Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Water Crisis in PTY

Well, it's been 24 days now since we were informed that the water treatment facility was damaged due to unusually high levels of sediment seeping into the filtration machinery. Since then, water production has been at about 10%. Many in the city have been without water completely or have had to deal with water outages for 27 hours at a time. Those of us who live in buildings with reserve tanks have been fortunate enough to not feel the full effects of this crisis, even considering that the water supply to our neighborhood will be cut for 48 hours today and tomorrow. Of course, we have been asked to take voluntary measures to protect the water supply, but we are giving up very little in comparison to some.

However, now, the yellow water is reaching us all. We've been asked to boil water or buy it in order to drink. Yesterday, I stood in line to buy water at one of the few grocery stores that still had water available for purchase. We were limited to 30 20 oz. bottles per family, 24 of which had to be imported French water - yes, liquid gold.

The authorities claim that this is an act of nature, and that they are doing all they can to solve the problem. Unfortunately, the weather hasn't cooperated as they had planned. Apparently, the machinery can't be fixed until water levels decline. Water levels can't decline until "winter" (rainy season) ends. Rainy season usually ends in mid-December, but we continue to have rain almost daily. So, the question remains, will the authorities be able to find a way to solve this problem despite nature's capriciousness?

2 comments:

  1. It's no wonder the bottled water industry exploded like it did, I've been through some of these crises in PR and it's no fun at all! Hang in there!

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  2. All totaled, it took 79 days for potable water to be restored to the majority of the city. In that time, hundreds and hundreds of children and adults became ill - myself included. I spent the New Year sleeping in the bathroom. But, I figure, if you start the year of that way, it can only get better!

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