Project Overview
El Cantón struggled with water quality and quantity for years due to poor design of their prior, shared water system. Volunteers worked for an entire year in the community to resolve these issues. This system provides clean water to over 340 beneficiaries.
El Canton, Honduras
Twenty years before Global Brigades arrival, the municipal government built a gravity-based water system connecting the communities of El Cantón, El Jute, and Veracruz Matazano to the same water source. The system did not function properly in the community of El Cantón, however, as the storage tank was constructed at a very low altitude. There was not enough pressure to bring water to all homes in all communities. In an attempt to remedy the problem, the storage tank was abandoned and water was distributed directly from the distribution pipeline. Unfortunately, the new system required the community to stop centrally-treating the water, leading to increased incidence of water-borne disease while still receiving a very minimal quantity of water.
Water System Solution
Water Brigaders worked in El Cantón, El Jute, and Veracruz Matasanos between March 2011 and February 2012. During that time, those volunteers worked with community members to:
• Install a control valve at the dam and build a wall to prevent contamination from a nearby stream
• Repair and paint the 11,000 gallon stroage tank and chlorination tank
• Construct a new distribution chamber to properly divide the water between the three communities.
• Dig over 14,200 meters of trench
• Install 1over 14,200 meters of PVC piping and 654 meters of galvanized iron piping
• Connect 87 houses, 2 schools, and 3 churches to the water system
El Cantón shares a water source, dam, and a part of the water system’s conduction line with the communities of El Jute and Veracruz Matasanos. During the El Cantón project, improvements were also made to the portions of the water system that serve these two neighboring communities. Water brigades worked with all three communities to install 1.5 kilometers of new, larger diameter piping in the conduction line, and install cleaning, air and control valves in the pipeline. In addition a pressure break tank and aerial stream crossing in the pipeline were repaired and a new distribution chamber was constructed to properly distribute an appropriate amount of water to each of the three communities. Water Councils and Basic Sanitation Commitees were trained in El Cantón & El Jute.
Water Project Stages
All stages of this water project have been completed.