Rainwater Harvesting System Transforms a Community in the Heart of the Amazon

A view along the Amazon River. Across Brazil, over 33 million people lack access to safe drinking water, and nearly 100 million lack proper sanitation. In remote and river communities of the Amazon, the problem is even worse. Photo credit: Addison Rudicile, WTW

Manaus, Brazil. 2025.

When globally dispersed teams come together, it's people like Francisca Mota who benefit.

Francisca, who lives in a small community outside of Manaus, Brazil, deep in the heart of the Amazon, didn't have running water at her house. Like many of her neighbors, she relied on the Rio Negro for her water needs. But seasonal rainfall fluctuations and recent severe droughts have meant that even communities along the banks of one of the Amazon River’s largest branches are in urgent need for solutions that will strengthen their water security and reduce dependency on unsafe sources.

For the past 13 years, Wine To Water's work in the Amazon has centered primarily in the Tres Fronteras region, an area at the borders of Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, that is about a 700 mile flight from Francisca's home. There, our teams have largely focused on well repair and distribution of membrane filters, which provide a reliable, cost-effective way for these communities to turn unsafe or untested water into safe drinking water.

Wine To Water team members in the Dominican Republic install a rainwater harvesting system.

Wine To Water team members in the Dominican Republic install a rainwater harvesting system.

Wine To Water team members in the Dominican Republic install a rainwater harvesting system.

Wine To Water team members in the Dominican Republic install a rainwater harvesting system.

Wine To Water team members in the Dominican Republic install a rainwater harvesting system.

Wine To Water team members in the Dominican Republic install a rainwater harvesting system.

A completed rainwater harvesting system. Pipes along the roof carry rainwater to a holding tank.

But Francisca's situation in Manaus was different. With only a filter, she would still need to collect water on her own.

Fortunately, our team in the Amazon had recently completed a shared training with our team in the Dominican Republic. Each office gained expertise in new water technologies: the Dominican team wanted to see the membrane filter in action, while the Amazon/Colombian team came to expand their knowledge of Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) systems.

“From a leadership perspective, this experience was incredibly beneficial for the Dominican teams’ professional and personal growth. The exchange allowed them to see how development work takes shape in different countries, to recognize themselves as part of a larger movement, and, perhaps most importantly, to begin to 'get it' in a way that only lived experience can provide.” - Sasha Miranda, WTW Dominican Republic Country Director

Francisca Mota.“My house needs water, and this project will help us so much." Photo credit: WTW

That training came to fruition in Manaus. Field Coordinator Daniel Máques Dos Santos, drawing on the skills and knowledge he'd gained, led an effort to install a RWH system in Francisca's home, our first-ever such system in Brazil. The system allows Francisca and her family to collect rainwater through a gutter system attached to the roof. This system then funnels water into a large, raised tank at the side of the house. A membrane filter can then be attached to the bottom of the tank where the water is accessed to create clean drinking water.

Collaborations like this are among the many benefits global nonprofits like WTW can draw on as we pursue our mission. With teams working in vastly different conditions all over the world, they develop expertise in different technologies and interventions that, when shared, can expand our ability as an organization to respond to the water crisis in more and more nuanced, context-specific ways everywhere.