Andrew Curtis Elmore, Ph.D.,P.E., Assistant Professor of Geological Engineering, University of Missouri-Rolla

Jeffrey D. Cawlfield, Ph.D., P.E., Professor of Geological Engineering, University of Missouri-RollaA variety of water supply sources are used in the rural Guatemalan Highlands.  Formal municipal systems are rare, but villagers frequently form water committees which construct gravity-based delivery systems which pipe water from sources in the mountains up to 15 km to villages.  Other typical water sources include surface water, shallow ground water from hand dug wells, rooftop precipitation collection systems, and water purchased from commercial water haulers.  A U.S.-based aid organization installed a 240 m well at an orphanage in the village of San Sebastian de Lemoa in the Department of Quiche.  Since the inhabitants of Lemoa used the typical water sources listed above, the installation of the well provided a means of comparison of ground water as a water source to the more traditional water sources.  The study evaluated the water quality from the various sources as well as a characterization of the sustainable yield from the orphanage well.  The study indicated that ground water is a viable water source in the highlands, and the time domain electromagnetic surface geophysical method was evaluated as a ground water prospecting technique.  The high cost of ground water development and the potential reluctance of indigenous consumers to accept the use of ground water suggests that sustainable disinfection of traditional water supplies using devices manufactured with local materials and local labor may be appropriate for systematic study.