Project Ricardo: Clean Water Access for Arcabuco
In 2017, the Pulte Institute began the process of bringing clean water to Arcabuco, Colombia, thanks to the support of a group of anonymous donors. Despite a growing population, water resources in Arcabuco are not under stress. However, community members have long struggled to access clean and treated water and have experienced multiple instances of contamination. Additionally, the region’s wastewater treatment and management infrastructure has historically been limited.
Project Ricardo is named for a shared friend of the group of donors, who had volunteered in Arcabuco and brought solar energy systems to the region in the past. Ricardo had hoped to address the area’s water challenges, but unexpectedly passed away before his plans could be implemented.
In 2017, Monsignor Luis Mesa, who oversees the Messengers of Peace (MOP), a local Catholic mission, revisited the issue of clean water access in Arcabuco with the group of donors, who decided to address the challenge in their friend’s memory. Needing an organization with the capacity to research the area’s needs and implement solutions, the donors brought the project to the Pulte Institute, which has worked to bring clean water to Burkina Faso and Ghana in the past.
Phase One: Evaluating Arcabuco's Needs (Fall Break 2017)
The Pulte Institute sent two Impact Evaluation Division team members to Arcabuco, Juan Carlos Guzman and Danice Guzman, along with five undergraduate students and one graduate student from various Notre Dame colleges. The group was kindly hosted by the MOP, who were able to connect the group with local residents, government officials, and technical staff responsible for operating and maintaining the current water systems.
Throughout the week, the Pulte Institute team met with these various groups and compiled an on-site assessment report. The students learned to scan for E. coli contamination, honed their quantitative analysis skills, and observed the water catchment and hygiene practices of local residents. The students also conducted focus groups with residents in and around Arcabuco, as well as key informant interviews with the local government, particularly the local water board, in order to collect information on precipitation levels, typical water systems in the area, and future plans for infrastructure development.
The Pulte Institute team found that although most residents in and around Arcabuco receive piped water from five aqueducts in the region, only one aqueduct has a treatment facility able to provide potable water. Because of this, the team discovered that many residents have to travel to a natural spring for drinking water, while other residents, especially those in rural areas without access to transportation to the spring, resort to boiling and drinking untreated aqueduct or creek water. The team also found that many rural community members lacked education on proper water handling and storage, and hypothesized residents may have been contaminating their own water through dirty storage tanks and water bottles.
Phase Two: Implementing Community Solutions (Fall Break 2018)
Throughout 2018, the team analyzed the collected data and prepared for another major trip to the region over fall break. Kevin Fink, a program manager at the Pulte Institute, accompanied the students on the trip and together the team:
- Hired a local project coordinator to oversee 10 local community mobilizers, among other things.
- Conducted five design workshops throughout the region, which were attended by over 135 residents.
- Completed a water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) diagnostic of five primary schools.
- Met with the local municipality and discussed developing new water treatment infrastructure.
- Connected with a local Colombian organization called Campo Limpio to arrange for agrochemical pickup days in 2019 to prevent runoff or empty fertilizer bags from contaminating local water sources.
Phase two of the project reached 90 local households, which each received training and a biosand filter. This resulted in more than 150 people gaining access to clean, safe drinking water.
Phase Three: Evaluating the Project (Fall Break 2019)
A team of four Notre Dame undergraduates worked with the Pulte Institute to design and plan the project's final evaluation, which will include interviews and focus groups with local project staff, project participants, and government officials.