The registration of deaths from different types of cancer in the Township of Pacora and surrounding areas has increased, for which the population has shown their discomfort and concern.
The deputy Cenobia Vargas, raised the concerns of this sector of the country to the Vice Minister of Health, Ivette Berrío, and to the director of the Institute of National Aqueducts and Sewers (IDAAN), Juan Antonio Ducruet, when both officials appeared before the Budget Commission . “In Pacora, up to four people die of cancer in one day, including young people,” the deputy stressed with concern.
Faced with this situation, he asked the two institutions to carry out a study of the potability of the water, inspect the pipes and identify if the ones used are made of asbestos, as well as the dosage of chemicals that are added to the vital liquid and if it is the same as pours into the Chilibre Water Treatment Plant.
Deputy Vargas stated that during a tour carried out with MiAmbiente officials, in the upper, lower, and middle parts of Basin 146 of the Pacora River, it was possible to observe that the sewage waste from the Pacora Garden community flows into the aforementioned river.
“We ask that the potability of the water that people consume daily be investigated, to rule out or not a common denominator with the deaths that are being registered,” he stressed, while indicating that the residents are suspicious of the water because deep down the containers they use to drink have sediment and that is causing them: anxiety and stress.
He added that if it turns out that the pipes are made of asbestos, it is urgent to change them because the International Agency for Research on Cancer has warned that asbestos is carcinogenic.
It is urgent, he said, that MINSA set off the alarm so that it can find out what is causing this increase in cancer in this region of the country, carry out a diagnostic study of the water, because the problem is not only in the Pacora Township.
The tank cars, which are supplied from the Pacora Water Treatment Plant, also distribute water in Pedregal, Primavera, Santa Cruz, and San José, among others. “This is a red alert that must be paid close attention,” stressed the deputy.
For her part, the Vice Minister of Health indicated that it is an issue that must be addressed with MiAmbiente, IDAAN and the MINSA technical team, in order not only to assess the quality of the water but also to investigate in the region which These are the diagnoses that are being identified the most in the different health units in the area.
Ducruet, for his part, assured that in all the water treatment plants, including Pacora and La Cabra, the water quality surveillance measures are strict and the parameters of the liquid distributed by the aqueducts both at the outlet of the water treatment plant as well as in analysis and sampling that are carried out in different points of the network that are also regulated
However, he added that to establish whether there is an origin that may have to do with a water cause, it would have to be seen by MINSA, as the governing body, or the Gorgas Memorial Institute, which conducts studies on the incidence of cancer in the country.
