Chilean water rights system leaves town parched

This article is outlines some of the issues around the privatization of water rights and water use in Latin America.

From the International Herald Tribune:

¨During the past four decades here in Quillagua, a town in the record books as the driest place on earth, residents have sometimes seen glimpses of raindrops above the foothills in the distance. They never reach the ground, evaporating like a mirage while still in the air.

What the town did have was a river, feeding an oasis in the Atacama Desert. But mining companies have polluted and bought up so much of the water, residents say, that for months each year the river is little more than a trickle — and an unusable one at that....¨

Read the complete article at: http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/15/america/chile.php

8 new volunteers join our team

Water for Humans welcomes eight new volunteers to expand our capabilities to provide clean water.

Joshua Siegal, MFA: Web and Interactive media artist
Odlie Valenzuela: Spanish - English Translation Associate
Susan Peacock: Spanish - English Translation Associate
Claire LaPoma: Spanish - English Translation Associate
Marni Siegal: Spanish - English Translation Associate
Pedro Meza: Cultural Liaison and Business Development Officer
Kathleen Dowd-Gailey
Vincent Carpio: African Liaison

New Board Member

Water for Humans welcomes Tressie Word.

Tressie works to improve environmental conditions in creative, appropriate and elegant ways. Six years of engineering, four years of construction and fabrication, and a lifetime of artistic endeavors propel her to catalyze broad scale change in global health and sanitation, with style.

Tressie earned her BS in Environmental Resources Engineering in 2002 and her MS in International Development Technology in 2006 from Humboldt State University.