El Potrero, Guatemala

About the Community: El Potrero is part of a village called El Tablón which is located in the northern part of the municipality and department of Sololá. The Myan language spoken is Kakchiquel. The community is approximately 350 residents making up 85 households.

Source of income/industry: The main sources of income for the community currently consists of cash crops and the selling of handicrafts. Most of the community however, lives off of subsistence farming.

Community hardship(s): The community suffers from a lack of water supply. The current system sources water from a spring located in the mountains and gravity feeds it into a community distribtiuon tank. This system was installed 34 years ago and was sized to support only the 30 households at the time. The number of households has since grown to 85 and the current system/ water source can no longer support all of the community. Additionally, some families have direct access to the community tank while others do not.

Past Projects: None, this is a new program!

Impact(s) of the projects: Not yet applicable.

Future project(s): For the first project, we are working the community to purchase land for access to a new spring. The new water system which we will be installing will consist of:

• • • Catchment and conduction line for new Spring.

    • New containment tank and distribution system.

    • Connecting current and new spring into the same distribution tank.

Funding Status: Through Rotary, both in the United States and locally in Guatemala, in addition to personal donations, the first project has been entirely fundraised!

What's next: We are in the early stages of data collection. An assessment trip is being planned for late 2020/early 2021 to gather information about the water source, terrain, and local resources. This will also serve as an opportunity for the EWB Fort Collins chapter to develop a deeper connection with the community.