In Las Piedras, A Strong Work Ethic Built The Future

After the passing of Hurricane Maria and many empty promises later, the Asomante community of Las Piedras had lost hope their water system could improve. When Por Los Nuestros undertook the project, the situation transformed

When the Por Los Nuestros team first started in the endeavor to help citizens affected by Hurricane Maria, the first thing they did was look for communities whose water sources had been compromised due to lack of electric power.

Alexander Rodriguez, the organization’s point person on the field, was conducting formal and informal research on non-PRASA (Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority) communities that were in need of help. That is how the organization’s solar laundries project was born. It was a way to keep communities out of contaminated water sources and protecting them by providing safer laundry conditions. They also provided these communities with clean drinking water.

The next frontier was providing solar-powered energy so communities could power their off-the-grid water systems.

“The plan was to make the solar laundries in non-PRASA communities, as a way to educate the mainstream what these communities are,” says Rodriguez. The project took on popularity, and the organization was off to the races. The solar-powered water races, that is.

With the introduction from a local politician, Alexander Rodriguez was introduced to Delfín Rodríguez (no relation), a retired construction worker who lives in Asomante — a non-PRASA community of 268 families.

From the start, Delfín was apprehensive, as time and time again he had listened to empty promises of projects that never happened. But this time, things were different. Alexander began working with the help of Delfín and the community, to build this improved water system.

Doña Gladys, the community secretary, would cook every day for the workers. As with other non-PRASA communities, everyone did what they could do with the skills they had. The men paved the road leading up to the solar panels, and the local women took turns making sandwiches.

As told by Alexander, Asomante had attention to detail, determination, a desire to fight and progress together. As a community, they were committed to the goal which was pumping clean water to the community’s homes.

Delfin was so committed he even delayed his knee surgery to complete the second water well of the aqueduct project. His team logged over two-thousand hours of work on the construction and they’re committed to taking care of the aqueduct system, as they’ve already proven. With the earthquakes of January 2020, they didn’t lose water supply.

In this barrio, there has always been the permeating desire to succeed and keep moving forward “por los nuestros”, as the non-profit organization is so aptly named.

For the inauguration of this aqueduct, the members prepared a mural in white stones of the community. Off to the side, you can see the Puerto Rican flag painted on a Ceiba tree, reminding those that visit the aqueduct that even after the disaster — a community can rebuild itself on the roots from which it came.