Press Releases

Project Update: Engineering a Solution for Clean Water in Nicaragua

Posted on: Friday, March 25, 2011

Keywords: Nicaragua, Latin America and Caribbean, Environmental Justice, Water Rights

In the North Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, Indigenous Peoples often live without health or sanitation services, a result of government neglect and marginalization. This has left people facing life-threatening risks. We have heard women in the communities of our partner organizations speak of their worries that their children will fall sick because of the water-borne illnesses that peak during hurricane season when flooding carries raw sewage and other contaminants into their water supply.

MADRE and our sister organization, Wangki Tangni, are working together through our project, Liwa Mairin | Women Waterkeepers to reduce the incidence of water-borne disease. We train Indigenous women and their family members to maintain latrines and wells, and we build a clean water culture through educational posters, seminars and radio programs.

With your support, we have been able to expand our vital work. We recently worked to send a group of engineers to visit the communities of Kisalaya and Kururia and to give them the tools to access clean water. On World Water Day, March 22, Rose Cunningham, the Director of Wangki Tangni, sent us an update on their progress. Right now, the engineers are working with Wangki Tangni to repair ten water wells, install two water pumps and provide education on hygiene and sanitation to bring clean water to Indigenous families and their communities.

These simple but powerful solutions spearheaded by a local community group will make valuable strides in improving access to clean water—a vital resource and an inherent human right.

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