Meet Rosaneli and Her Family

“While it was never easy, we always managed, but now we have no local supply of water at all” — Rosaneli Rosa Jimenez

There are six members in the Jimenez family: Rosaneli, her mother, her husband and their three kids. Their family has been living in El Fraile for multiple generations and Rosaneli remembers very clearly how big a struggle it has always been to manage water to have enough for drinking, cooking, washing and, when possible, even watering vegetables. They used to use a donkey-pulled cart to travel long distances to a water source. That’s why it was such a blessing when the tight-knit community  was able to have a well drilled in 1991. They still had to be careful, but there was enough for all the families and life dramatically changed for the better. 

In recent years, the agricultural industry has been booming in the immediate area surrounding El Fraile, growing water hungry crops for export at multiple nearby ranchos.  Because the ranchos are big businesses, they have the resources to keep drilling deeper and deeper wells to reach water and ensure their crops are well irrigated. This has caused the water table to drop and, about a year ago, the community well in El Fraile completely dried up – leaving the community without a drop of water almost overnight.  

The Municipality of San Miguel has stepped in and is providing a truckload of water every eight days, but, despite serious rationing and recycling, it just isn’t enough. So the community has no choice but to buy additional water, a necessary but unaffordable option, at prices  2-3 times more expensive than normal municipal water. 

Unfortunately, since the well ran dry, people in El Fraile, including Rosaneli’s son José, have started having intestinal problems. They have been advised by doctors that it’s most probably from the water being brought into the community.