Operation Beagle: Clean Water Access in the Galapagos

In October and November 2018, YachtAid Global (YAG) and three superyachts aimed to remedy water quality issues in schools in the Galapagos. Operation Beagle, as it was known, wanted to improve the health of children across the Galapagos through clean water access and to foster conservation and education for avoiding the use of single-use plastics.

The Galapagos Islands are contaminated with household waste water, according to Discovering Galapagos, an educational resource by the Galapagos Conservation Trust and Royal Geographical Society. Floreana and Isabela Islands have to import their drinking water, and there is a heavy reliance on rainwater.

YAG in conjunction with M/Y DragonFly, M/Y Nomadess, and M/Y Arctic P brought integrated water storage tanks and filtration solutions and delivered a reusable metal water bottle to all 8,000 children at 27 schools across the four islands. M/Y Nomadess provided project supplies, and M/Y Arctic P provided transportation for supplies. A total of 43 water tanks and 95 filters were installed, and now children carry their reusable water bottles to school where they can refill them with filtered water safe from waterborne pathogens.

“Tame Línea Aérea del Ecuador provided cargo space to transport more than eight thousand reusable metal water bottles, donated for this project, to the Galapagos, while the experts at
Mingas por el Mar were by our side during the operation to educate children on the importance
of conservation,” says YAG operations and strategy director Zoran Selakovic.

Operation Beagle signifies YAG’s commitment to supporting the people of the Galapagos in achieving their long-term sustainable development goal. Providing clean water access and reusable water bottles for school children is just the beginning of a multi-year endeavor.

With this completed first project, YAG has turned its attention to providing the new incoming students with reusable water bottles and extending clean water access to remote communities across the Galapagos to help improve the health of local populations.

“We plan to work with yacht captains, owners, and businesses to support and jointly carry out other projects, from conservation and education to clean water access and wellbeing for local communities across the islands,” Selakovic says.