Clean Water for Guatemala BY JANET ILOTT More than 1.

3 million people in Guatemala will benefit from Agua Para Todos (Water for All), a $160 million program designed to increase access to clean water throughout the country. Launched on April 25th by Guatemalan Vice President Roxanna Baldetti, the program includes a $100 million donation from the Agencia Espaola de Cooperacin Internacional para el Desarrollo (the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development), a $50 million loan from the Interamerican Development Bank and a $10 million contribution from the Guatemalan government. Effectively, for the Government of Guatemala 2012-2016, the theme of clean, potable water is a priority, because its life. Water is health, and we are trying to combat malnutrition and, for this, we need water, said Baldetti. The majority of child deaths occur due to diarrhea and intestinal infections because they dont have even a little clean water to clean their homes and live in dignity. Im embarrassed to say this, but it has to be said, Guatemala has 31,445 registered communities, of which 1,800 have clean water. One of the communities slated to benefit from this project is San Pedro la Laguna, on the banks of Lago Atitln. Maria Mendez is a resident of San Pedro, for whom access to clean water is a constant battle. It costs Q16 (approximately $2 USD) to buy a five gallon (18.9 liter) bottle of clean water a cost she finds crippling She says she only has running water in her house twice a week, for twenty to thirty minutes at a time and that means, even though she lives a ten-minute walk from what is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, finding clean water is always difficult. Water in the houses here is very scarce, she said. When there isnt any, we go to the neighbors to ask. Last year, things got a little easier for Maria. She received a water purifier from HELPS International, a non-profit corporation working to alleviate poverty in Latin America. However, the launch of the Agua Para Todos initiative couldnt come at a better time for Maria. In 2009, Lago Atitln was decimated by a bacteria caused by dumping of fertilizers and detergents. Now a resurgence in bacteria means the problem may be coming back. This was like a bomb for us, said Josefa Baram, a local healthcare worker. People were praying and doing Mayan rituals to pray for clean water. They thought it was a curse. This was a chaos for the town. We just hope its not going to happen again. -30-