Candelaria Solar Water Pump

Candelaria, Nicaragua
Candelaria, a rural community in Nicaragua, is home to approximately 240 people. Presently, this town lacks access to clean drinking water. Each day, the women and children of Candelaria must walk two kilometres (each way) to haul buckets of water from a well filled with contaminated water. For the women of the town, the transportation of water uses up a significant amount of their time each day, and prevents them form being able to complete other activities in and outside of their households. The lack of clean water creates many additional problems for the community including the prevalence of water-bone parasites.

In order to help the residents of Candelaria address their shortage of potable water, we are working with our sister organization Green Empowerment and the Nicaraguan NGO AsoFenix to implement a solar water pump project in the community. The pump, powered by photovoltaic panels, will draw potable water up from a well and distribute it to individual or community faucets. The community of Candelaria will actively participate in this project by assisting in the installation of the system and learning how to maintain the equipment. Also, the community has volunteered to repair the path leading to Candelaria in order to make transportation of equipment easier.

AsoFenix is a small Nicaraguan NGO formed in 2001 by five engineering students. The goal of AsoFenix is to encourage the development, diffusion and application of renewable energy in order to both protect the environment and improve the living standards in impoverished communities. AsoFenix has experience working with solar ovens and installing photovoltaic panels on schools and clinics.