Clean Water for Peltetec Ecuador
By Jonas LaPier
Tucked high in the Andes mountains, approximately a one drive south of Rio Bamba is the Peltetec community comprised of three villages with a total population of about 300. Agriculture is the center of life in Peltetec where dairy farmers produce milk — sold for 40c per liter — grow potatoes and corn, raise guinea pigs, and sheer sheep to make traditional wool ponchos. The community has no health clinic, no school, and no sewage system beyond individual septic tanks. Their drinking water is sourced from natural springs in the hills, and the distribution system lacks any water treatment. Diarrhea and stomach-ache are common illnesses in the community; both are known to be linked to drinking water quality and pose the highest risk to young children.
In response to this infrastructure need by the community, Fundación Ingenieros en Acción Ecuador (FIEA) has met with community leadership to initiate an EWB-USA project. FIEA is our partner non-profit based in Quito, Ecuador. Their mission is to provide safe water for vulnerable populations in Ecuador. They have worked closely with EWB-USA for nearly 10 years. Their partnership will be critical for the success of our chapter’s first EWB project. They have identified problems in the three catchments that provide water for the villages including excessive water pressures, unused chlorination system, rusted pipes, and more.
Our chapter is aiming to conduct our assessment trip in September 2026. The trip will include six dedicated students and two professional mentors who will survey the existing water infrastructure as well as the community to determine which interventions are needed, feasible, and socially sustainable. The goal is to collect all the technical information and community knowledge necessary to send an implementation trip in the summer of 2027. And our team will need to complete these goals while at an elevation of over 10,000 ft!
This project is not only an opportunity for not just our student volunteers to apply their skills and help a community in need, but also for us in the community to support this project and other infrastructure projects locally. To help the team reach Ecuador, consider visiting our fundraising page. Also stay tuned for updates on local volunteering days and reach out to the chapter if you are interested in contributing during our biweekly chapter meetings! □
FIEA engineers and community members inspect an aging distribution tank in the Salpi Sector