Stories of Change


CWS and partners are helping to ensure water access for remote communities in the arid Gran Chaco region of South America. Photo: Paul Jeffrey / CWS


At any time, about 50 communities are participating in CWS-supported programs in the Chaco.

Water in the Chaco

Twice the size of California, the South American Gran Chaco is the second largest forest reserve in South America. It is an immense and scarcely populated region, many parts of which are dry and arid. The residents of the Chaco include campesino, or farmer, families and indigenous communities. The small and dispersed communities often face deep poverty.

CWS has worked in the Gran Chaco since 2005 to build the skills and expertise of indigenous men, women and youth to advocate effectively for their basic rights and their ancestral lands. These rights include water, education, health, food and a life free from violence and discrimination.

Meeting after meeting and visit after visit, one top priority emerges from residents in the Gran Chaco, particularly its women. Water.

Securing access to potable water for all campesino and indigenous families in one of the driest districts of the Gran Chaco requires overcoming a number of challenges. The largest is drought  – the region faces up to six months without rain each year. When rain does come, it is torrential and short-lived. The underground water sources are scarce, salted and have high levels of arsenic. They are unsafe for human consumption and are insufficient for animal or crop production. When underground water sources are safe, digging wells is expensive work. With the population scattered in tiny rural communities, distance becomes a challenge, and it is impractical to think large-scale solutions like one water system or well can effectively serve multiple locations.

There are rivers in the region, but they are miles away and with erratic streamflow. For the 2000 people in the town of Los Blancos, for example, the nearest rivers are the Bermejo River, located 30 miles away and the Pilcomayo, which is 62 miles away. For years there has been talk of channeling the Bermejo to serve the community, but this would be a large scale and expensive undertaking with lots of opportunities for corruption.

The recently formed Water Roundtable of Rivadavia in Argentina’s Salta province is a government and civil society partnership aimed at addressing these challenges and prioritizing access to clean water in a transparent manner. The CWS-supported local organization of Fundapaz is a driving force behind the roundtable, and CWS is one of two international observers invited to accompany the process.

The first step in securing clean water access is to understand where current water assets like cisterns, wells and reservoirs are and where there are needs. Fundapaz uses participatory mapping, GPS and Geographic Information System, or GIS, technology to create the needed maps together with the communities. So far, Water Roundtable members have mapped more than 1,000 locations where water systems are needed.

Enzo is one of those who are in charge of the mapping project. He loves to spend time in the communities teaching youth how to use the GPS equipment and programs like Google Earth Plus to create maps of existing water assets, forest reserves, grasslands and the sites of current and future schools, clinics and houses. Community members have used these maps to negotiate with authorities regarding issues such as road maintenance, water reservoirs and rural electricity.

One water system stands out from other options as a small-scale, durable and high-impact investment: rooftop rainwater catchment systems. This area receives 19-23 inches of rain each year in a short burst of precipitation. With better systems in place to capture and store rainwater, many water needs would be addressed. For every 10 square feet of harvesting surface, 19-23 gallons of water can be captured. With basic maintenance and management, the stored water is safe for consumption.

With support from CWS and Foods Resource Bank, Fundapaz will build systems that can hold more than 4,200 gallons of water each. In the next two years, these systems will be built for eight campesino families and four indigenous communities. Additionally, broken systems on schools and community centers will be replaced. In part with CWS and FRB support, Fundapaz and other Water roundtable members have already completed or repaired 25 rooftop rainwater harvesting systems to increase the harvest and storage capacity by 160,000 gallons. Cisterns are built by local crews of both campesino and indigenous workers, who are trained by more experienced builders. Each time a cistern is built, a local community team learns to replicate the process so they can build cisterns on their own. Peer learning opportunities are also a staple of this program.

Bautista is 20 and lives in a small community of only 70 people that just built its first rainwater catchment system. When asked which water he prefers, the water from the new system or the water that used to be brought in and stored in plastic tanks, he smiled and replied that he likes water from the new system better. In his words, it is sweet and cool. Communities contribute to the new systems that Fundapaz builds, and Bautista’s was no exception. He and a neighbor walked several hours to get posts to hold up the roof over the system.

This kind of neighborly cooperation is common in these projects, but that hasn’t always been the case. Historically, tensions have been high between campesino and indigenous communities because of struggles for land tenure and natural resources. Now, they often work together for a common goal. During the last roundtable meeting, an indigenous leader said, “We all have the same right to water.”

Rooftop rainwater harvesting is not a silver bullet for meeting water needs in Salta and throughout the Chaco. There isn’t one. But when systems like wells, reservoirs, drip-irrigation and rainwater catchment are used in conjunction, real change is possible. We can make sure that more families across the Gran Chaco region have the systems and training that they need to have enough water year round. We have made tremendous progress already, and we’re continuing the momentum thanks to our partners and supporters.