In May of 2016 a new water harvesting grant was funded to construct 319 more rainwater harvesting cisterns in the Independence Aquifer.
The grant is supported by 25 different groups including 12 Rotary clubs, 10 Rotary Districts, The Rotary Foundation, the San Miguel Community Foundation, The Lotus Foundation and Fondation Coup de Coeur.
As always, we are working hand in hand with Centro de Desarrollo Agropecuario (CEDESA) and the two grassroots rural community development organizations COCIRA (Consejo Ciudadano Rural de Agua - San Miguel de Allende) and UCCANG (Union de Comunidades Campesinas del Norte de Guanajuato - Dolores Hidalgo, San Diego Union and San Luis de la Paz).
CEDESA supplies the expertise in organizing and technical matters, the Beneficiaries provide the labor and Rotary supplies the materials and project administration.
We are adding a new education program for the project beneficiaries. The CEDESA promotors will be our teachers. They already know immense amounts of information about water and our problems here in the region. Many completed the dimplomada given by Dr. Marcos Adrian Ortega of UNAM in 2009.
Our goal is to help them impart this information in a structured way that will create the best learning environment possible. Wendy Coulson, a specialist in curriculum development, is helping us with the program.
