Clean Water is Coming for Seven New Communities in Piura, Peru
November 3, 2020 | Assessment Phase Begins
Today, Nov. 3, 2020 marks the exciting commencement of Vera Aqua Vera Vita’s (VAVV) efforts to officially begin serving seven new communities in the Piura Region of Peru. The assessment phase of the project implementation process gets underway today.
After great success serving the community of Monte Castillo with the installation of a water treatment facility among other sustainable W.A.S.H. initiatives, VAVV now lends a much-needed hand to seven new communities within the Piura Region.
This phase of data collection and assessment of these seven different communities in the Piura region will help VAVV choose which community to serve first, though the plan is to eventually serve all seven communities until every one of the 2,054 people collectively in these communities have access to clean water & improved sanitation services.
The assessment begins with the administration of questionnaires to community leaders and 10% of the households to identify the communities which are in the greatest need. The community leader’s questionnaire asks questions about the community demographics, health and sanitation practices, water sourcing, and the effects the community has experienced, if any, due to contaminated water. The household questionnaire seeks to uncover on a more individual basis what sources these houses draw water and determine what practices of sanitation are used for drinking, bathing, washing, and cooking along with how much money it costs to receive the water.
The administration of these questionnaires will be conducted by VAVV staff and partners on the ground. The primary collaborator is the Piura Regional Government (PRG), who will aid VAVV by providing representation within the communities and providing interviewers. Eventually, the PRG will also provide design, funding, and construction support for the technical developments necessary to give True Water True Life. VAVV’s own volunteer, Mahira Tehany, the Piura Region Community Projects Team Leader, will lead the interview teams to develop a full picture of the challenges the people in these communities experience daily. VAVV has also partnered with the National University of Piura, who will be hired to sample water and utilize their testing lab to check its quality.
The population size of these seven communities which VAVV hopes to serve ranges from 96 to 603 people. In total, the hope is to provide access to clean water and improved sanitation services to the 499 households that make up these 7 communities. This service will be accomplished not through hand-outs that will be depleted upon departure but through a grassroots approach which lays a solid foundation and then educates and empowers the people to provide sustainable solutions for generations to come.
