Piriquina, Bolivia
Nestled high in the Andes Mountains is a small town by the name of Piriquina. This community hosts a school and clinic that services several nearby villages which relies on the water supply that previously came from a single spring source. The people, agriculture, and economy of Piriquina rely on their access to water, but at this point cannot afford to self-fund improvements to their collection and distribution systems. That’s where we come in.
Our Project
In March 2022, EWB-UTA members chose to take on this international project. Since then, we’ve successfully made several improvements to Piriquina’s water supply system, and have big plans for future improvements too.
Assessment
In the summer of 2023, we were able to do our very first assessment trip to Piriquina. Six UTA students went to Bolivia and teamed up to start this initiative. We were able to get a better insight of their needs, such as:
- Not enough clean water: Water for drinking and hygiene is only available for about 3-4 hours during the whole day.
- Farming Struggles: For many residents of Piriquina, farming is their main source of income. Without enough water, the community is not able to feed their animals and/or grow their crops.
This trip was also a milestone in the connection between our chapter and the people of Piriquina. Our members interviewed community members on their daily water usage, confidence in the water availability and safety, and about their experience in general living in the community.
Our team was also able to inspect the existing water collection system which consists of two spring boxes and a storage tank built by another non-profit several decades prior. At the time of travel, only one spring box was operational. Members also inspected a handful of undeveloped spring sources that could be developed in the future.
The Spring Box
After almost 2 years of fundraising, research, design, and planning, we made plans to send EWB-UTA members back to Piriquina to implement a solution to their water supply problems. Through the process we decided that a spring box system would be best for the community in terms of constructability, serviceability, cost, and the fact that several spring sites are present in the mountains above the community.
A spring box is a simple system that is exactly what it sounds like, a box that rests on a spring source. There are a few ways a spring box can be constructed, but our design has an inlet on the rear facing the spring source, an outlet pipe that runs underground and connects to the existing tank, and an overflow pipe to prevent water from flowing out of the inlets, preventing erosion of the backfill soil.
The site of the proposed construction presented various challenges as it was a 2 km hike to the site and inaccessible by any motor vehicles. Construction materials would have to be carried by hand or on the back of mules. Another difficulty of spring box construction is keeping a level and dry surface suitable for cement work; the spring flow would have to be diverted with a temporary trench.
Implementation – 2025
In July 2025, we sent five EWB-UTA members and our Responsible Engineer In Charge(REIC) , Matt Craig, to take part in our chapter’s first construction project. After a meeting with community members, a plan and schedule for assistance in the construction was made. Community members with horses and mules were assigned to carry materials to the site on the first day, while 8-10 community members were assigned to help carry out the construction at the site on their scheduled days. Their involvement in the construction of the spring box was important for their familiarity with the system and its operation as they would need to maintain it once EWB-UTA members departed.
Construction took place across 5 days and included leveling excavation, rebar arrangement, formwork, and cement mixing using water from the diverted spring flow. Once the cement was sufficiently cured, the formwork was stripped and connections were made from the existing transmission line to the spring box’s outlet pipes. Once everything was connected and underground piping was covered, the diverted spring flow was redirected into the inlets on the spring box and was successfully collected into the spring box.
In addition to the construction throughout the days in-community, the team inspected the community’s pre-existing storage and distribution system. It contains one 20,000L storage tank that is at the highest point in the community. The local water board manages operation, inspections, and routine maintenance of the system. Every night the outflow valve is closed to allow for water to build up overnight in the tank and opened in the morning to allow for service. Once the valve is opened, the capacity of the tank depletes within 3 to 4 hours. Additionally it was observed that overnight when the valve is closed that the tank overflows a few hours before the valve is opened in the morning.
Now that the additional flow from the new spring box has been added to the system, we realized that this overflow highlights a new problem to be solved. All of these observations will inform future phases of our project.
Assessment and Partial Implementation – 2026
In July 2026, 2 of our members were able to travel with the goal of data collection, surveying the site of future proposed construction, and showing our continued support for the people of Piriquina. This trip was originally planned to be a remote trip conducted by our in-country partner Engineers in Action, but thanks to a generous donation by our REIC Matt Craig, we were able to send two of our project leaders.
This small team spent some time at the site of the 2025 construction to collect water samples, inspect the systems operation after 1 year, and attempt to patch the small seep coming from the side of the spring box. With the use of bentonite clay and leftover cement mix, they were able to form a better seal on the inlet of the spring box and the seep was gone!
Additionally the team collected water samples at the community’s central storage tank, collected flow rate measurements, and worked to gather data relevant to constructing an expansion to their existing storage system. This data included soil density, shear/bearing strength, elevations, and some topographic points.
With this data, we’re hoping to establish a baseline for the water quality that we can compare with data collected over the years to come as we complete future phases of implementation and maintenance/evaluation.
We Need Your Help!
Donate to EWB UTA to help us afford this next trip for the summer of 2027!