A Rehabilitated Water System in Bullet Tree Falls Village

Water is a basic need and even today, there are still a number of households in villages without potable water. The Ministry of Rural Transformation, Community Development, Labour and Local Government is trying to change that and today, a rehabilitated water system in Bullet Tree Falls Village in the West was inaugurated. The goal is to improve community access to safe and potable water sourced from the Mopan River and the Chiquibul National Park through an enhanced green technology infrastructure.  The project was carried out through an agreement between PACT and G.O.B. to the tune of four hundred and forty-nine thousand three hundred and ten dollars and thirty cents. The newly inaugurated system will serve as a pilot project that is powered by solar energy which it is hoped can be replicated across the country for other rudimentary water systems.

Michel Chebat

Michel Chebat, Minister of Health & Wellness

“Our commitment is to ensure that every single home in the village has access to a consistent, reliable source of potable water. This is so because we are fully aware that a significant portion of our village remains without water to this day.”

Nayari Diaz-Perez

Nayari Diaz-Perez, Executive Director, PACT

“We were excited about it for two main reasons, one being the obvious social development context of the project. Our country at the time was in a critical state at the time of a pandemic and so obviously the consistent flow of clean potable water became all the more important for the country. And so that was the most immediate and pressing need that the project demonstrated, but also because it is a project that is based on the design and promotion of the use of green infrastructure.”

Oscar Requeña

Oscar Requeña, Minister of Rural Transformation, Community Development, Labour and Local Government

“In September 2020, our ministry and Protected Areas Conservation Trust, PACT, signed an investment agreement for the implementation of the project. The agreement resulted from the ministry submission of project proposal to the PACT for funding support in recognition of the dire need to improve the Bullet Tree Falls access to safe potable water particularly at this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. The opportunity was also used to facilitate improved access to the water source and to improve the storage and distribution system. The project identified three primary objectives; one to expand the filtration, treatment and storage capacity of the water system. Two, to apply solar power technology to replace the existing grid connected to the electrical pumping system, thus reducing the consumption of fossil fuels and production of greenhouse gases. Three, to build community awareness of the link between their daily livelihoods and the benefits derived from the conservation of the Chiquibul Forest.”