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Many small poor communities in Ecuador do not have access to potable water for its inhabitants and as a result, District 4400 has undertaken on projects to provide potable water by the donation of plants through its clubs to these needy communities.
A second main objective of the project is to stimulate the involvement of more clubs of District 4400 in projects financed with Global Grants . Many small and medium clubs do not have the knowledge, experience or the capability in doing Global Grants .
Through this project, clubs will learn or practice important rotarian concepts such as contributing to TRF, managing DDFs, using presently available DDFs, applying sustainability mechanisms, getting acquainted with GG and obtaining experience in handling them.
Also clubs will be able to attract new membership, reach more beneficiaries and thus enhance the image of Rotary. The project will help them to comply with certain Presidential Citation requirements.
Each water treatment plant for a particular community will be handled by a Club and this project aims to provide potable water to 6 poor communities in the country. The project will be headed by the RC of Quito who will manage and coordinate the whole project.
The water plants have been designed for communities in the order of 1000 inhabitants (200 families) totaling approx. 6000 beneficiaries. These communities lacking potable water usually do have a distribution system of raw water and water storage tanks.For these communities, a common filtration / chlorination type of plant is being made available with acapacity of 100 liters/day-person providing potable water for drinking, foods, cooking, bathing , WC, and cooking and dishware washing.
Some communities may be able to provide or build on their own a small site for the plant but the project considers providing building materials for a plant site construction as well as for raw water catchment and transportation. The community will contribute with labor in these chores.
Complete technical training on operation and maintenance of the plants will be given to the responsibles of the project in the communities and to the responsible rotarians of the project in each club by the manufacturer or supplier of the plants.District 4400 and Rotary Clubs involved with GG 25086 will give education on safe water to each community.
To assure its sustaninability, community members will pay for the use of water. Local communities have an established community directory or a water committee which will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the plants and for the recollection of payments for the service or use of water by the community members. These funds will be used to cover operation and maintenance costs of the plants.
Operating costs for each plant is about $ 500 monthly, thus each family will pay $2 to 3 per month.
The cost of each plant unit is $ 7780 which includes the equipment, plant site, installation and training costs. Total $46680. External auditing, administrative and miscelaneous expenses add up to $3320 for a total cost of the project of $50000.
Up to now,5 communities have been selected: San Gil (RC Guayaquil Moderno), Las Ramas (RC Guayaquil Cerro Azul), Sabanilla (RC Samborondon), Palma Real (RC Guayaquil Centenario) and Nabuzo Bajo(RC Riobamba). The sixth community is being selected presently by the RC of Guayaquil Sur and will shortly be identified.
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