Volunteers from Water Engineers for the Americas (WEFTA) worked with Honduran villagers to install PVC pipeline to bring clean, running water to Belen Manazapa, a town of 72 families, and Monquecagua, a town of 461 families, for the first time. Belen Manazapa laid 6.7 miles of PVC pipeline, including a new spring source, a tank, a chlorine disinfection unit, and a PVC distribution unit. Monquecagua laid 2.5 miles of PVC pipe, a 40,000 gallon tank, and a chlorine disinfection unit. The WEFTA approach is hands-on; it requires the community to invest in the project with sweat equity and a financial contribution. The approach is designed to ensure that the pipeline is maintained and clean water flows long term. By contributing volunteer labor and a percentage of the project funding, villagers gain a sense of ownership, move toward self-reliance, and deploy sustainable technology. Villagers of both communities were very appreciative of the new PVC pipeline and all of its benefits to each family, offering words of gratitude.

1. “Our new water
source fills me with
satisfaction because
I see not just water. I
see our future.”
Antonio Dominguez
Los Encinos, Manazapa

2. “We prefer PVC pipe
because it weighs
less. We have to
carry every single
pipe by hand two
miles up the
mountain.”
Celio Dominguez, President
Manazapa Water Association

3. “A human being can
live without
electricity, phones,
so many things. But
without water there
is no life.”
Urbina Gomez
Rio Grande, Manazapa

4. “When this project is
complete, we will be
able to bathe
everyday, wash
clothes everyday,
and do a bunch of
things we just
cannot do now.”
Maria Arriaga
Yamaranguila

5. “We’re very proud of
our new water
system because we
built it ourselves.”
Sebastian Rodriguez
Yamaranguila

6. “I like having water
because now I can
take a shower in
private everyday.”
GenesisValeria Giron
Las Aradas

7. “In our community,
there is a great feeling of
satisfaction because, in a
few days, there will be
water flowing from this
pipe right here for our
families.”
Juan Garcia, President
Monquecagua Water Association

8. “If we all work
together in unity, we
can accomplish
great things. We all
just need to put in
our grain of sand.”
Esther
Musula

9. “When you see the joy in
people’s faces the first
time they get water for
their families and hear
the pride in their voices
when they say they built
this water pipeline
themselves, that’s what
makes it all worthwhile.”
Andrew Robertson, P.E.
WEFTA Volunteer

10. “The dirty water we were
drinking before caused
lots of diseases. Now
that we are drinking
clean, chlorinated water,
the people are much
healthier.”
Jairo Pineda
Belen

11. “The chlorine helps
our kids do better in
school, because they
don’t miss so many
school days being
sick from bad water.”
YamaranguilaWater Association

12. “WEFTA projects use
only inexpensive, locally
available materials like
PVC that are easy for
community members to
transport, install, and
maintain.”
Andrew Robertson, P.E.
WEFTA Volunteer