Community Water Project
Community Water Project Opportunities Assessment 2019
A collaboration between Nido de Vida and University of Michigan’s Center for Socially Engaged Design
Aerial view of Union La Bolivarense. The map illustrates water sources currently used by interviewees and their families for water consumption, and rivers and creeks impacted by the dry season. (click on the map for a full view)
(Drone captured footaged overlayed onto an Ecuadorian Militar Geographical Institute satellite from the year 2000.)
The 2019 Community Water Project Opportunities Assessment was born out of the Community Project Opportunities Assessment project conducted by The Center for Socially Engaged Design’s 2018 interns. One of the top three community priorities identified in this initial broader assessment was the overwhelming number of community members who had concerns about water.
The purpose of the Community Water Project Opportunities Assessment was to collect data that would allow better understanding of water access and use habits, as well as to identify possible solutions.
The team conducted interviews with community members from seventeen households, leading to the creation of 226 “how might we” questions, which can be thought of as potential topics of focus for future projects.
The data collected revealed challenges that included;
1. Very few community members feel secure about the amount of water they have access to during the dry season, but those that do have significant water storage.
2. A significant portion of community members get their water from creeks which run low in the dry season.
3. Many community members see cost as a barrier to improving their water systems; some explained that they would like to buy storage tanks or electric pumps, but could not afford them.
4. Most challenges centered around education, having enough water (especially during the dry season), reducing pollution, and reducing money lost to water.
After prioritizing and filtering the challenges, potential future areas of work include ensuring water access for all community members, environmental conservation, education, and community building.
Thank you Cristian Casanova, Tanner Jones, Jessica Kahn, and Natalie “Tallie” Ritter for your commitment, intelligence, and joyful energy. Your contribution to Nido de Vida and Union La Bolivarense will support what we do for years to come.
