aqua + H

An evolving project developed in partnership with HRIBANIKA — a solar-powered Earthship community center in Zipolite, Oaxaca— founded by Psychologist Angélica Tonalkiahuitl. Together, aqua + H seeks to re-stabilize sustainable access to water in a region of increasingly problematic supply through the restoration of HRIBANIKA’s well, alongside creation of a series of Public Artworks to galvanize local and tourist awareness.

Created in 2014, Angélica constructed her property’s well with two Oaxacan brothers who had inherited their technical skill and knowledge of water within the land from their family lineage. Operational for 3 years with clean, potable water serving the entire complex, this well’s access to the water table became blocked after Tropical Storm Beatriz hit the Pacific coastline in June 2017.

Historically, families and businesses of the area have stewarded their own individual needs through wells as drinking and tap water source, yet over the last decades, and according to federal mandate, the majority of home and businesses have now switched to purchasing non-potable water from the town and purified potable water from private vendors — quantities all transported by diesel truck and delivered to each individual location (this region has no water infrastructure). On a critical note, Zipolite’s non-potable water is sourced from a single municipal well which has become over-extracted as recent water tests now measure sustained salinity — causes attributed to the ongoing tourist boom and decreasing annual rainfall occurring regionally.

aqua + H is currently in pre-production in conjunction with Orkydaceae; chief Sustainability partner on the cusp of publishing a series of documents and reports which will soon be shared here. See aqua + H Well Restoration Budget for more details.

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