Responding to Local Disasters: Restoring Safe Water for 3,900 in Peru
Droughts are among the most destructive natural disasters and can leave entire communities without the basic resources needed to survive.
From 2024 to 2025, the Piura region of Peru experienced one of the worst droughts in its history. Rivers dried up, crops withered, and health suffered.
The Piura region was negatively affected by the [drought], which not only impacted the supply of safe water but also agricultural production, public health, and ecosystems.
The drought left thousands of people in the Piura region without water for their families, livestock, and crops.
The disaster affected many communities with established Water Mission safe water projects. In September 2024, the people of Villa Monte Redondo had just received access to safe water when the drought began to worsen.
María, the town’s Reverse Osmosis system operator, witnessed the impact firsthand in her community. At first, she and her neighbors had to travel far to another town to purchase water, for which they paid a high price. Then, people started leaving her community.
This whole town suffered from this lack of water, and that’s why many left. Many husbands and wives went to work in the south to earn a living because they couldn't plant crops in the fields… We also had to look for water for our food, for our livestock, [and] to clean ourselves.
Water Mission’s team in Peru responded to the disaster, bringing water to Villa Monte Redondo and two other communities so María and her neighbors could have safe water once again.
Both Villa Monte Redondo and the community of Chilaco Pelado depend on irrigation canals that were negatively impacted by the drought. Another, San Martin de Letira, sources water from a well that had dried up.
As one of Water Mission’s established country programs, our team in Peru was poised to respond efficiently to the disaster.
Your support enabled us to collaborate with the local government to set up an interim solution trucking water to all three communities. The water they received was treated by each community’s safe water solution and stored in tanks.
“Thanks to [the team’s] prior knowledge of the situation and sustained work in communities, we were able to respond in a timely and strategic manner to this emergency,” Vilela said. “Having already built relationships of trust with leaders and families allowed us to quickly identify the most affected areas, coordinate resource distribution, and ensure that support actually reached the people that truly needed it.”
This assistance also reflects a comprehensive approach that goes beyond the installation of infrastructure and demonstrates the importance of maintaining close, sustained, and mutually collaborative relationships with the communities we serve.”
Through our response efforts, children like Fabiola and Carla from San Martin de Letira received safe water in the middle of an unprecedented drought.
Your continued giving paves the way for quick recovery efforts when disaster strikes. Thanks to your generosity and the efforts of our Piura team, more than 3,900 people had access to life-changing safe water during the record-breaking drought.
During the drought that we had, Water Mission arrived, and they brought us water in cisterns from Piura... I felt happy to have that water to drink because the water was processed to be safe and drinkable.
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