We align with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal #6: to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.
According to the U.N., 3 in 10 people lack access to safely managed drinking water services and 6 in 10 people lack access to safely managed sanitation facilities. Each day, nearly 1,000 children die due to preventable water and sanitation-related diarrheal diseases. Additionally, women and girls are responsible for water collection in 80 per cent of households without access to water on premises.
In rural Jamaica, people often carry water from a local source hundreds of feet to reach their home. These water sources can be contaminated from agricultural runoff and other pollutants, which can cause sickness in those who drink it. Gathering water also takes time and energy away from other tasks, such as homework, cooking, or otherwise, and just five gallons of water weighs 40 pounds!
Our Clean Water program helps those who need it most to have better access to clean water by bringing 650 gallons of filtered, mosquito-proof, water to their doorsteps. The most effective way to collect water is from the rain, and we install rainwater catchment systems, complete with three or more types of filters, onto the home of the family in need. Once it rains, they have water!
Just $70/month provides one family per year with a filtered rainwater catchment system, AND provides better-than-average wages to members of the community to install them.
Program Highlights: 2013-2020
- Collection Capacity: 28,050 gallons (refilled with rainfall)
- Filtered Rainwater Catchment System Installations: 45 units
- Direct Beneficiaries: 100 adults, 261 children
- Field Notes:
- Remote Installations: In 2020, one rainwater catchment system benefited a woman, her daughter and grandchild. She works as a cleaner, and had difficulty purchasing clean water for the household. This was our first remote build due to the pandemic, and because of this, we streamlined program operations for future remote installations.
- Bluefields Basic School System: Included in the totals above are a 2,500-gallon system installed in 2014 in partnership between multiple organizations, including Jah Works. In 2019, we added 200 gallons of potable water with the use of an additional tank and solar-powered UV filtration devices, in partnership with RainHarvest Systems.
- WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Prototype: Indoor bathroom (shower, sink, toilet), septic system, and rainwater-catchment system combination, with solar-powered pump, installed for a senior citizen in 2016.
- Remote Installations: In 2020, one rainwater catchment system benefited a woman, her daughter and grandchild. She works as a cleaner, and had difficulty purchasing clean water for the household. This was our first remote build due to the pandemic, and because of this, we streamlined program operations for future remote installations.
- Program Funding: $28,905
TOUR CLEAN WATER PROJECTS
Rainwater Catchment Installation #6
Sometimes catching rainwater means you have to repair a roof first. Read on to see how the team tackled this extensive project.
Bluefields Basic School
The Bluefields Basic School provides early education to the youngest community members, and is moving towards being self-sustainable with the addition of rainwater catchment, solar power, and more.
Mt. Airy Septic and Indoor Bathroom
After 85 years of living in the same place, the elderly homeowner finally has an indoor bathroom, complete with a toilet, shower and sink. Prior to this new construction, she used a pit toilet outhouse, which was also utilized by many in the community.
Eight Rainwater Catchment Systems
When you aren’t beach-side with a cool, tropical drink in your hand in Jamaica, it can be unbearably hot. Read on about how the Project Re3 team stepped up to the challenge to ensure that eight families had access to clean water…
Rainwater Catchment Installation #45 – Woolery Residence
This project benefited a single woman, along with her daughter and grandchild who were also living in the home.
Jah Works, Inc. 