The Luke Society

(Moyobamba, Peru)

Water and Sanitation programme

The Communities

The Water and Sanitation programme of the Luke Society works in the region around Moyobamba, northern Peru, to promote good sanitation and the planning and construction of drinking water supply systems in rural villages.

Description of a typical village:

• Located in semi-tamed tropical rainforest, in hills adjacent to the river Mayo.
• Most villages have between 150 and 400 inhabitants.

• Villagers commonly have moved into the village within the last 20 years, from the Sierra mountain regions of Peru, as a result of government migration policy. Most communities have grown from almost nothing within this period.
• Villagers earn a living by growing coffee in the hills, or rice on lower land. Markets for coffee and rice are competitive and can be very unstable, and families cannot guarantee their income. Most families are very poor, and frequently earn just enough to survive.
• Often children leave school as young teenagers to help their parents to farm.
• Poverty in the villages is reflected in the lack of basic infrastructure and health and sanitation services.
• Often villagers are not educated about the dangers of microbial infections and diseases common to the jungle, and do not take necessary precautions.
• Rates of malnutrition and stomach-related illnesses including diarrhoea are very high. Rates of infant mortality and death during pregnancy are also high.

The Luke Society’s work

Many villages still do not have water supply systems which would provide their village with clean water. Inhabitants of villages often have to depend on water-holes and small amounts of rainwater that drain off their roofs, for their supply of water. Water holes are usually badly contaminated by mud, faeces and associated microbes which are hazardous to health.

The Luke Society’s Water and Sanitation programme works to promote awareness, educating villagers about the dangers created by poor sanitary conditions, and the dangers of waterborne diseases. It also works with village leaders to investigate how sanitary conditions, and quality of water used for drinking, can be improved.

Investigations of the quality of drinking water from villages are done by taking samples and examining them under a microscope to determine the presence or absence of microbes. In villages where the quality of water poses a serious health risk, the Luke Society’s water Engineer works with village leaders to investigate how water quality could be improved. Villagers are encouraged to use sand filters and to boil water for sufficient periods in their homes. The Engineer helps villages to locate sources of cleaner water, such as springs, and to investigate the viability for use by the village, and the expenses that would be involved in building a water supply system from the source to the village.

The Luke Society helps villages search for funding to design and build water supply systems. In the past, foreign organisations and charities such as Tearfund have provided funds to build water projects. Designing a water supply system is also expensive. Normally local engineers in the city of Moyobamba are called upon to draw up technical plans for a project.

Water Projects

A water supply project, overseen by the Luke Society, typically involves the following:

• Almost always, a design of water supply system known as ‘gravity-feed’ is chosen, and technical plans are made by local engineers after surveys of the area are done. Gravity feed systems are simpler and easier to maintain.

• A small dam is built on a clean stream in virgin forest in the hills above the village (the water source). The dam is built with an overflow, so that only a small proportion of the water is taken out of the stream. Where the water source is a spring rather than a stream, a concrete box / reservoir is constructed over it to capture the water.
• A water pipe (conduction line) is laid from the dam / reservoir to the village, including air valves and purge valves.
• Just above the village, a water tank is built on the line so that water can be collected and stored during the night, and then used during the day.
• A distribution network is laid in the village, including 2-3 water lines and a number of water collection points (taps) along each line.
• Filters and chlorination boxes may also be incorporated into the water supply system if the water source is at risk from contamination.

Villagers are involved at all stages of the project, from design to construction. In building the system themselves, villagers learn how to maintain the water supply system. It is understood that the project belongs to the village, while the Luke Society acts as a facilitator in the project.

Sanitation Projects

The Luke Society’s Water and Sanitation programme also works with communities that already have water supply infrastructure, to improve and develop that infrastructure. Some of the villages in the region of Moyobamba are still growing steadily, and water supply may be strained. Parts of a village may not have easy access to water, and water pressure in distribution lines in the village as a whole may often be low, due to increased demand. The Luke Society works in such villages to assist in finding and developing new sources of clean water, laying new water lines in the village, and building larger water tanks to increase storage capacity.

Inadequate sanitation facilities (latrines / drainage systems etc.) in a village can also pose serious health risks, and increase the possibilities of epidemics, especially in a rapidly growing population. Many families still do not have safe latrines, and either have no toilet at all, or have a latrine with a platform composed of planks of wood. Such latrines are a hazard to health, since the platforms are very difficult to clean. The Luke Society works with MINSA (a local government health body), and villages, to help families build sanitary platforms for latrines, made of concrete, which can be cleaned easily. Some villages need extra help to build septic tank waste disposal systems. Villages on the banks of the river Mayo, for example, cannot build conventional latrines, since the ground is saturated. The Luke Society helps such villages search for funding to build septic tank / drainage systems.

Environmental Work

The Luke Society’s Water and Sanitation programme also works with villages to help them carry out projects to protect the ecosystem surrounding their village, including forests and watercourses. The Luke Society helps villages find funding to buy tree saplings from local sources to plant along streams and rivers. Such afforestation projects help to combat soil erosion, protect the quality of stream water (and hence water in the village water supply system), and teach villagers the importance and value of forests.

Environmental protection workshops also help villagers to use their own knowledge of local area / natural environment to strategically plan how they can protect the environment and water sources. Mapping exercises, for example, help villagers to visualise the local environment and problems that might need to be addressed.

martinbone@fish.co.uk