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

Carlos Moscoso
Cofundador
(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.

Enrique Lomnitz
General Director
David Vargas
President
Carmen Hernández
Administrative Director
Renata Fenton
Design Director
Hiram García
Engineering Director
Jennifer White
Community Relations Director
Gabino Hernández
Director of Installation
Javier Hernández
Director of Installation
Alejandro Hernández
Director of Installation
Nabani Vera
Communications Director
Priscilla Azamar
Sales Director
Mariana Balderas
Research and Development
Director
Sol García
Director of U.S.
Operations
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
Petra Sánchez
Administrator
Aliyeri Díaz
Distributor Coordinator
Pablo Dante Sosa
Community Relations
Alejandro Alcántara
Mapping and Community
Relations
Daniel Nava
Community Relations
Óscar Gaxiola
Community Relations
Óscar Gómez
Graphic Design Coordinator
Carlos Torres
Accountant
Ignacio Reyes A.
Communication Coordinator
Shiara González
HaTaTukari Coordinator
Cecilia Vargas
Research and Content
Luis Martínez
Customer Service Coordinator
Karen Aguilar
Graphic Designer
Cecilia Vargas
Research and Content
Luis Martínez
Customer Service
Coordinator
Fernando Alcántara
Storekeeper
Astrid Domínguez
Audiovisual Production
Marita Rodríguez
Database Management
Liliana López
Content Development Coordinator, Rain Schools
Javier Arévalo
Accountant
Valeria Enriquez
Rain Schools Coordinator
Daan Elsen
Social Service
Javier Melchor Orozco
Program Planning Coordinator
Marcos Tlatenchi
Quality Control Coordinator
Manuel González
Installation Coordinator
Alfredo Castillo
Installation Coordinator
César Alejandro Méndez
Installation Coordinator
José Guzmán Cruz
Installer Coordinator
Abel Hernández
Installer
Lucas Espinoza
Installer
Demesio Baltazar
Installer
Nazario Ruíz
Installer
Eusebio Herrera
Installer
Fabian Orduña
Installer
Felipe Cobos
Installer
Fernando Pérez
Installer
Saúl Alberto
Installer
Luis Hernández
Installer
Luis Alberto García
Installer
Gustavo A. Flores
Installer
Juan Carlos Méndez
Installer
Erik Enrique Alberto
Installer
Eduardo Hernández
Installer
Adrian Ramírez
Installer
Samuel Cruz
Installer
Jorge Luis Flores
Installer
Lupe Carrillo
Installer
Felipe López
Installer
Mariano Bautista
Installer
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.