This project is carried out within the context of the APR School initiative, framed in the More Blue Territorial Program from the Patagonia headquarters.
APR Committees supply approximately 2,000,000 people in rural Chile. In the Los Lagos region there are about 58,000 households connected to the rural drinking water network operated by more than 240 committees. The complex challenges associated with the operation and administration of these committees, despite the important efforts they make, result in supply interruptions and eventual water shortages. Surveys conducted by numerous institutions, including Universidad San Sebastián, have identified lack of relevant and quality technical training as one of the causes of supply problems.
As part of the alliance between the University and Blumar, last Saturday, January 28th, the community of Chucahua on Isla Huar was visited to begin training on efficient drinking water use and production. The event, which featured faculty and students from Universidad San Sebastián, included two workshops focused on different audiences.
The first workshop, aimed at the community’s rural drinking water committee, aimed to build operational capacity in the team responsible for supplying drinking water to the community. Together with a specialized university team, the components of a drinking water system and the most common failures were analyzed. Additionally, water quality analyses were conducted on-site to assess the current status of the system. Nancy Soto, responsible for operating the APR committee, highlighted the workshop, stating “these activities are very important for us, we need them. I intend to do my job well but sometimes I don’t have the knowledge.” For his part, Ramón Alvarado, president of the committee, emphasized “as a rural drinking water committee, it is our responsibility to provide drinking water to all of Chucahua, we need to have the knowledge to provide a good service, we are very grateful that you come to the community to conduct the workshops in the place where the problem occurs.”
The second session, focused on children at Chucahua Rural School, centered on responsible water use. During the activity, the main concepts of the water cycle were explained in an engaging and playful manner. Additionally, through games and crafts, the characteristics of responsible use of water resources in our daily lives were made known. Yasna Vera, a student at Universidad San Sebastián and assistant for the activity, commented on her participation: “as a student, one acquires a lot of knowledge from fieldwork with communities and at the same time applies the skills learned during the degree program, it is really rewarding.”
Alberto Fernández, academic for Community Engagement and leader of the More Blue Territorial Program at the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Design, noted that “being able to reach these areas of our region and put into practice, jointly with students, faculty and organizations from the territory, projects co-built with the community is the essence of community engagement work.”
In future sessions, it is planned to visit, along with the Chucahua committee, other rural drinking water committees in the Los Lagos region to share experiences with the goal of promoting collaboration among these organizations responsible for something as important as supplying drinking water to rural areas.
