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Estero Salado Waterkeeper
Estero Salado Waterkeeper Foundation (ESW) is a non-profit organization formed to protect and restore the waters of the Estero Salado, the main saltwater estuary running through the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador. Using enforcement, fieldwork, and citizen action, ESW works to make the waters suitable for recreation—including fishing and swimming—and to improve public health.
Over the past ten years, Estero Salado Waterkeeper has focused its efforts on increasing access to effective, affordable sanitation in Guayaquil, which faces severe poverty and enormous structural socio-economic gaps.
Estero Salado Waterkeeper’s efforts are centered on eliminating illegal residential and industrial discharges to the estuary and advocating for remediation as an opportunity for healthy and resilient communities.
The #EsteroVivo (Plant a Mangrove) initiative is ESW’s flagship effort to increase public awareness and promote citizen engagement in estuary restoration and protection. #EsteroVivo aims to plant 5,000 mangrove trees along the Estero Salado as part of the #6DNow coalition for global climate action. The initiative has mobilized more than 500 local university students and volunteers, planting more than 2,000 mangrove seeds and collecting more than 150 trash bags of plastic waste from the banks of the Estero Salado.
Estero Salado Waterkeeper’s work is particularly important now, as the COVID-19 pandemic has hit Guayaquil especially hard and the community’s need for clean water has never been greater. In support of its most vulnerable neighbors, Estero Salado Waterkeeper has partnered with other community organizations in the SOS Familias initiative to provide essential groceries to more than 6,000 families.