Guanacaste is thirsty

It depends on wells to ensure water reaches to 398,000 inhabitants

Reservoir to supply province has more than 25 years filed in Senara

July 24th,2014.

Reservoir to supply province has filed more than 25 years in Senara

It's noon in Guanacaste, the temperature exceeds 30 ° C and Jose Bonilla is preparing, with the slow pace of his 70 years, to start the daily ritual of obtaining water for your family.

Every day, this neighbor of Bamboo in Carrillo, must turn on a pump to remove water from artesian well he dug in his yard and wait for the liquid to flow through the pipes.

"No drinking water; there you can see the well; with us that we keep. Everyone cares for his own way, but there are some wells that do not meet health requirements, "Bonilla says in a dusty corridor.

A few kilometers east the situation is more serious, 700 families in precarious Martina Bustos, Liberia, depend on tubes installed in corners to alleviate their needs.

"Here remove water until a week or sometimes dilate more than a week to put it; I do not know what the problem is because they are public tubes ", narrated Nelson Obando, a resident of that precarious.

"We have two months without water; we have to go get down. Anywhere water is paramount, "said Ana Yancy Quesada, another neighbor.

To exacerbate the situation, now does not reach water or rain. Yesterday the National Emergency Commission (CNE) issued a yellow alert for Guanacaste, due to the effects of drought brought on by the El Niño phenomenon.

According to Nacional (IMN) Meteorological Institute in July fell only 1% of the amount of rain that had projected.

The situation has already led to estimated losses of at least ¢ 10,500 million in the agriculture and livestock sector.

Infrastructure. According to Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA), there are 116 communities in Guanacaste, where 37,100 people live without clean water-. Bring the liquid to these sites requires an investment of $ 35 million to more wells and piping.

"Water Infrastructure, that's number one, number two, number three," said Priscilla Solano, president of the Guanacaste Chamber of Tourism (Caturgua).

It coincides with Carlos Cantillo Mayor Carrillo.

"We have sold a misconception the country and the city that no water. Yes there is water, so there is no infrastructure, "he said.

Read more: 'La Nación'