Honduras

Honduras

Country statistics Population: 7.1 mio. People without access to improved drinking water: 1.2 mio. Child mortality: 2.4% Source: United Nations Statistics Division Project Start of the SODIS promotion: 2003 Diffusion through NGOs, Ministry of Health, local promoters, neighbourhood organizations 75 000 users

Honduras is the country in Central America with the most people without access to improved drinking water services (1.2 million). Large parts of the population live on farming and fishing. However, strong fluctuations and continuing decrease in prices of most products (coffee, sugar, beans, corn) drives thousands of people from the rural areas to the cities each year. The majority of these mostly young people settle down on the outskirts of the principal cities, often in informal settlements where nor water supply nor sanitary systems exist.

This situation is also common in the capital Tegucigalpa; its population has tripled over the past 30 years. This situation leads to enormous pressure on the existing infrastructure, from waste disposal to transport, among others. The capacity of the local institution is not sufficient to maintain these systems, let alone expanding them. Therefore, newly arrived settlers decided to help themselves and they started to construct their own small water tanks in each neighbourhood or settlement block. They fill these tanks with water they buy from water tankers.

In the current project phase, the SODIS Foundation and the municipal water service provider joint forces in order to improve water quality available to people living in the newly formed, informal settlements. Neighbourhood organisations are key players in this project: they form local water committees, they train families and make sure that these apply the taught methods correctly. Additionally, they train teachers in local schools in order to make sure that children consume safe drinking water at all times. The project is designed to improve the quality of the drinking water of 9,000 families.

Local partner organisation

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