Santa Elena Water Distribution

Santa Elena, is located 18 kilometers north of the municipality of San Andrés Sajcabajá, one hour from the urban centers of Sacapulas, San Bartolo and San Andrés Sajcabajá, in the department of El Quiché. It has an elevation 4,327 feet above sea level, in a flat area with rivers and mountains on the sides

The community has three water systems which were built with the agreement that they would not accept any new users, leaving 55 existing houses and any future houses in Santa Elena without options for water service.

To solve the problems faced by the community, they have partnered with the the municipality to help them drill a mechanical well providing an independant, safe and reliable source of water, which will be able to include all the people of the community.

Nine volunteers from the Minnesota Professionals Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) traveled to the Santa Elena community as part of an assessment of the project to establish relationships between all parties involved, discuss the proposed infrastructure, and collect data to assist in design of the water system which will provide adequate water quantity and quality to all community members.

Goals:

1. Delineate and document project extent (number of houses, furthest house from source, highest house, etc.).
2. Conduct door-to-door surveys to gather data on water trends (peak consumption, seasonal changes, anticipated community growth, and existing needs).
3. Create a topographic data set collected from drone flights.

What's Next?

Construction of the system is slated for Summer 2024. In the interim, fundraising efforts have kicked off to bring awareness to the Santa Elena project and move towards the financial goals required to construct the water system.