Clean Water – One Reservoir at a Time

This past weekend we had the opportunity to tag along to a community project in a small town, Yanahuara, outside of Urubamba in the Sacred Valley, Peru. We were given this chance due to our host family’s tie to government and the continued pursuit of clean water in the region. Our host, Rhomina (in the purple top), has only been at her job for a few short months, but has already made huge strides in educating the community about the importance of clean water and maintaining the community reservoirs. In fact, it was due to her efforts this community act came about.

A month ago Rhomina, who has a Biology background, visited the small town and taught a class on chlorides, appropriate levels and the root causes of imbalanced numbers. This was not by accident – Rhomina had been monitoring the level for some time and knew the numbers were off. Instead of raising a red flag and calling for immediate action, she knew the best approach would be to present the facts to the community so they could draw their own conclusions, and help guide them toward a solution (sounds familiar to Change Management in Corp America).

After her lecture, the townspeople were energized and the class participants immediately walked to the reservoir to see for themselves if any of the potential problems Rhomina described were impacting their water. Mind you, this is not an easy trek, as we also did it and still feel the effects in our muscles.

Upon visiting the reservoir – it was crystal clear the water was polluted. Even though the tanks were supposed to be monitored on a daily basis, no amount of chloride in the treatment facility could counteract the sludge, decomposing plants, worms, etc. found milling about in the water. While the community had the best of intentions, without the proper education and guidance, they couldn’t know any better. It wasn’t until children were getting sick and Rhomina’s thoughtful insight that caused a chain reaction of events to clean the reservoir.

Fast forward to this past weekend – more than 200 community members (yes, they documented volunteers in a hand-written ledger) and the local fire department showed up with shovels and picks in hand to go to work. The firemen assisted with pumping out the water so that they could start with fresh, new water from the uphill stream after cleaning. Once the tanks were empty of water, they were tasked with scrubbing each chamber with a Clorox Bleach mix. Even the town mayor climbed in the tank to help out (he's on the far right).

As indicated in the photos, the reservoir tanks are composed of several chambers – each serving as a filtration system. The first chamber is full of large rocks to prevent any large items filtering through. Each chamber is separated by bricks with holes in them, allowing the water through. The rocks get smaller and finer as the water passes through one chamber to the next, eventually leading to filtered water that leads to the treatment center down the hill.

During the cleaning of the tanks, the women scrubbed the chambers with their buckets filled with the bleach solution while the men dug up and washed the rocks with the help of the powerful fire hoses ran from a pump. The approach was a combination of teamwork, chaos and community service – a beautiful sight. While we were ready to roll up our sleeves and pitch it, it was clear our role was to stay out of the way, take photos, and meet the locals instead.

Knowing only a few basic Spanish phrases… and that’s a stretch, we engaged with a few locals to the best of our ability. They were interested in where we were from and some assumed we were hikers headed out on local trail for a 3-day trek – ha! We explained we were with Rhomina and they treated us like family. They took the time to walk us further up the water line to see where it originates, how the process works – through broken English and hand gestures. They then walked us down to enjoy a delicious meal prepared by a few local women for all of the volunteers.

In all, it was an informative, inspirational and productive day. They community came together in a way we only wish my former neighborhoods did. All of us learned about the water filtration process and more importantly, we will never take clean water from the tap for granted again!!

We want to thank Rhomina for including us in her day and commend her for her passion and ongoing efforts to make her home and community a better and safer place to live.