One of Yéle’s 15 1,200-gallon water trucks for delivering water to the tent encampments and neighborhoods in need.
Yéle Haiti has purchased an initial 2 million gallons of filtered water and contracted 15 1,200-gallon water trucks to assist Yéle in delivering the water directly to communities throughout Port-au-Prince. The first test delivery of 2,400 gallons took place on January 24th, and the second test will involve delivering 6,000 gallons on February 9th. Regular daily distributions begin shortly after that with 9,600 gallons a day, and within two weeks this will have increased to more than 24,000 gallons of water a day.
All water distributions are undertaken in consultation with community leaders in each of the targeted tent encampments. These leaders help to gauge the volume required in a delivery the following day, using a basic formula of one gallon per person – and usually people bring a five gallon container in order to get a supply for their family, the average size of which if five.
The community leaders help to ensure that people are lined up and ready with their containers. The Yéle team, which includes student volunteers from the State University of Haiti, works with these leaders to ensure an orderly process. As one truck is close to having dispensed its load of 1,200 gallons, the next truck is called in to replace it. When the first truck arrives, a faucet on the tank releases water into the containers each person in line has ready. The Yéle team also ensures that elderly or handicapped people in the area who are not able to get to the trucks have water delivered to them.
