On May 15th the national water company of Costa Rica, AYA came to my town to dedicate the water tank project. This ceremony marked the end of an 11 year struggle to obtain potable water, 24 hours a day in the houses. Only in the last few years has there been an aqueduct system, bringing water to houses from a well in the center of town. And in November 2008 the water tank was completed, which meant a constant stream of water all day.
When I got here a year ago, we had potable water in our house, but not all the time. The water committee would turn on the pump to stream water from the well to the houses at 7 am every morning and it would last only 2 hours. During that time, each house had to store as much water as they could in its own personal water tank. Needless to say, in a house of 6, the water we stored during that time did not always last the whole day. Many times during my first few months here we would run out of water around 7 or 8 pm.
Finally in November, with the completion of the water storage tank, we now have water all the time. The water committee still only turns on the pump for a few hours each morning, but that water is now stored in the large tank and is distributed to all the houses throughout the day. It is nice knowing that there will still be water to brush my teeth every night!
Even though the town now has an aqueduct system and a storage tank, there are still many members of the community that only use wells. Unfortunately the cost of water is just too much for some families that don’t have steady income. Hopefully in the future everyone will recognized the value of potable water and connect to the aqueduct system.
Here are pictures from the dedication ceremony:
The Water tank
Members of the committee who worked on the project for 11 years
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