Irma and Morelia are among the 135,000 people who now benefit from greater access to potable water in rural Guatemala.
“Our water is our life”, says Irma Pecher as she welcomes us to the Chuimanzana village, located in the department of Sololá in southwestern Guatemala. She shares the challenges of accessing clean water in her community.
Morelia Tos, her neighbor, approaches to recount her childhood of long daily walks through the ravines surrounding their community in search of potable water. “We had to carry our clothes to the mountains to wash them and then bring them back,” she says.
Fortunately, this reality has changed significantly for Irma and Morelia thanks to a project funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). The project aims to expand access to potable water and sanitation, thereby improving the quality of life for the country's citizens.
Irma Pecher
Access to Water: A Fundamental Right, Not a Privilege
Access to basic services like drinking water and sanitation is a cornerstone of fairer societies. But millions of people worldwide don’t have access to adequate services, which especially affects their health.
According to a study by the IDB, 88% of infectious diseases are related to gaps in these services, and 61% of infant mortality is due to intestinal parasites. Poor health affects almost every aspect of human life. It makes children miss more school, diminishes their learning capacity, and hinders the development of other skills. Once they are adults, these same individuals will be at a disadvantage when applying for jobs, with reduced productivity, less career advancement, and lower income. Women suffer from these effects more than men.
According to data from UN Water, despite Guatemala’s abundant water resources, six out of 10 households in the country lack access to drinking water, and five out of 10 are not connected to the sewage system.
Guatemala: A Country with Abundant Water and Opportunities to Expand Access
According to the XII National Population Census and VII Housing Census (2018), 11% of Guatemalans must get water from sources like rainfall, rivers, lakes, and springs. This percentage is higher in some rural departments.
Families without access to water have a higher burden of unpaid domestic work, which falls disproportionately on women and girls. This, in turn, is reflected in disparities in education attainment: women in rural areas have received an average of 4.1 years of schooling, compared to 4.9 for men. Irma and Morelia, for example, helped with household chores from an early age, and their education was not considered a high priority.
Beyond Water: Sanitation, Health and Dignity
In addition to its health consequences, lack of access to sanitation affects people’s dignity by compromising their privacy and hygiene. This issue is worse for women and girls, who are exposed to urinary tract infections and can struggle to maintain safe and proper menstrual hygiene under such conditions.
When schools have no sanitation services, girls may miss classes during menstruation and, ultimately, drop out of school. And having to look for safe places to perform basic bodily functions can put them at greater risk of sexual harassment and violence.
Strategic Investment: Water and Sanitation for Development
To help Guatemala reduce these gaps, the IDB has partnered with AECID to provide $100 million in funding for the Potable Water and Sanitation Program for Human Development – Phase I, of which $50 million is a grant from the Spanish government through the Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation. The remaining $50 million was financed by a loan from the IDB.
One key objective was to build and improve water and sanitation systems in rural, urban, and peri-urban areas. It benefited over 55,000 people in rural areas of the country with better access to potable water, who, like Irma and Morelia, had to navigate multiple daily challenges to get water.
Tangible Impact: Stories of Change in Communities
Some urban areas in Guatemala also have poor drinking water services, with only one or two hours of water a day. Sobeida López, who lives in the departmental capital of San Marcos, recalls that “we had limited hours of water and had to store it in different tanks, but it was of poor quality, and our kids got stomach illnesses.”
The program carried out improvements that benefited more than 135,000 people in urban and peri-urban areas, who now have access to water most of the time. “Everything has improved. We have good-quality water, and my kids no longer get sick,” Sobeida adds.
Another program component improved sanitation services for over 75,000 people in rural areas and more than 100,000 in urban areas. It currently benefits people in 13 of the country’s 22 departments.
San Marcos Wastewater Treatment Plant – Guatemala
To ensure the sustainability of the infrastructure for these services, the program worked to build the capacity of the population and local authorities to manage and use it efficiently. It fostered awareness and ownership, involving communities and municipalities in activities such as preparing regulations for managing, operating, and maintaining water and sewage systems, as well as workshops on plumbing, water quality monitoring, and solid waste management.
“Now, thank God, we have water in our homes. Everything is easier for us, and our homes are more hygienic than before,” Morelia concludes.
One drop at a time, this program has changed the stories of people like Irma, Morelia, and Sobeida, who now enjoy a better quality of life and can participate in society on more equal footing.
Learn more about the results of this project (available in Spanish only)
Topics: Water and Sanitation
Through the Water and Sanitation Program for Human Development, the IDB strengthens public institutions, reduces social disparities, and fosters private sector engagement to drive inclusive, sustainable growth in Guatemala.
The IDB in Guatemala seeks to contribute to strengthening public institutions, closing social gaps in vulnerable groups, and promoting the private sector to achieve greater, more inclusive, and sustainable growth.
Learn about the contributions of the Spanish Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation (FECASALC in its Spanish acronym) to the water and sanitation sector. (Available in Spanish).