Clean Water in Costa Rica

. 1 min read


Around the world, 668 million people do not have access to clean drinking water to meet their everyday needs. Among the poor and especially in developing countries, diarrhea, a preventable disease, becomes a major killer for those under 5 years of age. 

Agua Viva Serves (AVS), Advance #3021984, a mission project supported by First United Methodist Church in Winter Park, Fla. and other United Methodist congregations and ecumenical partners, addressed this issue by drilling and building a well system that provided clean water for hundreds of people in Los Chiles, Costa Rica. The communities were experiencing illness due to contaminated water. The project was made possible by generous donations made to AVS during last year’s UMC #GivingTuesday event. One woman, Tomasa Lazo Davila, explained the benefits she’s seen since the instillation of the new well. 

“Before this project, the whole community would get their drinking and bathing water from a nearby river. This water would cause a lot of diarrhea and vomiting. We’ve always asked for water, but everyone would say ‘no’ because we live in an isolated community and because most people [here] are Nicaraguans. Because of those things, we couldn’t get water anywhere—until Agua Viva came with this project! Now everyone is extremely happy because of the water. The outbreaks and viruses have gone down, nobody has to go wash in the river, and everyone is overjoyed with this water. The change in the children has been especially drastic. They aren’t sick as often as they used to be—no more diarrhea, vomiting, and going to the hospital.”

For this upcoming year, AVS has four large-scale water system projects planned, thanks to UMC #GivingTuesday donations. These systems will provide clean water to more than 1,000 people in various communities of Los Chiles. They will provide the tools, education and technology for communities to improve their lives and health. 


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