|
RAINWATER CATCHMENT SYSTEM – NATIVE COMMUNITY OF BETSAIDA, PERU April 2025
Jose Valles
Amazon Promise Special Projects Manager - Interpreter
Betsaida is a community located downstream from the remote port town of Nauta on the lower Maranon River, in an isolated area of rare highlands where flooding doesn't occur. It is accessible by boat only during the high water/rainy season of March through May. In the summer or dry season, the community members must walk three hours to reach the Maranon River to take boats to Nauta.
The community is made up of 19 families of Kukama and Achuar ethnic origin. Approximately a year-and-a-half ago, they heard about and saw the potable rainwater catchment systems that Amazon Promise and Engineers Without Borders have built in the region, but they didn't know how to contact us to request humanitarian aid with drinking water. During the dry season, the people suffered greatly from the lack of clean water for their daily consumption. They drank water from a stream, which in the summer turned green and smelled bad, but it was all they could drink, which led to constant stomach illnesses and parasitic infections.
In October of last year, I went to the community to make contact and talk with the leaders about the great need they had for clean water. They then submitted a formal request to us asking for our help to obtain potable water for the community.
Once this was accepted, a memorandum of understanding was signed by both Amazon Promise and Betsaida.
Amazon Promise then began seeking funding for the rainwater project.
Once the funding goal was reached, in early April I was able to move forward with procuring materials moving everything by truck, including three large 2500-liter water tanks, 100 bags of concrete, rebar, tools etc., from the city of Iquitos to the port town of Nauta. After a couple of hours delay fixing a flat tire, we arrived at Nauta where everything was then loaded onto boats for the journey downriver where we reached a very narrow inlet into a small stream that would eventually lead our large boats to the village of Betsaida. This part of the trip was fantastic going through the flooded jungles over water plants, spotting all kinds of birds, sloths, and other fauna and flora.
Working side by side with the dedicated community members of Betsaida, construction took us a little over two weeks. Thanks to their active participation things went smoothly, and they now have a large and successful potable water system they can manage and maintain on their own. They have told me how excited and proud they are to finally have clean water to drink, and their self-esteem has risen to a level of contentment and happiness.
Towards the end of construction an Amazon Promise team arrived to provide general medical care, laboratory analysis, and clean water education for the entire community. Each family also received a new 5-gallon bucket with spigot to keep water clean from the moment it’s collected until they drink the last drop at home.
A few days after the construction was completed, they added a roof over the water tanks and built a concrete floor to support their buckets at the water collection station.
Another successful project that is going to change the lives for families in Betsaida.
They send many thanks to the entire Amazon Promise community.
We thank you all for your support.
| 
