In conjunction with CONAPAC (Civil Association for Conservation of the Peruvian Amazon Environment) the Trust is helping to set up water treatment plants for communities living along the Amazon river near to Iquitos.

Almost all the children here are used to drinking water directly from the rivers and streams, much of which is contaminated and carries parasites that causes children to be ill and malnourished.

As villages are quite isolated the water plants have to be easy to operate, self-sustaining and not require electricity. They consist of two 1000 litre tanks, one above the other, and a four stage filtration system. Water is pumped in by a small engine and each plant can produce 10,000 litres of clean water a day, which is enough for about 400 people.

Workshops are held within the communities that receive the water plants to explain, in a variety of ways, the importance of clean water for good health and prosperity. These are of course of vital importance, especially as old habits die hard, but already communities are seeing the impact that having access to clean water is having on their health. Where there are water plants, there is now a significant drop in the cases of diarrheoa and even the most traditional villagers are drinking the treated water.

www.conapac.org