Feature: Rainwater harvesting system transforms small Mexican community – Xinhua | English.news.cn Feature: Rainwater harvesting system transforms small Mexican community

For the past five years, the 55-year-old woman has taken advantage of a system created by a group of young entrepreneurs who were looking for a solution to the lack of drinking water in the small community of Quiltepec.

“This has been possible because of the help from Isla Urbana which has managed to change the lives of everyone who lives here,” Alvarez said as she showed off the rainwater harvesting system which was installed in the only room made of brick and concrete.

She added that Isla Urbana is projected to install 10,000 rainwater harvesting systems this year.

Before having the rainwater harvesting system, Alvarez recalled how each family had to go down the hill and carry water from distance houses, where the residents would only give them small amounts.

“It’s different now, we don’t need the water truck – maybe once a year – we have the rainwater harvesting system.

At the urging of Isla Urbana, Alvarez has a biodigestor where she mixes water with sheep manure to produce methane gas which she uses for cooking. The benefit was they not only constructed an economical one, but also an efficient system that treats waste water that can be used in times of drought for the bathroom, to clean the house and water her fruit trees.