Programs / Water / Communities / Los Hatillos «

 

About Los Hatillos

Los Hatillos is a community in the municipality of Choluteca in southern

Honduras. There are roughly 150 houses divided between three neighborhoods:

Los Hatillos 1, Los Hatillos 2, and Familias Unidas. Prior to Global Water Brigades’

involvement in the community, there was a severe lack of clean water, personal

hygiene, and sanitation infrastructure. With the completion of the water system

in Los Hatillos, we anticipate a reduction in the number of reported rashes,

parasite, and diarrheal diseases. The accessibility of clean water in Los Hatillos

will allow the community to take a large step in the direction improved hygiene

and sanitation.

 

Los Hatillos' Water Challenge

Prior to Global Brigades’ partnership with the community, Los Hatillos never had

a centralized water system providing access to all members of the community.

Community members used various strategies to obtain water depending on their

neighborhood. Regardless of how they accessed water, there was no central

treatment and few families treated the drinking water within their homes,

increasing the risk of waterborne disease.

In Los Hatillos 1, some community members had built wells to fulfill the water

needs of the community. These families allowed neighbors to fill buckets and

tubs with water from their wells and the recipients then lug the water to their

homes. Similarly, those living in Familias Unidas went to nearby wells to collect

water and carry it to their homes.

Many of the wells dry up during the dry season and people had to travel further away from their homes to access water.  Luckily, most community members in Los Hatillos 2 were already connected to a local water system. It only worked roughly twice per week, and many complained that the water was contaminated by a local power plant. Community members believe that the contaminated water caused both skin rashes and diarrheal disease.
 

The Water Solution for Los Hatillos

Global Brigades volunteers first broke ground in Los Hatillos in December 2014. Over the course of the project more than 20 groups of brigaders and hundreds of community members performed the following tasks:

 

• Built a dam at the water source, approximately 13 km from the community
• Constructed two 10,000 gallon storage tanks equipped with chlorinators
• Dug over 24 km of trench and laid pipelines for the entire system
• Connected approximately 150 houses and 1 school to the system
• Provided education seminars to children in the community on water and health-related topics.

To ensure the sustainability of the project, a Water Council and Basic Sanitation Committee were established and trained by Global Brigades staff. The completion of this project comes after an arduous process of tackling various obstacles, such as seeking a viable water source. In late 2015, the community will join together in a celebration to inaugurate the project.

 

Water Brigades Chapters that Worked in Los Hatillos
Water Brigades Chapter	Month	Volunteers
Univeristy of Illinois at Chicago	December 2014	13
DePaul University	December 2014	20
University of Texas Medical Branch	December 2014	9
University of Virginia	January 2015	26
University of Rochester	January 2015
Boston University	January 2015	22
Loyola University	January 2015	33
Lehigh University	January 2015
St. Louis University	January 2015
Mizzou	January 2015	12
Columbia University	January 2015	9
University of Victoria	January 2015	11
Mount Allison University	January 2015	29
Brandeis University	February 2015
Central Michigan University	March 2015	22
Georgetown	March 2015
Hoya Water Brigade	March 2015
UNC Chapel Hill	March 2015	37
Washington University in St. Louis	March 2015
Yale University	March 2015
Sherman Texas	March 2015
Carnegie Mellon University	March 2015	11
Indiana University	March 2015	10
University of Arizona	March 2015	18
University of Illinois at Chicago	March 2015	28
UC Irvine	March 2015
UC Davis	March 2015
Tulane University	March 2015	14
UC San Diego	March 2015	28
Acadia University	April 2015	8
University of Pittsburgh	April 2015	27
University of Calgary	May 2015	13
Universtiy of British Columbia	May 2015
Chicago Brigades	May 2015	13
Penn State	May 2015	29
Emory University	May 2015
Temple University	May 2015	23
Case Western Reserve University	May 2015	32
University of New Hampshire	May 2015	103
Cornell University	May 2015
UNC Wilmington	May 2015	13
Penn State University	May 2015	28
UT Austin	May 2015	25
UC Berkeley	May 2015
Stevenson University	June 2015	21
Champan University	June 2015	21
San Diego State University	June 2015
University College of London	June 2015	13
UC Santa Barbara	June 2015
UC Riverside	June 2015
UC Riverside	June 2015	48

 

Current Status

Completed
Global Brigades technicians and Engineering Brigaders from the University of California Irvine designed a viable system and construction began in December 2014. After 7 months of collaboration from more than 800 Global Brigades volunteers and hundreds of community members, the project was completed, bringing clean water to more than 650 people.

 

 

Visit Other Programs in Los Hatillos

Global Brigades strives to implement a model of Holistic Development in communities through a system of collectively implementing health, economic, and education initiatives to strategically meet a community's development goals. Learn more about the other programs being implemented in Los Hatillos:

 Medical Dental   CHW Engineering Microfinance Public Health  BusinessArchitecture