Caminos
Verified · Feb 20251 min read
● projectScaled · national · 2009

Isla Urbana - rainwater harvesting for all

Household rainwater harvesting and filtration systems designed by Isla Urbana for homes without reliable access to drinking water, with the patented Tlaloque first-flush diverter that reduces ~70% of initial contamination.

Aerial view of a wastewater treatment plant surrounded by greeneryillustrative atlas image · Sky Eye Imagery / Pexels
IUIsla UrbanangoELEnrique LomnitzDVDavid Vargas
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01 The context

Born in 2009 on the periphery of Mexico City, it scaled to tens of thousands of systems installed in marginalized and rural areas, with a hybrid NGO-enterprise model.

02 How it works

method · Water insecurity index by neighborhood to target installationsmethod · Iterative community-centered designtool · Household filtration and water purificationtool · Rainwater harvesting system with Tlaloque first-flush diverter

03 What it stands on

Evidence level
Own experience
Grounded in published theory
Documented evidence elsewhere
Independently evaluated here
Peer-reviewed research documents this project: the strongest evidence level in the atlas.
The evidence 2 ›
EvidenceIsla Urbana USA Annual Report 2024Isla Urbana · 2024
EvidenceAdvancing urban water autonomy: A Social Life Cycle Assessment of rainwater harvesting systems in Mexico CityCleaner Environmental Systems (Elsevier) · 2024

04 Go to the source

Visit the official site ↗islaurbana.org