On World Education Day, we share a project that changed the lives of Uruguayan children and families in rural areas. This initiative, centered around water access through schools, has made a significant impact.
*By Andrea Ortega C.
We are in Chacras de Borghi, located in the Uruguayan department of Flores, 2.30 hours north of Montevideo. Here, schools include education on water usage and conservation in their curriculum. The 49 inhabitants of the province have grown up without access to clean water, often assisting in providing water for their households. “We have to carry buckets or containers, sometimes with a wheelbarrow, sometimes on a bicycle, or sometimes by walking,” says one of the girls living in this community.
In a class, the teacher asks the children to draw two pictures: one with people who have access to clean water and another without access. The second drawing by one student depicts a girl under a stream of black water.
- “Why isn’t their water potable?,” the teacher asks, pointing to the drawing.
- “Because it’s from the rain,” the girl replies.
- “Would you change anything, or is it unnecessary to have potable water at home?,” the teacher asks.
- “Yes, because otherwise you get tired going to fetch water,” the girl responds.
For these children, fetching water is part of their daily chores, and they consider it a consequence of living in a rural area. “We are like a small village. It’s not the same as living in the town, where there is water, and here, there isn’t,” comments another girl from Chacras de Borghi.
Children are not the only ones affected by the lack of clean water. Despite nearly 95% of the population in Uruguay having access to potable water, according to the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply, there are still rural areas like Chacras de Borghi and Cerro del Arbolito where clean water has never reached.
“We have to fetch water for the animals, for the children, for bathing, for eating, for everything,” says Fernanda Hernández, a resident of Chacras de Borghi, who, despite having a complicated pregnancy and being advised bed rest, must continue to transport water for her family every day.
However, Obras Sanitarias del Estado (OSE) of Uruguay, with support from the Water and Sanitation Cooperation Fund (FCAS) of the Spanish government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), initiated a project to provide potable water to these communities.
This video is in Spanish
Schools: The Epicenter of Sustainable Water Access
For locations like Chacra de Borghi and Cerro el Arbolito, their unfavorable geographical position hinders the installation of basic services. Therefore, a program was devised where schools would play a crucial role in water access.
“A program was formulated with the school at its center. The system is placed in the school, and from there, the service expands to neighboring houses,” explains Karina Azuriz from OSE.
Connecting through schools would not only ease installations in homes but also emphasize the importance of water conservation through educational programs in schools. “It’s not just about getting water; it’s also a fantastic opportunity to educate children about the value of water in hygiene and care, as well as for community development because the communities themselves will ensure that the installations are functioning,” says Manuel de la Iglesia from AECID Uruguay.
“This project aims to reach that marginalized population, which still lacks access to a safe water source. It supports both the supply of potable water and the education of the population in water use,” comments Tania Páez, who was Water and Sanitation Specialist at the IDB in Uruguay from 2013-2018.
The project began in 2010, and one of its initial steps was to provide access to potable water in schools. This way, residents could access water more easily and safely. “Bringing water from the school, you already know that you don’t have to boil it or anything because you know it’s not contaminated,” says Virginia Aragonez, a resident of Chacras de Borghi.
However, the biggest challenge was to connect these facilities to households. In the community of Cerro del Arbolito, in the province of Tacuarembó, 4.5 hours north of Montevideo, residents organized to raise funds and install the necessary connections for water to reach their homes. “We organized with a committee and started doing raffles and collecting money to be able to put in the water,” says Yanet Liendo, a resident of Cerro del Arbolito.
After months of work, the entire community gained access. The same happened in Chacras de Borghi. Thus, through the project funded by the BID, OSE and AECID, access to clean water has been provided to 355 rural schools and 6,000 households in Uruguay.
“Water is half of life, you see? It’s the best, the best,” says an excited Alicia Mezquita, witnessing how this project has changed the lives of her entire community.
This article is part of the series “Changing the World through Water and Sanitation,” a collaboration between the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) that highlights the impact of water and sanitation projects on people in Latin America and the Caribbean.
*Andrea Ortega C. is a communications consultant for the Water and Sanitation Cooperation Fund of the Spanish Cooperation Agency (FCAS) and the IDB. Mauricio Lupera collaborated in the preparation of this article.
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