Guatemala - La Ventosa 2005-2007
Fog Collection Operational Project

Current Status
Four large fog collectors (LFCs) were built in the small settlement of La Ventosa in 2005 following procedures documented in the FogQuest Fog Collection Manual. The LFCs have been maintained by the community and are standing up well. The water from the LFCs goes through small sedimentation tanks to two large 2000 L storage tanks. The water production is about 800 L per day in total and is used primarily by two extended families to support the goats that they raise for food and income. Some of the water is used for domestic purposes. As the interest and demand builds in La Ventosa for more water, more fog collectors can be added. To this end the cooperation and support of the women are being cultivated. The project is now part of a larger initiative in the Western Highlands supported by Rotary International, in particular the Grimsby Rotary Club in southern Ontario, Canada, and other clubs and individuals who made contributions to the projects. It has also received significant assistance from Rotary Clubs in Guatemala City and Huehuetenango.

Background
The fog collection project for the village of La Ventosa began in 2005 after civil unrest forced us to move away from the earlier sites near Lake Atitlan. La Ventosa is a small isolated rural village in the western highlands of Guatemala. It is 10 km from Todos Santos Cichumatán and in the Department of Huehuetenango. The 60 people have a serious water shortage and are very motivated to assist in solving their problem through the construction of large fog collectors. The Lutheran Church in Guatemala is also active in assisting the community and has constructed a large 120,000 L reservoir to collect rainfall runoff in the summer when there is a lot of precipitaation. In the winter, precipitation is less than 20 mm a month. Initial measurements with the SFCs, over a period of several months, indicated that there were moderate fog water production rates at the end of the dry winter period. The rates were somewhat lower than measured at the north end of Lake Atitlan.

In May 2005, Rick Taylor went from his home in Fonthill, Ontario, Canada, to Guatemala to build four large fog collectors in La Ventosa. Our Chilean intern, Virginia Carter, went as well, from Santiago, to help with the construction and to have an initial look at the two other communities discussed elsewhere in the Projects Section. The funding for the LFCs and water tanks was from generous donations made to FogQuest from students and staff of St. Francis High School and Denis Morris High School in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Two of the LFCs were built right in the village. The fog water will go first to a new 2000 L plastic water tank and the overflow will go to an in-ground reservoir. The same approach is being taken with the other two LFCs, which were constructed a few hundred meters away. The men and women of the village played an active role in the construction and will maintain the LFCs. Our assistant in Guatemala, Daniel Jiatz, will visit the community every two weeks for the immediate future, to ensure that everything is working properly. He will also continue to build confidence in the community that this can be a sustainable water supply for their future.

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