Welcome to the Centennial Rotary Club's WaterRico Project!
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Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria in September of 2017. The entire water supply to most of the island was compromised and became unhealthy for human consumption. Out of that tragic occurrence, WaterRico was born.
WaterRico is an all Rotarian project to provide 1000 (now 1540) in-home water filters to the residents in need of healthy water in the town and area around Moca, in the northwest corner of Puerto Rico. The filters consist of two 5 gallon buckets, one on top of the other with a hollow, nano tube, micro filter in the middle. The filter kits are purchased from Aqua Clara Corporation of Michigan and assembled in Puerto Rico. 
Local Puerto Rico volunteers sanitize filters for community use.
Filters wrapped in plastic bags ready for distribution
WaterRico Phase 1 This was as an exploratory trip in May, 2018 for three Rotarians (at personal expense) to evaluate the need, resources, acceptance, and feasibility for this project in Puerto Rico. WaterRico Phase 2 In November, 2018 we successfully accomplished the installation of 100 in-home water filters. The cost of this phase was $8,000. This was funded by two Rotary Club donations and a $4000 District 5450 Grant. This prototype project had three Rotarians from our district (at their own expense) travel to Puerto Rico and fabricate and distribute the filters to 100 households. |
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WaterRico Phase 3
On July 25, 2019 the International Global Grant was approved by Rotary International! We will have funds totaling over $80,000 for this phase of the WaterRico Service Project. Donors include eight Rotary clubs from District 5450 ($13,000), Rotary District 5450 ($13,000), Rotary International ($19,500) and The Murray Gift for the Relief From Hurricane Maria ($35,000). With the generous support that we have received, we have increased the scope of the project to 1200 in-home water filters and a much larger facility water filter for a school in Moca. Project completion set for September 7-16, 2019 September 4, 2019 update: We have 6 Centennial Club Rotarians going to Puerto Rico next week. We are now packing and preparing for our departure on the 7th of September. The Rotary Club of Moca is partnering with us on this phase to reach our goal! Thank you to all our sponsors and especially for the personal donations of the Centennial Club members. What a great club to be a member of! |
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Phase 3 Completed - The Face of WaterRico
September 16th, 2019 update:
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WaterRico Phase 3 Update After Recent Earthquakes
With the recent earthquakes in January of 2020, we have allocated 100 of the undistributed (~200) filters from Phase 3 for emergency assistance to towns outside of Moca. These 100 filters will be used as community filters and used by many citizens who do not have clean water due to widespread power outages and no running water. WaterRico Phase 4
This new phase involves using the excess funds from Phase 3. It involved building 120 additional filters. The first step was done in Centennial, Colorado, completing hole drilling and sticker placement on the buckets. The second step was to ship the buckets to Moca, Puerto Rico and have local Rotary Clubs actually assemble the filters and do the distribution.
WaterRico Phase 5
Pictured is Julio Rivera presenting a completed water filter to a local resident
After a two year recess due to Covid 19, Phase 5 was successfully completed on March 15, 2023. With the leadership of Julio Rivera and many volunteers form the Moca, PR area, the filter assembly and distribution was finally done. Centennial Rotary purchased and did the initial fabrication for 120 water filters in 2021 which were then shipped to Puerto Rico for two local Rotary clubs, local volunteers and Julio to assemble and distribute to impoverished citizens while providing a presentation of proper sanitation and hand-washing methods Project co-Directors
Marc Garfinkel
John Peterson [email protected] |
