2013

HONDURAS STAFF

WATER MISSIONS INTERNATIONAL

7/1/2013

Las Mercedes,Comayagua-HN

Preliminary Report

SAFE WATER AND SANITATION PROPOSAL REPORT

Las Mercedes, Villa de San Antonio, Comayagua, Honduras

Community Information:

Total Households: 310 families with a total population of 1860.

Geographic Size: 0.077 km2

Community Coordinates: N-> 14D 16M 26S & W-> 87D 33M 28S

Municipality/State: Villa de San Antonio/Comayagua

Geographic Description: The community of Las Mercedes is located in the

valley of Comayagua. It is located alongside of the main highway, CA-5,

which connects the central and northern region of Honduras. All the houses

are located within the range of 2 miles along the highway. Nearby

communities are El Varillal and Las Flores. Type of ground on this

community is rocky with a high phreatic level.

Socioeconomic description: The people started to migrate from different

locations of the country, especially from the south, about 30 years ago to this

region. It has developed in the past years especially since the construction of

this main highway. The community organizations are run in almost 100%

by men. They have a structured family basis in each household visited.

Most of the community’s men work in the agricultural field, as employees

or small entrepreneurs. Also they have a small activity in the livestock field.

This community seems benefitted by a large agricultural company named,

Agroindustrias DelCorral, which exports crops to the foreign market.

As it is seen they have a decent employment rate and stable job market,

considering the risk of any flooding or natural event that could ruin the

crops in the region. The new highway that goes through the community has

also provided more economic flow in this community.

Las Mercedes as a society are very united and welcoming to the outside

people. They seem hardworking people that always seek for the

community’s common interest.

Infrastructure description: The community´s infrastructure consists of the

following:

1. Piped water network. More than 90% of the households in Las

Mercedes have access, all the time, to raw water directly to their

home faucets delivered by the pipe network installed. The

community is water fed by the main pipe throughout the community.

A PVC pipe (Ø 4 “) comes out of the Water Storage Tank and from it,

2 PVC (Ø 2 “) pipe branches run through the whole community with

a Ø ½ “PVC pipeline to their houses. The community has a monthly

tariff of $1.50 approximately for each household, which most of the

villagers pay on time at the beginning of each month.

2. House structure. All of the houses are either made of concrete blocks

or dirt-mix. In general the houses seem in very good shape and they

have a fair amount of space in their front and backyard.

3. Sanitation. Most of the houses have their latrines in the backyard and

some of the villagers do not have access to any sanitation, what they

do is go out directly to the field. Most of the villagers burn or bury

their trash. Almost 40% of the villagers do not own or have in

terrible, unsanitary conditions their latrines.

4. Electric Fixture. Most of the households have their electric service

available, with their own electric meters. They also have public

lighting posts and cable service in the community.

Preliminary Proposal for Las Mercedes

Safe Water Component

For this component WMI assessment team considered a preliminary proposal with

the gathered information, both seen on-site and testified by the people in Las

Mercedes. The community´s water project was built since 1988 with 89 houses at

that time in the community. The community was grown more than 3 times since

that time. Their water project is located approximately 10 km from distance to the

community. As a matter of fact it’s in the jurisdiction of another Municipality,

named Lamani. The water source seems adequate in its capacity to keep sustaining

the community for many years to come. The community and water board are in

constant supervision that no person interferes by settling upstream or having any

type of animals or deforestation along the watershed. An inspection was done to

the water project´s dam and the pipeline needed to be changed. There is vehicle

access to the top hill of the water project; from there one needs to go down by foot

downhill for approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Also, an inspection to the water

storage tank was done which is located within the community´s boundary.

From the dam to the end of the GI pipe trail, a total measure of 1.024 km was given

by the odometer. There are approximately 60 meters in which the pipeline crosses

the river, in which case the pipe would remain as GI but with the new diameter of

6 inches. The hardness shown in the water from the analysis gave 425 ppm. As a

consequence of this hard water, plus the improper maintenance, the GI pipe has

outgrown with scale in the inside, making it almost impossible to treat or clean it

nowadays. Several times in which the water board has tried to clean it the water

comes out with thick pieces of scale in the faucets at each of the households in the

community. This is why it is very important and critical to change this GI pipe

which is increasing the risks of illnesses, especially in small children.

Having this in mind, once the new pipe installation is carried out a LWTS™ shall

be installed for the community. This way the villagers will now be sure to have a

Safe Water access at all times and at low maintenance and replacement costs.

Finally, with the inspection done at the water storage tank, the need of a new one

was seen. With the growth rate this community is showing they will be, in a couple

of years, experiencing a water outage. Calculations and a study done in WMI local

office, confirm this initial necessity and gave as a result the need for a new water

storage tank of 30,000 gallons of capacity. The community has already a designated

plot of land where this new water storage tank can be built and it is located in the

same location as the old one, just right next to it.

Having all of these data in consideration WMI team has come up with the

following preliminary proposal:

Remove all the 4 inch diameter GI piping (Approx. 1.024 km)

Install the new 6 inch diameter PVC piping (Approx. 1.024 km)

Build a new water storage tank of 30,000 gallon capacity.

Install a LWTSTM in a designated plot in the community, to provide Safe

Water access to Las Mercedes.

Sanitation Component

The proposal for this component is to build 116 Healthy Latrines TM of much needy

families in this community. This would drastically improve the life quality, not just

for the beneficiaries but for the community in general, avoiding many health risks

and epidemics that would spread throughout this region. The villagers agreed on

the labor work and materials they had to contribute once the project becomes a

reality. The materials they have to contribute with are sand and gravel, plus their

labor work to do the hole and cast the cement mix into the Healthy LatrineTM

mold.

Community Development Component

The proposal for this component in Las Mercedes is to educate and change the

villager’s habits and bad practices, concerning Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. This

would be carried out through different trainings and house to house education

with the help of the WASH promoters volunteered within the community.

Cooperation with the Health Department and other local institutions may be

required to reinforce and assure that this conduct would be change to improve

their life quality. WASH materials would be given to each promoter so they can

give a better education from house to house, leaving this material in each home.

This way the villagers can review all of these healthy practices over and over again

until they start practicing them.