water for life
Casa Floresta is proud to sponsor and partner with Water 4 Life and their partner project Atitlán Water Protectors to create more awareness around lake health and waste water management practices through offering monthly donations towards their initiatives.
Guatemala’s ecosystems are facing a critical threat due to water contamination, endangering the country’s ecology. Much of the country lacks proper sanitation and greywater treatment systems, leading to water-borne illnesses and a toxic environment. Guatemala requires immediate and coordinated action to avert an ecosystem collapse and ensure the well-being of its indigenous communities.
Water 4 Life's vision is nothing less than the availability of clean drinking water that is easily accessible and maintained for all communities. Our mission is to provide Guatemala with a healthy and sustainable future, starting with clean water.
water 4 life global
Lake Atitlán is considered to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. This breathtaking crater lake is surrounded by 3 volcanoes, home to a dozen Mayan communities, multiple native languages, vibrant textile designs, ancient stories, and incredible diversity of birds and trees.
But the lake is dying. Since 2009, Lake Atitlán has been considered a contaminated water source. The lake ecosystem is in a downward spiral. With the lack of proper wastewater management infrastructure, untreated grey and blackwater from every village funnels through pipes that feed directly into the lake. As population and tourism continues to rise, this problem is only getting worse.
The lake also suffers from toxic runoff from pesticides and fertilizers used on surrounding farms. The excess of nutrients causes an explosion of cyanobacteria and algae blooms.
The once healthy and lively lake is now devoid of fish and other lake critters. Many people report getting sick after swimming in the lake, and it’s now a contaminated source of drinking water for many local families.
The lake deserves our love.
The lake has provided beauty, inspiration, and livelihoods for so many people, and it’s time we give back. Enter Atitlán Water Protectors, a group of people dedicated to restoring the ecological vitality of the lake and increasing the well-being of its inhabitants.
We’re developing nature-based, localized solutions to minimize runoff and clean the water going into the lake. The goal is to create an impactful, low-cost, scalable model that can be adopted by towns around the lake so together, we can clean it and restore life the way it should be.
Our entire approach is centered around a core permaculture principle: slow down water and store it on the landscape.
We can do this through a variety of techniques like creating ponds, terraces, grey and blackwater leech fields, swales, contoured reforestation.
By combining these techniques, we are not only filtering and cleaning the water in this ancestral watershed, we are increasing bio diversity, food sovereignty and resilience in our community.
Our dream is to create many productive, water-cleaning landscapes on local people's land, and to provide a model of land management that can be replicated throughout this ancestral watershed.