Colombia
Capital:
Bogota
Population:
52 million
Area:
1,141,748
km2

From Andean peaks and Caribbean coastlines to hidden ruins in Amazonian jungle, Colombia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. But sourcing water for everyone is still a problem.

La Guajira, Colombia, is an arid desert peninsula on the Caribbean coast with a population of approximately 985,500. It is also home to the Wayúu people, the nation’s second largest indigenous group, who live largely in rural communities.   

In La Guajira, women and children spend much of their day searching for water for their family, walking miles under the scorching sun. The water that they do find is often contaminated and makes them and their children sick. Without sanitation at home or school, students and their families are forced to go to the bathroom out in the open. 

What’s more, climate change is making life even harder in this region. It is a rural, desert-like peninsula suffering from cyclical droughts and flash floods caused by hurricane season. The frequency of both droughts and floods is increasing due to climate change.  

WaterAid works with local communities and service providers to make clean water a normal part of daily life for the poorest, most marginalized people in the northeast region of La Guajira by testing technologies and approaches that have worked in similar environments elsewhere. 

We train local people to install and maintain windmills, hand and solar-driven pumps and storage tanks. And we set up water committees to help keep these solutions working, whatever changes the climate brings. 

Most importantly, we bring local, national and regional organizations together to collaborate on improvements to services. Together, we are making a lasting difference in rural communities across Colombia with clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.

In Colombia

1.3 million

people don't have clean water close to home

Image: WaterAid/ Keoma Zec

15.5 million

people lack soap and water to wash their hands at home

Image: WaterAid/ Keoma Zec

2.7 million

people don't have a decent toilet of their own

Image: WaterAid/ Keoma Zec

Clean water comes to Platanito

Image: WaterAid/ Keoma Zec
Having access to water by our house is truly amazing and has meant the biggest change ever in my life.
Fabiola Uriana, 30

Fabiola lives in a small village called Platanito in Colombia. When she was six months pregnant, she would walk for half an hour to stand in a long line at 7am to collect water from a windmill-powered well. But the windmill had been broken for years, so Fabiola pumped the water by hand, pressing a large lever up and down to fill her jerry cans because that was the nearest water source.

Fabiola is like thousands of others in this region of Colombia 
that don’t have water close to home. La Guajira is an arid desert peninsula on the Caribbean coast with nearly a million people. It is also home to the Wayúu people, the nation’s second largest indigenous group, who live largely in rural communities like Fabiola’s where women and children spend much of their day searching for water under the scorching sun. The water that they do find is often contaminated and makes them and their children sick. 

Now Fabiola and her growing family don’t have to walk to find water, because they have a tap right outside their front door. It means she can spend more time with her children, and she has more energy at school, where she studies social work, and at her job as a caregiver for the Wayúu children in her community.

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