CAMINOS DE AGUA- Rosario’s Fight for Safe Water

Posted on December 15th, 2024

“My joints hurt so much it affected my ability to function, I was scared it would be like that for my children too.”– Rosario Cenovio, Los Ricos community resident

“I was far from the only one suffering, but we didn’t know what was causing it.”
Rosario and her family live in Los Ricos, a small rural community of 200 people located less than 30 minutes from San Miguel de Allende. For years, children had been developing brown stains on their teeth while many adults were experiencing body pain, causing Rosario and others to become extremely concerned. Rosario found herself with debilitating joint pain, which was diagnosed as acute arthritis, and the brown teeth were identified as dental fluorosis. Kidney disorders also started appearing, but they didn’t know the causes.
Both the arsenic and fluoride levels contaminating the water in Los Ricos exceed the allowable limits, effectively poisoning the residents of the community. Both of these pollutants are related to kidney damage, and the brown teeth is a form of dental fluorosis caused by the drinking water. Rosario later found out her arthritis may actually be a form of skeletal fluorosis.

2,800 communities in our region face serious health issues from our water crisis.
Unfortunately, the community of Los Ricos isn’t unique. The northern portion of Guanajuato shares an underground aquifer – our main source of water, and it is overexploited causing a severe water scarcity and contamination crisis threatening the health and well-being of 740,000 people. That’s why Caminos de Agua has been leading the fight to create access to safe, clean water in our region for more than a decade.

Caminos de Agua is making a big difference and YOU can too!
We worked closely with Rosario and the families of Los Ricos to build our first “GTS,” our internally-developed, pioneering water treatment plant that removes arsenic and fluoride at the entire community scale. Today, Los Ricos families are GTS subscribers, accessing clean, safe, and affordable water weekly, significantly reducing the incidences of new health issues. Equally important, GTS is completely run, maintained, and managed by the community itself, allowing us to continue expanding our reach in new communities.

Here’s Why Your Help is Needed Now
Despite our successes, there is so much more that needs to be done to make GTS a reality and provide access to clean water for more communities faster. Right now, we are working closely with two new communities, substantially larger than Los Ricos, to implement GTS systems – Alonso Yáñez and San Marcos. In Alonso Yáñez, their GTS has already been built and installed, thanks largely to individual donors. Now, we are deep into the work of turning residents into new subscribers, training community members to operate the system, opening service at the local elementary school, starting a community-delivery program, and transferring the ownership over to the community. To do so we must raise an additional $14,000 USD over the next 6 months. Your gift now will make a real difference helping provide clean water to up to 1,500 people In Alonso Yáñez alone.
In San Marcos, we are in the pre-construction phase, making the necessary plans and agreements with the community. Our goal is to begin the actual construction next year, when our community team will simultaneously undertake the construction of the system as well as the education, organization, and training community members who will be ready to recruit subscribers, operate, manage, and own the system when it is finished. The total cost of this system will be between USD $45,000-50,000.
Your donation will directly impact these important GTS projects and will provide up to 2,500 people with ongoing access to clean, safe water, preventing them from continuing to face severe health threats. Whether big or small, please consider donating today, and we’ll keep you updated on the difference your gift makes.

My contribution to clean water access for Alonso Yáñez and San Marcos