In 2018-19, after years of planning, the Rotary Clubs of Ciudad Sandino and Santa Barbara Sunrise carried out a $152,000+ Rotary Global Grant water project in the two rural communities of Cuajachillo 2 and Trinidad Central in Nicaragua. At that time, we piped clean water to 576 locations, including 567 homes, two elementary schools, a community learning center, two health centers and four churches. This project has proven to be very successful. The volunteer water committee, known as CAPS, has expanded delivery of water to 600 families (3,000 people) and is financially sustainable. They now have four full-time employees: one in charge of the repumping station, an office person handling bills and payments, the meter reader, and a roving person who helps read meters and fixes pipes when something breaks. Some new families have joined the system while others have had their water cut off for lack of payment. As an example of its economic success, one family used to pay $50 per month for water and they now pay $6.00! Families even have washing machines, which has vastly improved the lives of women in the communities.
With CAPS funds, they have purchased a new computer and printer, two motorcycles and two cell phones to handle their business. Each year, they meet with the community to give a financial report and for committee elections.
In 2025, with their own funds, CAPS put a fence around the well and office, erected a storage building, painted the storeroom and office, installed a drop ceiling in the office, and fixed and painted the fence around the repumping station.
By collaborating with the municipality, the mayor’s office paid to sandblast and repaint the two 16,000-gallon tanks and replaced the pump and motor for the well, upgrading from a 15 HP to a 20 HP pump. They are now pumping 24 hours per day. The well water is tested twice per year and has passed each test with flying colors.
As a second phase to the water project, in order to lower their electrical bills, the CAPS water committee determined they would like to install solar panels on the storage building roof to run the pumps. With electricity savings, they plan to increase their reserve that is set aside for preventative maintenance and future major replacements of equipment. Any excess funds will be used for improvements or social needs in the community, such as sponsoring a baseball team, building a park, or creating a fund to help local families with funeral and burial costs.
The Rotary Club of Santa Barbara Sunrise’s International Service Committee, under the leadership of Margie Woodruff, saw this as a completion of the large water project we celebrated in 2019 and so we have allocated $15,000 towards this project. The Rotary Club of Solvang has contributed another $4,000 and the Rotary Club of West Salem, Oregon, has donated $500. The CAPS, themselves, will contribute the balance of the approximately $23,000 contract. The project will soon be underway, and we look forward to reporting on its completion.