WASH News Latin America
News feed maintained by information specialists from IRC and partners.
Dominican Republic: hospitals facing water shortages due to drought
13 Apr 10
Hospitals in the Dominican Republic are experiencing water shortages due to the severe drought affecting the country, local paper Hoy reported.Some hospitals are even having to buy water from private firms which sell water from trucks. Other health institutions have requested assistance from the capital Santo Domingo’s water utility Caasd.Hospital Salvador B. Gautier’s director Emma [...]
Honduras, Tegucigalpa: La Concepción, Los Laureles reservoirs at below 30% of capacity
13 Apr 10
Water levels in the Los Laureles and La Concepción reservoirs, serving Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, are at less than 30% of capacity, local paper El Heraldo reported.The situation has forced national water authority Sanaa to apply stricter water rationing measures.Due to the water shortage situation, more neighborhoods located in the city’s higher altitude zones, which are [...]
Paraguay: IDB, Spanish govt approve US$ 52 million for rural water programme
13 Apr 10
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Spanish government’s cooperation fund for water and sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean (FCAS) will contribute US$52mn to a program to provide potable water and sanitation services to rural and indigenous communities in Paraguay.Paraguayan finance minister Dionisio Borda and IDB president Luis Alberto Moreno signed the funding [...]
Guatemala: President urges water chlorination
13 Apr 10
Guatemala’s President Álvaro Colom has called for the population to cooperate with the country’s national water chlorination campaign, the presidential website reported.The campaign, implemented by the national government on 12 March 2010, encourages people to chlorinate water before drinking it, in order to reduce the risk of illness.Diseases related to drinking contaminated water are the [...]
Trinidad & Tobago: water authority considering clampdown on bottled water firms
13 Apr 10
Trinidad & Tobago’s water and sewerage authority (WASA) is considering a clampdown on bottled water companies in the light of the drought affecting the country, local paper Trinidad Express reported.If the water shortage worsens over the next few months, WASA will suspend water extraction from wells used by bottled water firms, even where the companies [...]
Venezuela, Caracas: city loses over 50% of water to leaks – Hidrocapital
13 Apr 10
Venezuelan capital Caracas loses over half of its potable water resources in damaged networks, an official from public water utility Hidrocapital said.Of the water that leaves the reservoirs and enters the system, more than 50% is lost to leaks in the pipelines, the official said.Insufficient maintenance is one of the utility’s main problems, said the [...]
Dominican Republic: Indrhi to become Unesco water management centre
13 Apr 10
The Dominican Republic water authority (Indrhi) is to become a regional Unesco water management center, the presidential website reported.The two entities signed an agreement outlining the plan during a visit of Unesco director Irina Bokova to the Caribbean country.Countries in the Caribbean have big challenges in the management of water resources due to climate change. [...]
Honduras, Tegucigalpa: night-time shifts improve waste collection
13 Apr 10
A pilot project in Honduran capital Tegucigalpa has increased solid waste collection by 75%, paper El Heraldo reported.The city’s solid waste division has started to collect garbage at night. Some 30 garbage trucks are collecting waste from 6pm in the evening in selected neighborhoods as part of the first phase of the project. In a [...]
Honduras, Tegucigalpa: Sanaa using deepwater wells to increase water supply
13 Apr 10
Honduran water authority Sanaa has started operating three deepwater wells to increase water supply to the inhabitants of capital Tegucigalpa, Sanaa spokesperson Allan Aragón told BNamericas.“Sanaa is rehabilitating wells to increase the amount of water on offer in the city, which is presently very deficient,” Aragón said. Sanaa currently provides 1,900l/s of water but demand [...]
Mexico, Mexico City: new water tariffs will save DF US$79mn, says SACM
13 Apr 10
The new potable water tariff system being applied in Mexico’s federal district (DF) will save the government some 1bn pesos (US$79.2mn) during 2010, according to DF water utility SACM head Ramón Aguirre Díaz.The extra resources will be put towards important hydraulic infrastructure projects in the city, including flood protection works, and the replacement of leaking [...]
