April 24, 2023, 2:56 PM
April 24, 2023, 2:56 PM
A delegation made up of 16 professionals from different specialties from the Santa Cruz Society of Engineers and the Bolivian Association of Environmental Sanitary Engineering visited this weekend the Guapomó dam, located in the municipality of San Ignacio de Velasco. They took water samples, suspecting contamination, and given the level of algae and weeds in the overflow (which causes a bad smell) they advised cleaning the area.
Part of the entourage that reached the Guapomó dam / Photo: SISC
Ronald Baldivieso, president of the Association of Hydrosanitary Engineers of Bolivia, maintained that the conditions in which the dam is currently found are due to lack of maintenance, since there are too many plants which, when decomposed, produce a bad smell.
“The objective is to analyze the causes that generate sedimentation, turbidity and bad odor in the Guapamó dam”, explained Baldivieso, who also recommended the active participation of the population together with the Mayor’s Office and the San Ignacio cooperative in cleaning and maintenance work.
For his part, Rolando Mancilla, vice president of the Santa Cruz Society of Engineers, stated that the main objective of the visit was “contribute with our technical knowledge in order to recommend a solution to the institutions called by law”.
The municipal secretary of San Ignacio, Rodolfo Guerrero, thanked the delegation for the visit to work on the water problem in that municipality. He is confident that the Santa Cruz Society of Engineers will soon release the detailed report of water test resultsand that, if necessary, they will make a second visit to support the work carried out in the area.
Can’t drink tap water
“You can’t drink tap water. It comes out cloudy”, say the residents of San Ignacio, who must walk to a plant to carry water and take it to their homes. Some people prefer to buy bottled water to avoid possible infections.
“There is a lot of forest and people come and throw even dead dogs here. Everything runs towards the dam”, lamented a neighbor.
