In Loreto, a region that occupies more than a third of the Peruvian territory, half of the population has no access to water, despite high levels of annual rainfall. We propose a communal water management system that integrates rainwater harvesting, storage and treatment (HST) into a communal shower and laundry. We seek to address the lack of access to water for peri-urban communities without pre-existing water and sewage networks. Through identification, awareness-raising, training, and information validation workshops with the population, universities and local municipalities, complemented by the insertion of the process in undergraduate architecture courses, we collectively developed low-cost technologies that enhance sustainable water use. By designing a system that is autonomous from conventional water and sewage networks, we sought to reduce environmental and economic costs in both implementation and maintenance. As it is implemented in acommunity space and not individually, the costs per family are reduced, which facilitates therelevance and appropriation of the project. The incorporation of local resources in its elaboration was sought, in addition to the improvement of pre-existing local knowledge on water management and administration. The project seeks to redefine the concept of public spaces and infrastructure in Amazonian urban centres and to strengthen networks of care and solidarity through collective spaces that foster encounters and dialogue between citizens, particularly women and children. As one of the most relevant impacts, it is hoped that the technology can be replicated in other Amazonian localities through capacity building for local technicians. Finally, it is hoped that the participatory methodology can be incorporated into socio-economic development programmes promoted by local governments.

Keywords: Amazonia, Co-production, Social Infrastructure, Urbanism