Implementation Partners
Implementation Partners work with AguaClara-Cornell and individual communities in every AguaClara project. The current implementation partner is Agua Para el Pueblo.
Drinking water supply infrastructure, whether implemented at the community or household scale, requires a commitment to building physical infrastructure, community capacity, and expectations of success. The construction phase is approximately 4 months and is only a small portion of the project calendar. Implementation Partners take the lead role in choosing communities based on water quality deficiencies and, equally important, on community assets such as organization, ability to maintain qualified operators, and financing chlorine and aluminum sulfate.
New Implementation partners should choose initial communities located close to the Implementation partner's offices to simplify logistics and reduce mobilization costs. Cost savings can also be realized if the regional partner builds clusters of water treatment plants in neighboring communities to enable a single structural engineer to supervise multiple construction sites, and to facilitate training of and knowledge sharing between plant operators.
Applicants to become implementation partners must work with a current implementation partner to receive training. This South to South training is critical to ensure that new partners learn the nuts and bolts of implementation without having to making many mistakes in the first projects. Applicants will be certified as implementation partners after their first water treatment plant is operated successfully by the community.
The responsibilities of the Implementation partners are to:
- Assess community match with the technology
- Design the structure using local materials, strictly adhering to the AguaClara reactor and hydraulic design
- Supervise the construction of the water treatment plant
- Train plant operators from the community to operate, maintain, problem solve, keep records, and publicly display water quality data for accountability
- Transfer ownership of the plant to the local municipality or water board
- Monitor and review plant operating records and follow up on any performance issues
- Provide ongoing supervision and technical support for at least 2 years
Build, operate, transfer is a well know infrastructure implementation strategy. The AguaClara model draws on that model, but recognizes the need for greater emphasis on community assessment, capacity building, and a low level of oversight after the project has been fully transferred to the municipality or local water board.