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Santa Lucía Utatlán is a rural, predominantly Maya K'iche' municipality in the department of Sololá. The population is largely dependent on subsistence agriculture (maize, beans, small livestock) with weaving providing supplemental income for women. The municipality has about 8,000-9,000 residents, many of whom face extreme poverty and food insecurity. Basic services such as water supply exist, but the water is often untreated and unsafe. Families report crop losses from recent climatic events such as hailstorms, which worsen economic vulnerability.
We plan to partner with Wellkind and Water4Life to protect the Watershed of Lake Atitlan, restore ecosystem services, and stabilize soils and water sources.
Specifically we will:
Reforest degraded hillsides in Santa Lucía Utatlán with 8,000 native trees.
Provide training in climate resilience, ecological restoration, and agroecology.
Install a biodigestor system to safely treat grey and black water. This intervention is especially critical because wastewater from Santa Lucía ultimately drains into the Lake Atitlán basin, where untreated effluents are a major driver of ecosystem degradation.
Distribute water filters to families
Provide hygiene and safe water education to reduce waterborne disease.
Strengthen local capacity and sustainability through community engagement, technical training, and the empowerment of local leaders to manage, maintain, and expand water treatment solutions.
Collect and analyze data to evaluate impact, guide decision-making, and improve program effectiveness, including baseline assessments, follow-up surveys, and water quality monitoring.
More than 120 farming families will benefit directly, with hundreds more supported indirectly through improved watershed health.
More than 80 families will benefit from water filters providing an immediate clean water source.
Through these combined strategies, families will gain access to clean drinking water, improved sanitation, and ecological education, while degraded landscapes are restored with native trees. Together, the project addresses the root causes of environmental decline, deforestation and water contamination, while promoting health, sustainability, and long-term watershed protection.
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