Ministerio Agua de Vida

The village of Villa Rotario was built in 2007 by the Rotary Club of Houston, Texas to house families displaced by Hurricane Mitch.  Amigos for Christ later drilled a well for the 37 families living in the village to provide water to each home.  The well has had a troubled history.  Until recently there was no electric service to the community so the initial pump was powered by a generator.  The generator used a lot of diesel fuel which was expensive and difficult to transport to the rural village.  After the generator failed due to mechanical problems, a solar pumping system was installed (see Villa Rotario Solar Pump page for details). 

Some of the homes that the Rotary Club constructed

View of San Cristobal and El Chonco Volcanoes

Recently the State run power company finally installed power lines to the village - what a BLESSING this has been.  Imagine being without electricity for 3 YEARS!  Although the solar power pumping system has been a blessing for the community, due to the depth of the water table (over 350 feet) the system could only provide one 55 gallon barrel of water for each house every other day.  This is a lot better that nothing, but 27 gallons of water per house per day is not enough to provide sanitary conditions.

Dixon - the Amigos for Christ electrician - preparing the new pump for installation

Neighborhood folks helping to install the galvanized pipe

So - once the electricity was installed Agua de Vida ministry agreed to install a new electric submersible pump.  As usual, the good folks in the community provided plenty of help to pull the solar pump and install the new 5 hp electric submersible pump. 

One of the men from the community handling the cable during installation

One of the kids volunteered to climb the tripod to unhook the cable each time we installed a 10 ft. galvanized pipe - at 450 ft pump depth we had to install 45 pipes!

Pastor Alvaro leading the dedication service

Laying on hands to bless the well and the new electric pump

After the installation was completed Pastor Alvaro, who is holding home based church services in the community, agreed to to lead the dedication service.  Many members of the community attended, as did representatives from Amigos for Christ.  A mission team from Aldersgate Methodist Church was working with us that week and they also got to attend - a real treat.  So once again, the Living Water of Jesus Christ has been proclaimed - to God be the Glory!

Technical Details

The well at this site was drilled previously by the Amigos for Christ.  The scope of this project was limited to replacement of the previous solar powered pumping system with an electric submersible pump and motor.

Project date: November , 2010

Location:   Latitude -  N 12° 42.491'     Longitude - W  087° 05.285'

Elevation:     619 ft. above sea level

Well depth:   500 ft. below ground surface

Static groundwater level:     366 ft. below ground surface

Dynamic groundwater level:      Estimated 380 ft. below ground surface

Depth to base of pump:   450 ft. below ground surface

Pump description:    Franklin Electric 5 hp J-Class single phase 220 volt

Flow rate:    20 gallons per minute (estimated)