Looking for Solutions with Gudelia Trejo
Photo: Gudelia Trejo.
Driving along the backroads to get to the community of Pozo Ademado, it’s impossible not to notice the adjacent massive swaths of agricultural fields, showering their crops with seemingly endless supplies of water at all hours of the day. Once you arrive in Pozo Ademado, however, the reality is quite different. Water only arrives one day a week, and that water also has some of the highest levels of fluoride in the region, close to three times above the World Health Organization’s maximum limit. This has caused significant health impacts in the community, most worrisome among children who are more susceptible to the consequences of consuming contaminated water. Dental fluorosis (the irreversible brown and black staining of the teeth) and cognitive development and learning disabilities in the community’s children, are becoming all too common.
Gudelia Trejo has lived in Pozo Ademado for the past 30 years. She’s witnessed firsthand how those agroindustrial fields started getting greener and larger, all around her, while her own community's water supply started dwindling. This kind of water inequality has had an impact on Gudelia’s health. Prior to having a rainwater harvesting system, Gudelia would feel tired and weak all day, every day, because she had to drink contaminated water from the local well. Now, several years after the construction of her rainwater harvesting system, Gudelia is energetic, healthy, and actively organizing her community to help others avoid the health hazards associated with drinking water with excessive fluoride.
“Building rainwater harvesting systems takes a lot of time and effort, but it is thanks to this time and effort that we can live and enjoy a healthy life. So, let’s invest our time wisely to help ourselves and others.”
– Gudelia, from the community of Pozo Ademado
Gudelia is right, it takes about 200 hours to build just one rainwater harvesting system that will serve only 1-2 families – that’s five people working full time for a week! However, that one system will provide a lifetime of safe drinking water for those families. Work like that requires a serious commitment, a commitment that’s freely given by the community and dedicated leaders like Gudelia
Gudelia has now participated in the construction of six large-scale rainwater harvesting systems, more than 20 workshops, and dozens of meetings organizing her community and other communities in the municipalities of San Diego de la Unión and Dolores Hidalgo who are drinking contaminated water or don't have continuous access to clean water. While she does this organizing voluntarily, she has stated that her time is an investment in the futures of her grandchildren, and the future of her watershed. Gudella deeply believes that giving time to these efforts is the least she can do when tens of thousands more are still struggling for access to safe water.