Panama’s national water and sanitation utility (Idaan) will start a water awareness campaign by mid-March 2010. Earlier attempts to communicate the importance of water through conferences and newsletters were unsuccesful.
Read full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 03 Mar 2010
Posted in Campaigns & events, Panama, Water supply
Tagged Idaan, water conservation, water utilities
Venezuela’s environment ministry Minamb will implement measures to restrict water consumption in the country starting March 1, 2010. The restrictions will apply to households, commercial offices and factories.
Read full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 19 Feb 2010
Posted in Financing, Venezuela, Water distribution
Jamaica has developed a J$477mn (US$5.81mn) mitigation program to address its increasing water shortage. The mitigation and conservation measures will increase the available water supply by five million gallons per day. In addition, 22 rural water supply projects costing J$97.2mn are being implemented.
Read the full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 10 Dec 2009
Colombian city Bucaramanga’s water utility Acueducto Metropolitano de Bucaramanga (AMB) inaugurated an educational water park to teach people about the proper use of water resources on 9 November 2009. Visitors to the park can see the treatment processes carried out by the utility and learn about the importance of contributing to the sustainability of hydrological resources.
Read the full article on BNamericas.com [subscription site], Nov 2009
Poor planning, low rates and insufficient investment are the causes of the water shortage in the Mexico valley metropolitan area. If authorities and national water authority Conagua fail to take action now, the world’s second largest urban agglomeration will simply dry up.
A total of 33,000 l/s of water is distributed in greater Mexico City every day to serve its estimated 22mn inhabitants. However, around 40% is lost due to the poor conditions of the city’s potable water network.
The situation is worsened by overuse and waste. According to Conagua, average water consumption per person should be around 150l/d. While in some areas in the valley people only get an average of 40l/d of water, in other locations citizens are using an average of 800l/d.
WHEN CHEAP IS EXPENSIVE
The reason for excessive consumption is the low rates being charged for water services. Mexico City water utility SACM charges users 2 pesos/l (US$0.15) which is definitely not enough to maintain the system. The figure is much lower than the 16 pesos that should be charged to cover costs and carry out necessary maintenance works.
Low rates may have a favorable financial impact on society in the short term, but they only lead to carelessness and overuse of hydrological resources.
At some point, authorities will have to face and resolve the problem. However, the longer they wait, the more expensive it will be.
Considering that the 16-peso/l rate would only cover maintenance works, SACM needs a much higher monetary input to carry out the necessary rehabilitation and expansion works on the city’s 12,000km network.
Only 2,100km of pipelines have been installed in the last few years, which means that more than 82% of the network is old and in need of maintenance or renewal.
And while authorities are aware of water losses due to damaged pipelines, they are also dealing with the problem of water theft, which is much harder to control as it requires the kind of supervision the utility cannot afford.
SUSTAINABILITY BEGINS AT HOME
Mexico City needs to implement changes in accordance with the three pillars of sustainability: environmental, social and financial.
Authorities and Conagua officials need to monitor and limit the use of Mexico valley’s water resources, or they will inevitably dry up. They also need to increase control over water pollution to prevent further environmental damage.
Conagua must also look at the numbers and draw up a strong strategic development plan, including a gradual increase in water rates over a period of time, and with support from international financial entities to cover the cost of carrying out works in a relatively short period of time.
Finally, authorities need to educate users in the responsible use of water. The government has launched a television campaign focused mainly towards children, but they also need to increase adult awareness. They are the people who currently use large amounts of water, especially in informal activities such as cooking and textile production.
INNOVATION
SACM should also implement a water collection and storage system large enough to serve Mexico City’s increasing population and needs. Research groups are already working on initiatives to store rainwater, while also preventing floods.
Institutions such as the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) university have developed technologies to reduce the use of water in the industrial sector, including vertically built industrial wastewater treatment plants for the textile industry, among others.
Water reuse is another option research groups are looking into. In fact, IPN already uses treated wastewater to irrigate the large green areas on its campus. These areas help combat air pollution and contribute to the city’s wellbeing. Therefore, the initial additional cost turns into savings.
At the same time, SACM should start to take part in the city’s integrated urban planning, as natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and land movements also damage water and sewage networks.
Authorities may argue that fixing the Mexico valley water problem is too expensive, but the cost increases every day and soon it will be too late to do anything at all.
Source: Eva Medalla, BNamericas.com [subscription site], 27 Oct 2009
Potable water rationing in the Mexico valley and federal district (DF) will continue indefinitely, national water authority Conagua said.
The measure is necessary to preserve water levels in the reservoirs that make up the Cutzamala system, according to Mexico valley water basin authority (OCAVM) director Jorge Efrén Villalón Figaredo.
Conagua has been implementing 30% supply cuts throughout the year due to the low levels of water in the system, which supplies 20% of the water consumed in the Mexico valley metropolitan area.
Cutzamala’s three main reservoirs are currently at 62% of capacity and are unlikely to recover as the rainy season is almost over, Villalón Figaredo said.
Conagua urged residents to take part in its new water-saving campaign, launched by Mexican President Felipe Calderón. The 167mn-peso (US$12.9mn) campaign, backed by over 120 companies, promotes water saving measures throughout the country. The campaign, which urges people to care for water as if it were a family member, could cut water use by 50%, according to Conagua.
However, this kind of campaign will have little impact due to the relatively small percentage of water that is used for public consumption, a researcher with autonomous university UNAM’s geophysics institute, Luis Marín contends.
“In Mexico, agriculture uses around 75% of our water. Public urban use is only around 10%. So we can save as much water as possible in the urban areas, but it’s not going to have an effect,” Marín said.
The authority’s money would be better spent on reducing the amount of water used in agriculture, according to Marín.
Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 23 Oct 2009 ; 19 Oct 2009 ; 22 Oct 2009
Colombia’s President Álvaro Uribe has laid out specific measures to save energy and water as a way to combat power shortages caused by the drought in the country. The mandate outlines ways to save water, especially when watering gardens, washing vehicles and public spaces. Energy savings include switching off lights in bathrooms and after 8pm in public buildings.
Uribe asked both governors and mayors to promote the measures in their jurisdictions.
Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 16 Oct 2009
Posted in Colombia, Policy & legislation, Water resources management
Tagged water conservation
President Hugo Chavez called on Venezuelans to stop singing in the shower and to wash in three minutes because the oil-exporting nation is having problems supplying water and electricity.
“Some people sing in the shower, in the shower half an hour. No kids, three minutes is more than enough. I’ve counted, three minutes, and I don’t stink,” he said during a televised Cabinet meeting.
“He obviously has no teenage daughters”, remarked English columnist Gerald Warner in the Telegraph. “You could not ask for a better illustration of the knee-jerk instinct of socialism to intrude into every area of private life than the prohibition of singing in the bath and the restriction of showers to three minutes”.
Venezuela has suffered several serious electricity blackouts in the past year because of rapidly growing demand and under-investment, which has been aggravated by a drop in water levels in hydroelectric dams that provide most of its energy. Chavez announced energy-saving measures and said he would create a ministry to deal with the electricity shortages. Other proposed measures included cloud-seeding and prohibiting imports of low-efficiency electrical appliances. He called on ministries and state-run companies to cut energy consumption by 20 percent immediately.
More Latin American countries are facing water problems. Two months ago Brazilians were urged to “pee in the shower” to conserve water.
See Hugo Chavez’ promo speech for the three-minute shower (in Spanish).
Source: Ana Isabel Martinez, Reuters / Washington Post, 21 Oct 2009
Posted in Campaigns & events, Venezuela
Tagged Hugo Chavez, hydropower, showering, water conservation, water shortage
Costa Rican state water utility AyA has called on the population to reduce its daily consumption by 20%, the entity reported in a release.
Every citizen must cut their water usage from 200l/d to 160l/d to avoid a severe water shortage in the next few months, according to AyA president Ricardo Sancho.
The forecast is based on a study by the water authority, which showed that the El Niño climate phenomenon has caused a reduction in water levels in the central pacific, metropolitan and central western regions.
The hardest-hit region is Chorotega, where the Jicaral, Mansión, Bolsón-Ortega, Tamarindo and Liberia systems all showed up to a 50% reduction in water levels compared to historical averages.
In Puriscal, a canton in the central province of San José, water levels have also fallen by 50%.
Surface water systems in the greater metropolitan area have not yet been affected, but could fall by up to 40% if low rainfall continues in the area, Sancho said.
The utility may begin to ration water in the metropolitan area if water levels continue to fall. Water will also be distributed by trucks, a measure that has already begun in the Atenas canton of Alajuela province.
Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], Friday, 25 Sep 2009
Posted in Costa Rica, Water distribution
Tagged AyA, water conservation, water rationing, water shortage, water utilities
Mexico’s federal district (DF) human rights commission CDHDF has warned that the capital’s growing water shortage could cause a “spiral of violence”.
CDHDF president Emilio Álvarez Icaza Longoria said that low-income families are paying more for water of lower quality and only receive it at certain hours of the day, a situation that is causing social unrest. “We have already seen protests in some areas, with blocked avenues and demonstrations specifically about the lack of water in the places that are most affected,” he said.
Local authorities recently said that the capital’s water supply is only guaranteed for the next six months due to an ongoing drought, considered the worst in the last 40 years.
According to mayor Marcelo Ebrard, residents in all areas will see their water supply cut for a few days a week in the first half of 2010. However, the mayor denied suggestions that the water shortage would cause an outbreak of violence.
Ebrard asked residents to save water, adding that his administration has redoubled efforts to carry out maintenance on main pipelines to prevent leaks and to build wastewater treatment plants.
Starting 1 September 2009, Mexico City water utility SACM will start imposing fines ranging from 1,500-16,000 pesos (US$114-1,215) on individuals and businesses that are caught wasting water. People will no longer be allowed to wash their vehicles with domestic water hoses and water their lawns during the day.
In early August 2009, the head of Mexico’s water authority Conagua José Luis Luege announced an imminent and indefinite increase in water rationing in the Mexico valley and federal district (DF). Luege, together with Mexico state (Edomex) and DF authorities, are looking at ways to reduce water supply by 20-25% in 17 municipalities and 16 boroughs at least until 2011.
The plan involves reducing supply by 10% from Sunday through Thursday. On Fridays and Saturdays supply is reduced by 25% and 50%, respectively. However, it is necessary to increase this to an average of 20-25%, according to Luege. Average reduction in water supply is at 17.8% in the Mexico valley and DF areas but this is not sufficient.
The dams that feed the Cutzamala system are at historically low levels. “We are 20% below the average levels of the last 25 years. This means a deficit of 150Mm3 of water,” Villalón said.
Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 01 Sep 2009 ; 26 Aug 2009 ; 06 Aug 2009
Business News Americas – Water & Waste
