When Dirty Water Is Your Only Option

Manuela lives with her husband and three daughters in an indigenous community in Mexico. Their main source of water are shallow pools, which are contaminated. Manuela says, “A lot of times my daughters and I went to the pool and water was already black because people got there before us. So, we had to go home empty handed.”

During dry season, most of those pools have little water in them. So, their only other option was to walk two hours to another water source. Manuela explains, “We got so thirsty we ended up carrying the dirty water home to drink.” Lorena adds, “We had no other choice but to drink the bad water.”

As a result, Manuela said the children got sick from drinking the dirty water, “My girls often vomited, had stomachaches or diarrhea. Then we had to walk to the nearest town to get them medicine.” 

But your gifts made it possible for Operation Blessing to help. First, we gave each household a rainwater harvesting system. It collects, stores and purifies up to 1,300 gallons of water. We also trained families how to manage and conserve water, especially during the dry season. A grateful Manuela says: “Our lives have changed! Water is now available at our home whenever we need it.” A relieved Lorena adds, “And we don’t get sick anymore from bad water. Our water is now clean and safe.”