The week of Oct. 22 marked the halfway point for the PepsiCorps projects in Bhorugram, India, and Albuquerque, N.M., and the teams continue to increase their understanding of the unique cultures and challenges facing their host communities.

PepsiCorps India

Members of the India team recently visited local households to examine components of rainwater harvesting systems. One of the key success factors for the project will be improving sanitation and maintenance of existing rainwater systems. As they talked with different families, they learned that many locals walked between four and 10 kilometers to retrieve water prior to the systems being installed. One challenge facing the team is that large families use drinking water for other uses. This often causes their water supply to dissolve several months after the wet season ends. To combat these challenges, the team is working to maximize efficiency of current systems while also developing methods to expand the model to reach more households in need. The team also met with government officials to discuss hygiene and sustainability as well as with local bankers to discuss micro-finance for rainwater systems.

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