Ministerio Agua de Vida

The community of Sala de Dios (God's Living Room) located along the Bocay River installed a spring water collection system a few years ago. The system has been a wonderful blessing to the community and produces more water than they need. In an act of true Christian charity they offered to share the water with the nearby community of Tunawalan. However, they needed over 1 1/2 miles of pipe to bring the water from the Sala de Dios reservoir to the community of Tunawalan. We were asked by our colleagues Ronnie and Angi Hopkins if we could provide the $8,000 needed for the materials. Aldersgate UMC in Montgomery and Hilton Head, SC First Presbyterian churches have been steady, regular donors which allowed us to fund the project.

Sala de Dios Spring

Connection to the Sala de Dios water tank

Bringing supplies downriver by canoe

Carrying pipes to project site the HARD WAY!

The pipe was transported to the Bocay River by truck and then downstream to the community of Tunawalan by dugout canoe. From there it is carried by hand to the church where it is stored. Ronnie Hopkins coordinates the projects along the Bocay River and the agreement that he has with every community is that the missionaries will pay for the materials and the salary to hire a foreman. The community in turn agrees to store and protect the materials and to provide all of the labor. They are a hard working bunch of folks.

Over 400 lengths of pipe stored in the Tunawalan Church

Digging a trench and laying pipe in the jungle

The pipeline route is about 1 1/2 miles long, requiring ditches to be dug the entire route. We generally recommend 1.5 ft. trench depth, increased to 3 ft. depth in fields where plowing is done. There are also several crossings of small stream beds. At these locations we use galvanized steel pipe rather than PVC and secure them on concrete supports.

Crossing a stream bed with galvanized steel pipe

Installing a connection to one of the homes

Each homeowner in the community has the opportunity to connect to the pipeline to provide for their own water spigot. However, the family has to pay for the small diameter connector pipe and the spigot. Above is the team hooking up one of the homes. What a blessing it is to have clean, abundant water flowing directly to your home! To God be the Glory!!

Technical Details

Project date: May 2020

Location: Latitude - N 13° 55’ 37.2” Longitude - W 85° 22’ 44.9”

Elevation: 774 ft. above sea level

Project Cost: $8,000

Type of project: Installation of water pipeline from springwater tank

People served: Church and parsonage and about 20 families