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Our Mission is to improve human health and community well-being through adequate and affordable access to clean water.
Read more about our mission and how we work here.
our impact
Our ceramic filter has helped provide safe drinking water to thousands in our region and beyond through dozens of partner organizations throughout the country. Recent improvements are making our filters even more versatile for wider adoption by water NGOs and for emergency relief throughout Latin America.
Affordably removing arsenic and fluoride is our most daunting technology undertaking. This is a locally acute, globally distributed, public health challenge that impacts 10s of thousands on our aquifer alone, and 100s of millions around the world. We've made excellent progress and are installing our first pilot systems in June/July 2018.
Our rainwater harvesting program supports community processes and leverages volunteer labor. We have helped build hundreds of rainwater cisterns, and are poised to build thousands more. Rainwater gives users control and consistency over their water source, improves community health, and reduces environmental stress on aquifers.
The State of Our Aquifer
The Alto Río Laja Watershed stretches across seven municipalities in northern Guanajuato State in Central Mexico. Ninety-nine percent of the water consumed in this region comes from a large underground reservoir known as the Alto Río Laja Aquifer, which serves several thousand distinct communities – including San Miguel de Allende. The aquifer supplies water to over 680,000 residents. Our aquifer is declining at an alarming rate, from 2-4 meters per year. The underground water that remains is contaminated with arsenic and fluoride – up to 14 times World Health Organization recommendations – known to cause developmental disabilities in children, crippling skeletal fluorosis, organ failure, and cancer.
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Know Your Water
Watch “A Marriage Between Technology and Humanity” by Dylan Terrell
The presentation, “A Marriage Between Technology and Humanity,” takes a more global look at our work, and international development in general. Through the lens of our regional water crisis, as well as the successes – and failures – of Caminos de Agua and his own experiences, Dylan Terrell (CEO and Founder of Caminos) explores the concept that “a technology is not a solution” and the importance of profoundly connecting to the context and culture of our work if we’re going to create lasting change. Through his insights, you have the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of the issues at hand and the innovative approaches we’re pursuing to address them.
This talk was originally presented live in San Miguel on November 26th, 2022. After an extensive fact-checking and review process by the TEDx community, we’re excited to be able to bring this talk to your homes today.
Meet the team
Caminos de Agua is a team of 14 full- and part-time employees plus several graduate-level engineering and public interest interns from local and global institutions. We’re a mix of immigrant residents and Mexicans, technologists and community organizers, researchers and educators—united by our concern for public health and welfare. Meet our team members.
Awards and Recognitions
MEET OUR PARTNERS
We work with local communities and partner with leading research and academic institutions globally at the cutting edge of water quality issues.
