RISD Serves Award 2021
RISD Alumni Awards 2021, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), USA, 2021.
Isla Urbana
Isla Urbana is formed by an interdisciplinary group of designers, urbanists, engineers, anthropologists, educators, and artists dedicated to demonstrating how rainwater harvesting is a viable solution for Mexico’s water crisis.
Isla Urbana
Isla Urbana has designed an environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable rainwater harvesting system that collects and cleans rainwater for households, schools, and health clinics.
The system is inexpensive, easy to install, and provides individual residences with about 40% of their annual water supply. If implemented on a large scale throughout Mexico City, this simple technology could provide 30% of the city’s water and help give a sustainable water source to the 12 million Mexicans who lack access to clean water.
Our rainwater harvesting systems promote sustainable water management practices, mitigate the city’s flooding problems, relieve poverty, reduce carbon emissions, and provide a reliable source of water for Mexico City’s residents, and throughout the country.
As half of Earth’s population now lives in cities, creating sustainable urban systems has the greatest impact on environmental and social issues. To ensure a future with access to clean water—the most vital resource on the planet—innovative water saving technologies must be enacted on a large scale starting today.
Isla Urbana Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Non Profit Organization in the United States and Lluvia Para Todos is the main partner in Mexico, which is run by the same team with the common mission to provide clean water for Mexico through the sustainable technology of rainwater harvesting.
Members
Co-founders
Carlos Moscoso
Co-founder
(1964 – 2009)
Carlos Moscoso, our beloved friend, was one of the original founders of Isla Urbana. He was older than most of us but his inner calm, experience, and enormous generosity remain an inspiration to us all today. He taught us about plumbing and a thousand other things relating to life and work. Isla Urbana would not be where it is now, were it not for him. We miss you Carlos.
Jennifer White
General Director
David Vargas
President
Carmen Hernández
Administrative Director
Renata Fenton
Director of Isla Urbana USA
Hiram García
Engineering Director
Enrique Lomnitz
Co-founder
Gabino Hernández
Director of Installation
Javier Hernández
Director of Installation
Alejandro Hernández
Director of Installation
Managers
Priscilla Azamar
Sales Director
Mariana Balderas
Research and Development
Director
Óscar Gómez
Graphic Design Director
Delfín Montañana
Social Environmental
Education Director
Ana Paula Mejorada
Rain Schools Director
Jesús Sotomayor
Director of Lluvia
para Todos A.C.
Martín Liedo
Impact Assessment
Coordinator
Emilio Becerril
Managing Director
Nabani Vera
Communications Director
Operations Team
Barritt Reynolds
Events and Communications Associate IU USA
Christopher Isele
Bookkeeping IU USA
Petra Flores
Administrator
Aliyeri Díaz
Distributor Coordinator
Dante Sosa
Community Relations
Alejandro Alcántara
Mapping and Community
Relations
Daniel Nava
Community Relations
Iván de Jesús Cortés
Rain Schools Programmer and Database Management
Teresa Lobo
Ha Ta Tukari Education Coordinator and Program Manager
Carlos Torres
Accountant
Ignacio Muñoz
Rain Schools Technical Visitor
Javier Melchor Orozco
Rain Schools Educational Coordinator
Aline Morales Pérez
Community Manager
Shiara González
Ha Ta Tukari Coordinator
Gerardo Vanegas
Technical Advisor for Residential Systems
Astrid Domínguez
Audiovisual Production
Dunai Frank
Workshop Leader
Karen Aguilar
Graphic Designer
Fernando Alcántara
Storekeeper
Lucía Fosado
Administrator
Luis Martínez
Customer Service Coordinator
Ricardo Muñoz Sánchez
Sales Consultant
César López
Ha Ta Tukari Installation Technician
Claudia Ríos
Ha Ta Tukari Education Co-Coordinator
Guadalupe Roldán
Rain Schools Coordinator
Marita Rodríguez
Database Management
Denébola Caraveo
Rain Schools Technical Visitor
Alejandra Parra
Ha Ta Tukari Education Technician
Azucena Parra
Ha Ta Tukari Education Technician
Javier Arévalo
Accountant
Sergio Medrano
Workshop Leader
Simón Sánchez Ortega
Communication Coordinator
Gabriela Cedillo
Project Manager
Liliana López
Content Development Coordinator, Rain Schools
Felipe López
Ha Ta Tukari Installation Technician
Joel De la Cruz
Ha Ta Tukari Education Technician
Mariano Bautista
Ha Ta Tukari Installation Technician
Lucio Guerrero
Calabashero Technician of Sierra Tarahumara
Maribel Gallardo
Operational Coordinator of Nándá Jtsi
Joel Bautista
Ha Ta Tukari Technician
Paola Rodríguez
Rain Schools Educational Facilitator
Rocío Robles Cruz
Rain Schools Educational Facilitator
Patricio Orden
Data Analyst
René Ponce
Project Coordinator
Maribel Martínez
Nándá Jtsi Technician
Nidia García
Research and Development
Adriana González
Nándá Jtsi Program Manager
Óscar Gaxiola
Project Coordinator
José Torcal
Project Volunteer in San Juan Tlacotenco
Daan Elsen
Developer
Paulino Díaz
Ha Ta Tukari Technician
Cecilia Guerrero
Sierra Tarahumara Technician
Egidio Zamora
Nándá Jtsi Technician
Martín Guerrero
Calabashero Technician of Sierra Tarahumara
Alejandro Moyers
Rain Schools Educational Facilitator
Andrea Gutiérrez
Rain Schools Educational Facilitator
Adriana López
Responsible for Water Quality Testing and Monitoring
Field Team
José Guzmán Cruz
Installation Coordinator
Samuel Cruz
Installation Supervisor
Adrián Ramírez
Installation Technician
Venancio Hernández
Installation Technician
Horacio Abad
Installation Supervisor
Nazario Ruíz
Installation Technician
Marcos Tlatenchi
Warehouse Coordinator
Adolfo Cid
Installer Assistant
Jorge Flores
Installer
Fabián José
Storekeeper
Magdiel Silvestre
Installer Assistant
Edgar Alfredo
Installer Assistant
Brayan Hernández
Installer Assistant
Abel Hernández
Warehouse Assistant
Gerardo Hernández
Installer Assistant
Manuel González
Personnel Coordinator
Eusebio Jesús Herrera
Supervisor
Gustavo Alonso Flores
Installation Technician
Saúl Alberto Jara
Installation Technician
Eduardo Hernández
Installer
Samuel Salazar
Installer
José Manuel Romero
Installer Assistant
César Tolentino Osorio
Installer Assistant
Francisco Parra López
Installer Assistant
Alberto de la Cruz
Installer
César Alejandro Méndez
Personnel Coordinator
Felipe Cobos
Installation Technician
Luis Alberto García
Installation Technician
Fernando Pérez
Installer
Osvaldo Méndez
Installer Assistant
Lupe Carrillo
Installer
Juan Carlos Méndez
Supervisor
Luis Magueyar
Installer
Demecio Baltazar
Installation Technician
Giovanni Águila
Installer Assistant
Collaborators
Recognition
Honourable Mention Lighthouse Awards 2021
Brave Blue World Foundation, Vancouver, Canada, 2021.
Finalist Premio al Liderazgo Social (Social Leadership Award)
Kybernus, Mexico City, 2021.
Water Challenge
First Place, Chile, 2020.
Iberoamerican Youth Awards
Prize for the category “Knowledge Without Borders: strategies for the production, diffusion, and application of knowledge that actively involves and impacts vulnerable or excluded communities or groups.” Dominican Republic, 2019.
National Award for Technological Innovation for Social Inclusion
First Place– a project that demonstrates an outstanding positive outcome by using technology for poverty reduction and to influence social wellbeing, 2018.
World Design Capital Award
Socially Responsible Design recognition, Mexico City, 2018.
Mexico City Award
Environmental Action Award, Mexico City, 2017.
Social Design Circle Member
Social Design Circle Member by Design Prize, 2017.
VIVA Premios Schmidheiny
Third Place in Social Innovation, Costa Rica, 2016.
Entrepreneurial Merit Award
IMMPCIn recognition to young entrepreneurs, Guadalajara, Mexico, 2015.
Visionaris Prize UBS
For innovation in social enterprise, Mexico City, Mexico, 2015.
Ashoka Fellowship
Changemakers, 2012-2015.
Momentum Project-BBVA Bancomer
PrizeFor innovation and the massification of social enterprise, 2014.
Mentes QUO-Discovery Recognition
For dedication to positive change in Mexico, 2013.
MTech35 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Tech Review Recognition
35 innovators under age 35 worldwide, Boston, Massachusetts, 2013.
Civic, Environmental and Social Work Merit Prize
INJUVE, 2013.
Clinton Global Initiative
Member by invitation, 2012.
Nomination “INDEX Award”
Denmark, 2011.
Rompe con el cambio climático (Breakaway from climate change) Prize
SEMARNAT, Mexico, 2011.
Finalist El agua, fuente de vida (Water, source of life) Prize
For best practices in water management, United Nations, ONU-Agua, Spain, 2011.
Finalist Iniciativa México (Mexico Initiative)
One of 25 finalists of 56, 958 initiatives, Mexico, 2011.
Genera (Generate) Prize
Project, Transforming Mexico through ideas, Mexico, 2010.
Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award Honorable Mention
México, 2010.
Finalist BBC World Challenge
One of 10 Finalists, among 800 projects from all over the world, England, 2010.