M.M.P. Project Misiones Menos Pobreza
PROJECT 01/ABC/2009
LOCATION: 7 Locations in 5 Municipalities, Misiones Department, Paraguay
COUNTERPARTY: Pastoral Social Diocesana de Misiones – Defensoria del Pueblo
FINANCING: AATO x 72.47% of €372,560 equivalent to tot. of action
The project aims to address the problem of drinking water supply with the construction of seven artesian wells in the rural settlements of Misiones: “Kaatygue” rural settlement – 200 households (Municipality of Santa Rosa), “29 de octubre” rural settlement – 90 households (Municipality of Santa Maria), “Guayaki” rural settlement – 171 households (Municipality of San Ignacio), rural settlement “Misiones Poty” – 100 families (Ayolas Municipality), settlement “Villa Primaveral” – 50 families (San Ignacio Municipality), settlement “Ysipó” – 150 families (San Miguel Municipality) and settlement “Martìn Rolòn” – 132 families (San Ignacio Municipality).
Currently, communities consume water obtained from often polluted wells as well as water from nearby streams. This poses a real danger as the water is not drinkable and promotes the emergence of diseases that affect the inhabitants. Particularly affected are children suffering from gastrointestinal complications and the presence of verminosis. In addition, the lack of water, negatively affects agricultural activity; family horticulture, which plays the role of improving and balancing nutrition, is particularly affected by this shortage.
In addition to this, the extension of rice cultivation by large landowners has grown in this area, which has resulted in the construction of dams to divert the flow of water from streams increasing pollution and aggravating the health problem of the population.
The indiscriminate use of water for rice cultivation has also led to the slow decrease of water in wells, and with the decrease has grown the pollution of this precious resource. As this is an integrated project, in addition to environmental remediation, which will provide access to potable water through the construction of artesian wells in each of the seven rural communities, the development of horticulture is also planned to make possible a more balanced diet.
