Wilo Argentina and Agua Segura

Mendoza, Argentina. The Wilo Group and the Agua Segura project, togetherwith INTA Mendoza, launched a program in the province of Mendoza to improveaccess to water and the quality of life of 10 families located in the Laguna del Rosario Community, in the municipality of Lavalle.

Availability of and access to water, sanitation and hygiene services are essentialto prevent and contain disease. While there has been substantial progress inexpanding access to safe drinking water and sanitation, billions of people (mainlyin rural areas) still lack these basic services. According to the United Nations,currently, 3 in 10 people lack access to safe drinking water and 6 in 10 lackaccess to safely managed sanitation facilities.

Wilo is fully aware of its corporate responsibility and has reaffirmed itscommitment to society and the environment. The fundamental principle of itssustainability strategy is to provide clean water to more people and, at the sametime, reduce the ecological footprint.

Agua Segura is a triple impact company tasked with developing and managingwater access, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and environmental projects forwater efficiency in hard-to-reach communities.

The Agua Segura team, together with INTA (National Institute of AgriculturalTechnology), through its territorial research programs in water care, presentedthe project to improve access to water in the Huarpes community, located inLaguna del Rosario, Municipality of Lavalle - Mendoza. Argentina, where theyspecify the need for technological intervention to combat this situation.

This community, among others in the region, has major problems with access tothis vital element (water), where, in addition to the supply problem, high levelsof bacterial and arsenic contamination have been detected, a situation that for years, together with the drought, has slowed down the main commercial activityin the area and at the same time has made water consumption unhealthy for thispopulation.

Today, in the community, access to water is done through water trucks from themunicipality that pour the water into the plated cisterns that each family has.The water provided by this process is potable, but as it is exposed tomicrobiological contamination due to the lack of household connections, itbecomes unusable.

Wilo Argentina joins this initiative and contributes to the project in its first stageas a supplier of 10 pressurizing pump equipment, which allows access to waterfrom the cisterns to the home, together with ultrafiltration technology thateliminates viruses, parasites, and bacteria. "In this project, our goal is to ensuresustainable access to water for communities. What we valued here was Wilo'scapacity and products to improve access and the ultrafiltration filters that seekto improve water quality for families," says Catalina Deluchi, Director ofInstitutional Relations for the Agua Segura project.

This first project benefits 10 families in the community, producing 180,000 litersof drinking water for their consumption. "Accompanying the Agua Segura andINTA initiative through the supply of domestic ultrafiltration equipment and ourWilo pumps, water handling is avoided between the cisterns and the elevatedtanks also provided within the same program. With their pipes and fittings,individual safe water supply systems are integrated for each family, guaranteeingthe supply of water in overhead tanks, minimizing the risk of contamination, andsubsequently inside the homes, filtering and eliminating all possible pathogens",says Gustavo F. Morvillo, General Manager of Wilo Argentina.

Through workshops to raise awareness of the technology applied and the carerequired for its correct use, 10 families in this community will be able to usesystems that will have a positive impact on the health and development of itsinhabitants. Drinking water is at the heart of sustainable development and is a necessary condition for individual, family, and community progress anywhere inthe world.