Melva Olmos

Melva Olmos

Dec 01, 2020

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Background: Project area

The area our work is taking place is a remote region of Panamá's Caribbean coastline, also referred to often as the Mosquito Coast. This area does not have any modern infrastructure. There are no roads, there is no electricity, no plumbing or wastewater treatment. Living in this region is very basic and most often subsistence farming only. To travel from community to community we use dug-out canoes on the river or walk on foot paths and sometimes we use horses. Throughout the watershed of the Rivers San Juan de Turbé and Coclé del Norte, are very small communities with public schools. We often work in cooperation with the regions public schools to give access to scientific methods, equipment and experience to students who otherwise would never have such an opportunity. We are especially excited about this project as we are giving the students and communities the scientific knowledge, equipment and assistance to solve an on-going problem of water quality and waterborne illness. Knowledge is power and the power to solve this problem will be in the communities hands! It can be hard to explain what this area is like … So here are a few videos and pictures of our office:



Moving between communities we sometimes use smaller rivers.

The Caribbean coast is very wet and is considered a Rain Forest ecosystem. This the river San Juan de Turbé outside of Coclesito.

This is the community of Cuatro Calles.

We stay with local community members when working in the Public Schools.

Walking between communities there are small paths through the forest. Sometimes the rivers are too dangerous to travel on during flooding.

This is a view from one community to another. This is the terrain that is common in our project area.


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About This Project

Remote communities in Panamá commonly suffer from waterborne illness. The various sources and identity of point & non-point source pollution are unknown. Conservación Panamá (org) in cooperation with Public Schools, has created a 10-month long water monitoring program for 5th grade students which samples, tests, analyzes and maps the Rios Coclé del Norte & San Juan de Turbé to identify the pollutants and create solutions.

More Lab Notes From This Project

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