A rainwater harvesting project is helping students in Venezuela’s largest slum.

The initiative is both providing them with running water and helping them learn more about conservation.

CGTN’s Mary Triny Mena reports from Caracas.

Last October 2021, the eco-friendly project, 'Lata de Agua' started in Fermín Toro primary school in Petare, one of Caracas' largest slums. 

It's a way to reuse rainwater to provide a valuable resource in an area that suffers from water shortages. 

It also means students no longer have to carry their own buckets of water to school, giving them more time for learning.

Ten-year-old Yormeilys Ocanto says the lack of water sometimes meant classes were canceled.

“Now I can go to the bathroom," he says, "I can come to the school and learn." 

Two Venezuelan architects came up with this water harvesting project, Lata de Agua.

Its name comes from a colloquial expression used by Venezuelans for heavy rainfall.

Architect Ana Babic, explains how the rainwater is transported using pipes before beingfiltered. 

“We have here 300 square meters of roof, where we can collect 300,000 liters of water in a year, approximately between 27 or 30 tanker trucks," says Babic. 

Caracas’ rainy season lasts about six months, offering a partial solution. For now, two schools and a medical center are collecting the water that falls on their roofs. 

The collected rainwater has also helped to keep hands disinfected, during the coronavirus pandemic. At the school a special COVID-19 sink has been installed. It's estimated 450 students and 1,200 people in the local community have benefitted.

The Venezuelan Observatory of Public Services found that almost 45% of people have to store water due to limited running water, and almost one in 10 get their drinking water from rain.

Over the last two decades, the water supply in Caracas has dropped dramatically, in part because pipes and infrastructure have not been sufficiently maintained. Petare residents have coped by carrying heavy buckets.

Rainwater has become a blessing for this community that suffers from chronic shortages. 

“For five years now, I’ve been waiting for water," says Petare resident, Yazmín Carballo. "I know my pipe is not clogged, but the water does not come.”

The goal is to expand the water project across the country, with a plan to install 20 more systems to help poor communities through a self-management model.

Architect Laurencio Sánchez, one of the creators of the project, believes it could provide a solution not only for this slum, but also for other communities across the country. 

“It gives them water independence. It provides power and independence to the community in order to solve their own problems,” Sanchez said.

Students in Petare are not only enjoying the running water now, but they are also learning, with classes specially designed to understand how the water harvesting process works. 

The water is coming out of the taps again and the community is using it wisely.

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