Critical Water Shortage at Local Hospital

Members of the Barillas Volunteer Fire Department deliver water to the Barillas Hospital

When members of the Rotary Club of Barillas alerted Adopt-a-Village in Guatemala to a critical water shortage — and a lack of funding — at Barillas District Hospital in the Department of Huehuetenango, a generous member of our board of directors responded immediately with an emergency donation to support essential hospital services.

That donation funded an initial delivery of 13,000 liters of water by the local volunteer fire department, arriving just in time to refill the hospital’s nearly depleted rainwater storage tanks. The rapid response was coordinated by Rotarians in Barillas and made possible through the generosity of Susan Hill, a member of the Adopt-a-Village in Guatemala board of directors.

Barillas District Hospital serves the communities surrounding our Maya Jaguar campus and is a vital resource for the region. During the current dry season, purchasing and transporting water into this remote area is extremely expensive. Under normal operations, the hospital uses approximately 50,000 liters of water each day. Through strict conservation measures and limiting usage to only the most essential services, the hospital still requires at least 25,000 liters daily to continue operating. Seasonal rains typically do not resume until late August or early September.