Water for Oaxaca - Rain Catchment Campaign

Saludos (Hi) from all of us at Water for Humans!

Imagine only getting municipal water once a week for 2 hours!

Imagine not flushing the toilet for 2 days because there is no water!

Water for Humans (WFH) is taking action to help alleviate the life-endangering effects of major water shortages in Oaxaca City, Mexico. We are responding to the cries for help from numerous families in the besieged Victor Bravo Ahuja district of Oaxaca City. They are asking Water for Humans and you to help them gain access to clean, safe drinking water. Here is a first-hand portrait of the human toll severe water shortages are exacting from the perspective of one family in Victor Bravo Ahuja!

Meet Susana Eva Vazquez
Suzanna is a community activist in the Victor Bravo Ahuja district of Oaxaca City. She wrote to Water for Humans and the Institute for Nature and Society in Oaxaca asking for our help in solving her neighborhood's chronic water shortages.

This is what Susana told us: "Our neighborhood was a landfill and quarry before becoming a residential district. Originally, water service consisted of two spigots; over time, the delivery system was expanded. Now, due to population growth, it is extremely insufficient. Last year, during the dry season most residences received water only two times per week for few hours per day. The water ... is not potable."

With your support, here is how WFH wants to help Susana and her family...

Together with INSO, we are building 8,000 gallon rainwater catchment systems - a pilot project to be tested in eight homes in the neighborhood. The community members are committed to solving their water shortage problem by putting in almost $9,000, toward the total of $31,000!


Will You Answer Susana's Plea for Help?

You can help Susana and her family in this life-saving effort by helping Water for Humans today with a $25 donation via our site. Our financial goal is to collect $6,000 towards this cause. Your generous contribution will play a critical role in Water for Humans being able to implement this innovative, low-tech, sustainable solution. With your donation, Water for Humans will bring tangible and significant improvements to the lives of Susana and her family and so many others in Oaxaca City!

How to Help

First, you can help us spread the word via our site by inviting your Facebook friends and email contacts to join our funding efforts (by clicking the icons to the left of the "Donate" button on the crowdrise webpage). Your Confidentially is Guaranteed - Your personal information will not, under any circumstances, be shared with any third parties!

Thank you!
You are a person who cares about the world we live in and you have demonstrated that by supporting Water for Humans in its effort to help Susana and her family in Oaxaca City. Susana and her family thank you for your support! "Muchas gracias!"

See the Difference Your Donation Will Make For Susana and So Many Others In Oaxaca City!
Learn how your generous support will impact lives in Oaxaca and elsewhere by following the Water for Humans' Blog, our You Tube Channel and looking for updates on Facebook. We invite you to join the nearly 300 people who are "Followers" of Water for Humans on Facebook!

You can always donate directly at

VISIT TO THE COLONY BRAVO AHUJA- Oaxaca city

VISIT TO THE COLONY Bravo Ahuja. 
By our Oaxaca staff  Nelly Fernandez Tellez

On Wednesday 6 April, he visited the colony Bravo Ahuja, where it intends to implement systems to capture rainwater for eight families. The reason for the visit was to take pictures of the houses, the beneficiaries and ceilings.We did a route which covered all the houses of the beneficiaries, most of them made collecting cans to sell and PVC recycling. They perform and the collection of rainwater but very rustic, in cans, buckets and all receptacles in which to store water, which is why they want to get the rainwater harvesting in a more formal with tanks and tanks, gutters and pipes.

La Maestra Rosa Lidia Barroso Moreno, who was the first to be approached with trepidation INSO to implement the project Capturing rainwater in your home develops some of the actions environmentally friendly alternatives such as: instead of chlorine for whiten the clothes she wears ash water according to his testimony helps to whiten the clothes and also reduces the amount of detergent you use. It also has vermicompost, compost conventional organically reared chickens, ways of saving and recycling water, for example, the wash water used to water the garden or for toilet, water from the clothes used for washing floors.On the other hand, Mrs. Avelina Ines Barroso already has dry toilet and also recycles water, your house is made of ferrocement and has organic shapes.

The other members of the project are:Hortencia Mendoza GarcíaCarlos Alvarez BautistaEva Susana Hernandez Vazquez .- In addition to her home 5 people live with her. Esther Pascual Lopez .- With her 8 family members live together. Norma Aguilar Gaytan .- There are 6 people in your home. Berenice Delgado Torres - regularly are 5 people in her house.

Each of the women members of this group is very excited and is eager to work on the project "Rainwater Collection" are moving to acquire resources from government institutions and other potential donors have even talked to the president City of Santa Lucia and pretend to have a conversation with the Governor to ask for your support.

However, they are constantly training and attending courses and workshops in order to overcome and be more environmentally friendly.

What Can I Do to Bring Safe Drinking Water to Others?

The worldwide water crisis seems so daunting. While Water for Humans and many other like-minded organizations are doing what they can to heighten awareness and bring useful information to people that helps them address the clean water crisis, this is a problem that affects billions of people on a global scale.

• In the Developing World, most people do not have running water.
  
  
• 2.5 Billion people do not have access to a toilet or a latrine.
  
  
• Diarrhea kills more than 4,000 children each day, AND 90% of them these children are under 5 years old. Water.org estimates that diarrhea kills more young children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

But each one of us can change our personal lifestyle habits in subtle, easy ways that can free up enormous amounts of water. Examples include --

Taking a 4 -minute shower. (The average American takes at least an 8-minute shower and uses 20 gallons of water, four times as much water as someone in the developing world uses all day.)

Find out if your home has a water leak. Check your water meter. Then wait two hours without using any water. Then check the meter again. If the reading changes, you’ve got a leak. (According to the EPA, water leaks in U.S. homes account for more than 1 trillion wasted gallons per year.)

Turn off the water facet when you are brushing your teeth. (According to the EPA’s WaterSense program, the average bathroom faucet flows at a rate of 2 gallons per minute. So, a single person can save an average of 8 gallons of water each day by simply turning off the faucet when they brush their teeth.)

Take more showers and fewer baths. (A full bath can take 70 gallons to fill, according to the EPA, while a 5-minute shower will only wash away anywhere from 10 to 25 gallons.


Learn about easy, every-day ways you can save water. Visit http://tinyurl.com/6zuqoso and see what simple changes you can make to conserve our planet's most precious resource.

Then, when you watch stories on the news about people whose lives are ravaged by unsanitary water, you can feel good that you are doing something to help alleviate this worldwide crisis. Join Water for Humans to address this humanitarian initiative that will save lives. Thank you!