Jessie's Well Blog

Jessie's Well Foundation Funds Second Water Plant

Jessie’s Well Foundation has funded the second water plant as part of a 5 year, 24 plant ministry project plan in the Dominican Republic.  The plant, which is being constructed in the community of Villa Vaquez, is a reverse osmosis water purification system capable of producing 6000 gallons of clean, affordable drinking water. 

Over the past two decades, Dominican Republic has made great strides in increasing access to water for its population.  However, the quality of water remains poor.  Sadly, studies indicate the water that Dominicans are drinking in most of the country’s provinces is not suitable for consumption.

In the poor communities, such as Villa Vasquez, the situation is especially dire.  Villa Vasquez’s water supply recently received a shocking score of 19.1 on a scale of 20 in the amount of contamination.  For clean water, families in Villa Vasquez must pay $1.50 per 5 gallon jug – an expense that is out of the question for most.

The lack of clean water, coupled with a lack of education in basic hygiene and sanitation, means that the citizens of Villa Vasquez live in needless, often life-threatening illnesses.  In fact, dysentery, intestinal parasites, typhoid, hepatitis and a host of other water-related issues endanger the health and wellbeing of the young lives that Compassion International serves in Villa Gonzalez on a daily basis.

The water plant is expected to be operational within 10 months and will provide affordable, clean water for each family of the registered children within the partner church Compassion center along with the greater community.

Jessie’s Well Foundation partners with Compassion International to fund development of water purification plants within the network of Compassion’s church partners.  Jessie’s Well Foundation Investment criteria includes the following four requirements:

• Partner with Churches established within needy communities
• Ensure partner Church has leadership structure in place that will enable long-term service and growth
• Create a micro-enterprise component to provide network distribution and economic sustainability
• Establish educational curriculum for children and families to understand the importance of clean water and the hope of Living Water

As with the first Jessie’s Well water project, this project has the potential to transform the community of Villa Vasquez.  The incidence of water and hygiene/sanitation related illnesses will be dramatically reduced.  This means less of people’s precious resources will be spent on medical care, children will be absent less from school and adults will be absent less from work.  Enabling the church to serve Villa Vasquez in this vital, tangible way will open more doors for sharing God’s love and good news of Christ’s salvation.