Junquito – First Contact

The plan for my current Peace Corps assignment is to visit about 15 small villages in the Bocas del Toro region and evaluate the condition of their water systems and their water committees. I’ll then prioritize for greatest need and biggest bang for buck and facilitate repairs, upgrades and trainings.

Junquito, a village of about 200 people in 42 houses, about 15 miles from Changuinola and 2 miles off the main road was my first visit. No electricity, but a small water system. The folks (and I) have two options for access – a small van that makes 3 trips a day into the village or riding the Changuinola Coaster and walking the 2 miles in or out. Due to my impatience and desire to smell the roses, I chose the hikes. water test equipment

Mi tocayo - another Goyo !!

Surprisingly, the entire access road is paved and in great condition. Dense jungle towers overhead on all sides, with cacao (chocolate), coffee, bananas, plantains, coconuts, papayas and breadfruit growing all around. There are crayfish in the river and access to fishing on the other side of the main highway. Hard to go hungry here.

I quickly located Carlos, the water committee treasurer and with two other community members, toured the system. We first used the water testing materials I brought to test water quality – everything looked good, except I have no facility for testing bacteria or parasites. They get their water from two nearby springs, since the lovely river that runs through town is too contaminated to use.

2008 Peace Corps spring box still in great shape

The first spring is captured in a spring box built by a PC volunteer in 2008 and is still working beautifully. Its storage tank is in fair shape with only a small leak and is kept nice and clean, but never disinfected. The second spring is not so good. The site of the spring has shifted and the old spring box is useless. The water now emerges from the ground about 50 feet away and needs a new spring box to contain it. But, same good news on its water tank. The distribution lines are in good shape, considering their age.

New spring box needed to avoid contamination

The village barely gets enough water for drinking, cooking and bathing, so laundry is done in the river. Few houses have elected to bring their water connection into the home. Most just have an outdoor spigot and carry water into the house for drinking and cooking. They do bucket baths by the spigots – not a healthy practice.

The few large solar panels in the village are used for TV and satellite dishes. Smaller units power lights and charge cell phones. About half of the adults work for The Company (Chiquita). Others fish in the lagoon, just the other side of the main highway.

Most of the homes are quite nice and clean
except for the pigs living on the ground floor

The water committee is new. The old committee, in power for over 10 years, was thought to be corrupt and untrustworthy. The new group is trying to do overdue maintenance, but is having trouble collecting monthly water payments - $1 per month per household. I’ll certainly be doing some training to assist them and hopefully construct a new spring box.