in but keep mosquitoes out. The technique used to construct these ferrocement tanks is simple and only locally available materials and basic hand tools are needed. The tanks are robust and can last for thirty years or more. Collection of rainwater is sustainable, environmentally friendly, relatively simple, and cost-effective.

To celebrate 14 years serving the Telica communities with your help, we want to raise £4,000 to build a new 40,000 litre rainwater harvesting tank in Agua Fría, the highest and largest community on the slopes of the Telica Volcano.

#HelpTelicaThrive