Water Keepers: Spring Protection & Riverbank Regeneration for Machuca River

For the past three years, a group of neighbors in the Río Machuca micro-watershed has been meeting every two weeks through volunteer work, trying to understand why the river we love is changing. We have watched water levels drop year after year. Places where local families once gathered to swim and spend time together are disappearing. Hillsides are being transformed by development, cattle enter the river to drink, sediments and waste reach the water, and the climate in the region is becoming hotter and drier.

What keeps us going is not only concern, but love for this place and a belief that regeneration is still possible. Our group includes local residents, technical professionals, community leaders, and environmental advocates. Around seven people have sustained this effort consistently, supported by a wider community deeply committed to protecting the watershed. Today, this work has been formally organized and legally recognized through the Asociación Colectiva Valle Machuca, providing a stronger foundation for long-term collaboration and action.

This project represents a turning point for us. After years of research, mapping, relationship-building, and planning, we are ready to move from isolated cleanups and conversations into concrete implementation. MA Earth was the first organization to support this work through a previous grant, and remaining funds from that support are still available to strengthen this first pilot implementation.

Over nine months, we will implement a pilot watershed regeneration project on one productive farm in the upper Río Machuca watershed. The project will protect active springs, restore riverbanks with native trees, and train local youth in participatory ecological monitoring. The farm will serve as a living demonstration site where other farmers can learn from practical, visible actions. The project provides plants, materials, technical support, and community workdays, while the farmer contributes by opening their land to the process.

We believe this pilot can inspire wider action across the watershed and demonstrate that community-led regeneration is possible before it is too late.