Carmen, Maria, and Marlena are taking a breather hillside, brooms and buckets in hand. They have just climbed out from the inside of a holding tank after completing the annual cleaning, one of many steps in the maintenance of the Los Llanitos water system. With clothes still wet, still laughing, clearly proud of the work they’ve finished, they relish the satisfaction of collective work done for a common cause.

Their first obstacle had been the heavy concrete lid sealing the tank. Together, they lifted one side just enough to wedge a log beneath it to gain mechanical advantage and roll it to the side. Resourceful and effective. Engineering at its finest. But, engineers they are not. They are mothers and friends and stewards of the watershed who, just this past year, became members of the Los Llanitos community water board.

Inside the tank, they had scrubbed and hauled bucket after bucket of mud and sediment, calling out from inside the hollow space to echo their voices off the walls—echo… echo… echo—making the hard work feel a little lighter, the way it does when there is laughter involved.

Last year, they had prepared food for the water board and the crew doing this same work. This year, they are the crew.

In their youth, they carried water from the river, filling jugs from shallow pools with water that wasn’t always safe, but was available. Today, they carry the kind of energy that comes from knowing they’re part of something that matters.

Water now flows from a tap at each home in Los Llanitos. With support from Cova— training, follow-up, and monitoring—the water board steadfastly maintains the system so that safe water is certain. From the routine tasks of administration to the barefoot work of tank cleaning, Carmen, Maria, and Marlena are committed to learning it all.

“It’s my responsibility. For my family and children and for my community,” Marlena says of joining the water board. The three friends understand that safe water doesn’t just happen. It’s managed and monitored, protected and sustained. And so, they said yes to taking their turn. To learning. To leading. To getting their hands a little dirty.

When safe water replaces uncertainty, something better happens Instead!

Instead of watching from the sidelines, they stepped in.
Instead of preparing for the crew, they became the crew.
Instead of uncertainty, the water is safe.