The Guatemala Project
BACKGROUND
The country of Guatemala is located in Central America right below Mexico. It is the most populated country in Central America but is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, as more than half of the population is below the national poverty line. The Guatemala team of EWB-Auburn works by designing and constructing drinking water systems for Guatemalan communities. The Guatemala team has worked in the communities of Saloj and Xeo. The team implemented a water system for Saloj in August 2022, and the system for Xeo will be implemented May 2024.
SALOJ
The first project in Guatemala was based in Saloj, a small community in the Sololá Department along the Pan-American Highway. There was 40 families (250 beneficiaries) without access to water infrastructure, and most of the families spent approximately 20% of their weekly income to purchase barreled water. The team took on the project of designing and constructing a gravity-fed drinking water system for Saloj in October 2021. The main goals for the team were to implement a drinking water system that could deliver affordable, easily accessible, safe drinking water to the community. The team constructed the system in August 2022, bringing water from a spring 3-km away from the community to the 40 houses. The Chapter traveled back to Saloj in August 2023 to monitor and evaluate the system performance and close-out the project.
CURRENT PROJECT: XEO
After implementing the water system in Saloj, the team sought out another project to work on. Xeo is a rural community located approximately 20-km north of Nebaj. Xeo is inhabited by 142 families (740 people) and currently lacks water infrastructure to supply water to all community members. During the assessment of Xeo, the team surveyed community members and collected geospatial, water quality, flow rates of the spring, and other pertinent data that will be used for creating the design. The Guatemala team plans to implement a new drinking water distribution system for the community in May 2024. The team will be working throughout the 2023-2024 school year to design the system.
Media
Our chapter is honored to have been selected by the College of Engineering for Tiger Giving Day 2022. Our Guatemala project was specifically selected to be sponsored on February 23 with a goal to raise $10,000 for our project. We are incredibly thankful to the College of Engineering, the Auburn family, and all of our donors for their continued support which allows for our students and faculty to truly change the lives of the Saloj community.