Fundraising for Caserio La Chiripa, El Salvador

Goal: 18 / 100 (18%)

About the Project

Engineers Without Borders – San Diego Professional Chapter is working to assist an El Salvadorian village named Caserio La Chiripa en Canton el Tigre.  It is located approximately five miles from a fairly large town, Santiago de Maria.  The community is a group of approximately 75 people who live on small portion of land donated by the finca (coffee plantation) that they work on.  Several work down in Santiago de Maria, but most are finca laborers.

In 2000, an earthquake destroyed the region, requiring the villagers to rebuild their community from the rubble.  Caserio La Chiripa was left out of USAID’s construction of water distribution during the rebuilding effort after the earthquake. The pipeline stops approximately one mile from the village at an elevation 125 feet below the village.  Villagers now have to obtain potable water from a low-flow spring that is located approximately one mile uphill from the village and hand-carry it back in jugs.  Demand on the spring has increased from other villages and purity is not guaranteed.

The project’s objective is to design, fund, and help construct a distribution system that would connect to the Santiago de Maria water system and allow the villagers to enjoy a supply of potable water on a daily basis without the need to hand-transport it. The village has a small elevated water tower that is suitable for provisional storage though EWB is designing a system to transport potable water to every household in the village using an electric pump. All households will get a water valve installed outside their home with a monthly charge of 3 USD that will cover pump electricity and maintenance.

Contact

For more information and recent updates on this project, please come to our next chapter meeting or contact us at el-salvador@ewb-sandiego.org.

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