Francisco Mosquera
By Francisco Mosquera. Taken from Consonante.org.
The manager of the Aguas de Tadó company, Francisco Valderrama, says that there are no resources and that an investment of 30 billion pesos would be needed to guarantee coverage. Furthermore, the company still has no studies that certify the quality of the water. In other neighborhoods, the service is only provided for two or three hours a day.
In Tadó homes the water supply only reaches one or two hours a day and in summer the service is intermittent. This occurs throughout the municipality, but mainly affects the most vulnerable sectors such as the Villas de Remolino Urbanization (Las Torres), Villa Esperanza Urbanization and the San Pedro neighborhood, where the service is only available when it rains. In these neighborhoods, their inhabitants have already gone two weeks without water.
The water reaches the municipality by pumping, which means that they only have that supply when it rains. In summer, people have to resort to buying bags of water and washing in streams.
(This video explains the water problem in Tadó)
Added to this is a claim that the community has been making since the aqueduct existed: the water is neither drinkable nor well treated. To date, there are no studies on the quality of the water that reaches homes. In a response to the Citizen Oversight Office of Tadó, on February 14, the manager of the Aguas de Tadó company, Francisco Valderrama, confirms that during the month of January the water quality study was not carried out from its collection source.
What people say?
Clara Luz Mosquera, a resident of the San Pedro neighborhood, says that she has water only when it rains and for a maximum of three hours. “Sometimes they play it for half an hour or longer, between three and four hours, and only when it rains,” she says.
Mosquera claims that the community does not know if the water is drinkable: “We do not know if the water is treated, although the company says it is. The aqueduct has leaks in the La Poza sector and as far as I understand it has not been fixed.”
Yarlenis Mosquera, a resident of the Reinaldo neighborhood, also assures that the service in her home is occasional. “The water arrives for one hour, two or a maximum of three hours. However, when it rains they put it on for more than half a day and by that time people no longer need it because they have already collected rainwater in their tubs or shelters.”
“Now, in summer, we all need water. The company needs to improve the service. Today, for example, we have been without water for three days,” she adds.
Elizabeth Asprilla, a resident of the El Esfuerzo neighborhood, states that she has been without water in her house for two weeks even though she is up to date with her payments: “The aqueduct works once a day and in the morning, in the summer they leave us for two weeks or more without service. “I pay for the water on time, which is six thousand pesos.”
«The aqueduct works once a day and in the morning, in summer we are left without service for two weeks or more. “I pay for water on time, which is six thousand pesos.”
Elizabeth Asprilla, resident of the El Esfuerzo neighborhood
“When it is raining, the water arrives every day and this summer we all suffer from lack of water, we ask the company for an explanation,” he adds. Asprilla adds that in her neighborhood there are also water leaks near the hospital.
What do the authorities say?
Juan Carlos Palacios Agualimpia, municipal mayor of Tadó, recognizes that the aqueduct does not have sufficient capacity to provide service to the entire community. “We are doing the diagnosis to know what we need to intervene, not only in the urban area but also in the rural area. The Tadó aqueduct a few years ago received a significant intervention for more than 19 billion pesos by Spanish international cooperation and the Ministry of Housing, but the results are not as expected,” he says.
Palacios points out that there are no resources to improve the aqueduct. “We do not have the resources to meet the drinking water needs in the municipality, but we will present a project to the Government to seek financing with royalty resources since the governor has shown interest in addressing the policies of the people’s government and giving them priorities to the aqueducts,” he says.
“We do not have the resources to meet the drinking water needs in the municipality, but we will present a project to the Government to seek financing with royalty resources”
Juan Carlos Palacios Agualimpia, municipal mayor of Tadó
For his part, Francisco Valderrama, manager of the company Aguas de Tadó, indicates that there is no real diagnosis of the problem with the aqueduct and they have no way to address the water leaks. “There are no procedures before the Invías to address water leaks on national roads in the Popular, Escolar and San Pedro neighborhoods.” The aqueduct, according to the community, has leaks in several sectors of the municipality such as the San Pedro neighborhood, Reinaldo, Villas del Remolino and in the central part of the municipality of Tadó.
According to Valderrama, 75 percent of the inhabitants of Tadó have an aqueduct. However, it does not operate 24 hours a day because the collection plants are not in good condition. “We are looking for the aqueduct to be made by gravity or to change the motors for new ones, we believe that we need 30 billion pesos for the aqueduct to function in optimal conditions,” he adds.
“The ESPAT company today is in a very average state, I found many debts from last year and the company is not in a good financial state. The company provides the service 6 hours a day, but we have had problems with the pumping plant motors, which have been in use for more than 15 years and are damaged a lot,” says Valderrama, who warns that for now there is no plan to improve the service. aqueduct.
“The company provides the service for six hours daily but we have had problems with the motors of the pumping plant, which have been in use for more than 15 years and are damaged a lot”
Francisco Valderrama, manager of the Aguas de Tadó company
Yirson Marino Ledezma, municipal representative, warns that the Aguas de Tadó company is in a historic fiscal deficit and that despite the alerts it has not been resolved. “The Tadó aqueduct provides a regular service. The company says that it supplies 7 hours a day, but we all see that it only provides between two and four hours, when in the agreement made with the Spanish Cooperation it was said that the aqueduct would operate from 18 to 24 hours a day.
“The water supply is insufficient, because it only lasts for four hours and it doesn’t reach everyone. The network that supplies this precious liquid only reaches the central area of the municipality and not the peripheral areas, which is where most of the attention should be concentrated,” he claims.
Ledezma adds that there is no clarity about the drinkability of the water: “The river where the water is collected has a history of the presence of mercury due to mining work. In the treatment visits we have seen the processes where the treated water has a different color than the non-potable water.”
What’s next
The manager of the Aguas de Tadó company, Francisco Valderrama, assures that in 18 months he will advance an improvement plan so that the aqueduct works 24 hours a day. However, both the company and the Mayor’s Office warn that there are no resources to improve this service. For this reason, the administration says it will present a project to the government to seek financing.
The post Three neighborhoods in Tadó have been without water for two weeks appeared first on Chocó7días.com.