Ministerio Agua de Vida

The community of San Diego, located in the mountains of northern Nicaragua consists of about 20 homes, a school and a church. Our dear friends and missionaries in Nicaragua, Angi and Ronnie Hopkins are working in the community and invited us there. A well organized Community Health Evangelism committee identified the lack of clean water to be a key issue restricting the health and well being of the community. The existing community well is a shallow, unsealed "rope pump" type well that yeilds contaminated water.

Old Rope Pump Well

Community Health Evangelism Committee

Whenever we drill a well, one of the primary issues is the ownership of the land where it is drilled. The well must be accessible to the public, and not used for personal gain or influence by a private owner. In this case, the "Patriarch" of the community, 90+ year old Francisco Jimenez donated a well suited plot. While Ed was at the site, the Committee gathered around the well site to pray God's blessing on the well and the drillers.

Don Francisco and Tomas Caceres, Project Coordinator

Committee members preparing to pray around the well site

Our good friends at Amigos for Christ were busy with other well projects, so they were unable to drill the well. However, their lead Project Coordinator, Tomas Caceres, located a competent driller with the right rig for the job. The well was completed in about 3 days without any difficulties.

Truck mounted drill rig drilling the new well

Proud committee members around the new well

Tomas and Amigos for Christ performed a pumping test on the well and it showed to be a winner - producing about 30 gallons per minute. They then took a sample of the water for analysis. Unfortunately, the water contains a small amount of naturally occurring arsenic, which is not uncommon for wells in this region. While the amount is low, it is above the level safe for drinking. Ed later visited the site with Angi Hopkins to resample the well, and the level of arsenic was confirmed.

Dedicating the well to the Lord

Ed sampling the well water for analysis

We are currently working with another missionary colleague, Mary Kay Jackson who serves in Ghana to come up with a way to treat the water to make is safe for drinking. We will do a later post to let everyone know how this works out. But for now we have a good well, and the community is looking forward to hooking up faucets to each home. To God be the Glory!!

******************************** ARSENIC FILTER UPDATE!!!!! Jan 21, 2015 ****************************************

The San Diego community leaders have been very busy. Of great importance was the establishment of a CAPS - Comite de Agua Potable y Sanimiento (Water and Sanitation Committee). The CAPS is a government recognized legal entity, much like a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the US. They will be able to obtain pipe and other material tax free, as well as a reduced billing rate for the electricity used by the water pump. In addition, they we able to finally locate a source for the Kanchan arsenic filters - Praise the Lord!

Ed discussing the arsenic filter with the CAPS members

CAPS member Beto with the Kanchan filter

Ed was also able to locate an arsenic test kit suitable for field use that has the resolution to test at the low concentrations needed (down to 0.01 mg/l). This will be important to allow the CAPS members to assess the long term effectiveness of the Kanchan filters. They were indeed up to the task and were able to run the anaylsis without any problems.

Beto and Tulio getting a well water sample

CAPS members testing the well water for arsenic

We have placed an order for 19 more filters with the manufacturer, Cooperativa Ron Rivera located in Totagalpa, Nicaragua. (Contact Sr. Domingo Lopez Aguilar - 8493 5968 (C) or 8267 4660 (M)). This will provide a filter for each of the 19 homes in the community and 2 for the school.

Our good friends at Amigos for Christ have agreed to install the pump. So after almost a 2 year wait since the well was installed the people of San Diego will FINALLY have water- and have it abundantly!! Praise the Lord!

The comunity has big plans. They hope to connect each house and the school with a pipeline, providing a spigot at each location. In the meantime - water will be collected at the well site. This is truly a self-motivated and inspiring community.

Technical Details

Project date: May 1 - June 15, 2013, Jan 21, 2015 - Kanchan filters

Location: Latitude - N 13° 48’ 03.1” Longitude - W 86° 09’ 22.2”

Elevation: 2,150 ft. above sea level

Project Cost: $9,652 ($5,445 paid by Harrisons, remainder by Hopkins)

Type of project: Installation of well (future work - pump, pressure tank and water lines)

People served: Church and parsonage, school and 18 families

Well depth: 155 ft.

Submersible pump: 2 Hp, 120 volts (pumping test)

Static water level: 22 ft. below top of casing

Dynamic water level: 65 ft. below top of casing

Flow rate: 31.5 gallons/minute (stable after 9 hours pumping)