Sanitation for Panimaquip, San Lucas Toliman
The Rotary Club of Lake Atitlan
Please consider helping the citizens of Panimaquip rehabilitate their sanitation systems. The project has a fascinating history. In 1970, a series of earth tremors caused Panimaquip’s only source of water, a spring, to dry. The San Lucas Mission assembled a fire truck with funds from philanthropic Minnesotans to address the problem. In 1972, the community’s only water source was the fire truck deliveries. The only other available water source was Lake Atitlan, about nine kilometers from Panimaquip. Later in 1972, Monsignor Greg Schaffer, the leader of the San Lucas Mission, invited a group of starry-eyed volunteers to San Lucas. The group included recently graduated engineers and scientists from Texas, Texas A&M, Stanford, Harvard, and Cornell. Father Greg encouraged the Pollyannaish group to form a non-profit organization dedicated to helping Mayan communities build potable water and sanitation systems. One of Father Greg’s legacies was the birth of Agua del Pueblo (The People’s Water).
In 1973, the San Lucas Mission and Agua del Pueblo (AdP) helped Panimaquip build its first potable water project. The project pumped water from Lake Atitlan, nine kilometers away. The project also allowed 150 families of the Pampojila ‘finca’ (plantation) to move to their own land. It brought the first piped water to Panimaquip and the Parcelas of Pampojila. Before the project, the only water source for Panimaquip was a small artesian spring in a 100-meter-deep canyon. The town had to carry water from the bottom of the canyon into town.
In 2005, Hurricane Stan laid waste to a significant portion of their 27-year old water system. Since 2005, the water project has been deteriorating, so today, extremely few homes receive water. Indeed, the only families that receive water are the more prosperous ones who have built small water distribution tanks on their roofs. Many residents have to carry or truck water to their homes.
Last year, AdP completed a preliminary engineering design. The Friends San Lucas is raising the financing for the rehabilitation of the potable water system.
The San Lucas Toliman Municipality has already started drilling the well. As of this writing, we only need US$50,000 to rehabilitate the water system. The water rehabilitation will bring significantly more water into Panimaquip. More water generates more wastewater. AdP has begun a Preliminary Design for the sanitation system for potential funding from Rotary International. Also the World Health Organization found investments in sanitation to be more cost-effective than in water to improve health. Earlier this year, AdP began plans for the town’s sanitation.