Chiquipata Baja
Well Drilling Project
Project Summary
The rural farming community of Chiquipata Baja is located in the Andean Altiplano region of Bolivia. The word Altiplano translates to "high plain" but it under-describes the elevation and topography which control the harsh climate. At 12,121 feet above sea level the residents till unfertile soils poorly developed by cold, dry weather, irrigate crops by diverting an ephemeral river, and rely on a half broken, antiquated well for drinking water. This is not an uncommon situation. The numerous clusters of mud houses that dot the Chiquipata Baja valley all persevere in similar situations. Perseverance, though, is not to suggest prosper. The eighty families and roughly 220 permanent residents of Chiquipata Baja, mostly young children and older adults, plant potatoes and corral their small flocks of sheep with dung fences; their few cows are staked to the ground and nibble on tough shrubs and sparse grasses in a fifteen foot radius. The livestock amount to their only material assets, save a radio and perhaps a small black and white television. While the men tend the potato plots, the women amble with the sheep weaving yarn and knitting clothes for their children. Only potatoes and quinoa grow well in the Altiplano, but their market prices are low. The average income in Bolivia is 1200 dollars per year, but this number overestimates the true scarcity of these farmers. Chiquipata Baja residents are poor, extremely poor, as designated by a recent United Nations classification. Their diet lacks diversity and volume- a current national program educates mothers to add a few spoons of cooking oil to their children's soups- and they suffer from diarrhea, worms, amoebas and other infectious parasites caught by drinking dirty water and transmitted by poor hygiene.
There
are, few alternatives for Chiquipata Baja. Currently, there are no
governmental programs aimed at education or economic and social
assistance, health care amounts to receiving a few antibiotic pills,
and relocation to the cities to compete with thousands for the few,
higher paying jobs mostly subjects the family to greater poverty and
lures the teenagers into (with) crime. This isn't an unknown
circumstance, the International Monetary Fund has created a program
where Bolivia repays a portion of its national debt by investing in
social programs. Municipalities receive ten dollars per person and fund
community projects commensurate to the population. For small
communities like Chiquipata Baja, the money is insufficient to address
their needs and the money often disappears in the embedded corruption.
These conditions demand that outside organizations collaborate with
communities to augment available money, help develop a project, and
oversee it's implantation so that living conditions will improve. To
this end, TERRA Resource Development International will help Chiquipata
Baja improve their drinking water source thereby reducing sicknesses
and making the community less susceptible to periodic droughts.
When TERRA is invited to a community to discuss a project proposal, our first assessment of a project's viability and sustainable success is based on what the community has attempted in the past and whether the community is willing to financially and/or materially contribute to the projects completion. In an informal community meeting, twenty Chiquipata Baja leaders and TERRA gathered around a broken well, their current source of drinking water. Filipe Quispe handed us their official 2006 annual budget that officially allocates 1875 dollars for a new well; a half mile to the North, they showed us their failed attempt to improve their water situation, a hand-dug well penetrating fifty feet in the ground. It was hard to imagine anyone bucketing soil and rock at that depth in search of water, this immediately spoke of Chiquipata Baja's dire situation.
TERRA Resource Development International, a California based non-profit organization, was solicited by Chiquipata Baja in December 2005 to help fund the drilling of a potable water well. The purpose of this well is to provide the residents with a clean and reliable source of drinking water, and to be the focal point of basic hygiene education.
Near Chiquipata Baja, the geologic topography suggests the valley is filled with thick river deposits extending to a depth of several hundred meters. These unconsolidated deposits house aquifers, the largest and most accessible aquifer is located seventy meters below the surface. This aquifer was tapped 30 years ago in Chiquipata Baja, and in adjacent communities this aquifer continues to produce high discharges. In addition to high flows, this aquifer's high pressure enables water to freely flow to the surface. This creates an artesian well with the advantage of not needing expensive pumping machines nor concern about maintenance.
The climate is characterized by a dry season- April to November- and a wet season- December to March. The average yearly precipitation is 380 mm (1990-2000) and 302 mm fall during the rainy season. The valley is filled with fine and coarse river sediments.
With current materials and drilling technology, wells have a life span of twenty years. In the mid 1970's a one-hundred meter well, a storage tank, and distribution system was installed in Chiquipata Baja. Three years ago, at depths below thirty meters the well casing caved in. The well is now relegated to a small aquifer (less than a meter thick) above this depth. This lens is under less pressure and provides a low flow rate. The holding tank rarely gets filled and in times of drought the community receives no water. Under these conditions, irrigation ditches that divert water from a small river become the source for drinking water. This causes significant illnesses because the river water is contaminated from grazing livestock and the residents don't take proper sanitation measures.
Chiquipata Baja's drinking water is a serious health problem. Their current system provides only enough water to supply the community's demand for one hour. In times of drought, irrigation ditches dry up and the community has no water. Chiquipata Baja's local government tried to address this problem. They contracted an engineering company which unsuccessfully attempted to re-drill and clean the existing well. The following year the community tried to hand drill a well in a different location with encountering a shallower water source.
Well drilling is expensive. The cost is one-hundred dollars per meter. This price is prohibitively high for most small communities who. Each year, Chiquipata Baja receives 1875 dollars for community projects, sufficient to drill a twenty meter well. Unfortunately, the aquifer is located at seventy meters.
Chiquipata Baja contacted TERRA to ask for aid in funding a new well. Chiquipata Baja will contribute its 1875 dollars and TERRA will compensate for the remaining cost. Given that the community has a holding tank and a distribution system that needs minimal repair; that the community is organized and willing to financially aid the project; and that the a new well will provide constant, clean drinking water, TERRA believes this project will have lasting benefits and greatly improve the health and quality of the residents lives.
- Project Brief
- Title:
- Project Chiquipata Baja: Well Drilling Project
- Status:
- Funded - Chiquipata Baja has raised 1,800$ to contribute to the project.
- Borella Geology Inc. has contributed the remaining portion. Thank you Borella Geology for your support.
- Location:
- Community of Chiquipata Baja, Municipality of Batallas, Department of La Paz, Bolivia
- Participants:
- TERRA, the Municipality of Batallas, and the Community of Chiquipata Baja
- Cost:
- $6,000.00 USD