The scarcity of water in the Paraguaná Peninsula, Falcón State, is a problem that dates back many years, and although resources have been approved for projects such as the Bolivarian Aqueduct, the second largest hydraulic project in the last 20 years, with a cost of 450 million dollars and which would benefit 600,000 inhabitants, the three municipalities of the peninsula continue to suffer the hardships of a perennial drought.
Correspondent lapatilla.com
In the Paraguaná Peninsula there are areas that have endured in silence for up to 10 years without water and which only get water from rain or brackish wells. Those who somehow feel “privileged”, way receive water every 30 or 40 days, a supply schedule that is completely insufficient. This irregularity forces the people of Paraguaná to forage to supply themselves with the liquid.
The most common thing is to go to clandestine taps that the same people have contrived out along the Alí Primera inter-communal road. Everyone gets there as they can and they carry hoses to connect to the clandestine tap and fill their containers. In the face of dire scarcity, empathy reigns to help the thirsty: whoever does not have the resource, another will arrive who does and gives support.
What does abound in these clandestine spots are stories: people from all sectors of Paraguaná arrive there. Such is the case of Yorki Viloria, who lives in the Las Colonias neighborhood of El Cardón, right at the entrance to Punto Fijo, where the Paraguaná Tax Free Zone was established.
In her community there were no public services. Among themselves they installed public lighting poles. Its streets are made of “caliche” (packed dirt) and they have spent a decade without water, because there are no mains. Although they have presented a project in the Carirubana Mayor’s Office and also in the governor’s office, the only thing they have achieved is to be ignored.
Mr. Viloria drives a truck and with the help of the neighbors, refills the tank with gasoline. Every two days he transports at least 10 metal barrels full of water from clandestine taps so that the 40 families that live in Las Colonias can have water.
“When water arrives in El Cardón, some neighbors pass us hoses, but it is not enough. I swear we have to go out and get water, because no one earns 10 dollars to supply themselves with 1,000 liters of water every three days. Fortunately, I have the truck and with that I help the community, but this process is not easy,” he said.
He makes two trips every two or three days, it all depends on the mechanical condition of the truck and whether he can get gas. “The rulers have gone before the elections, but that is promising and promising, and nobody complies,” he lamented.
“We are wasting away”
Juan Revilla lives the same situation, a senior citizen, retired from the Paraguaná Refining Complex (CRP), he is a resident of Guanadito, Los Taques Municipality, where water arrives every month or month and a half. He owns an old car from which he anchored a makeshift trailer that he made with recuperated material to be able to carry water for himself, his neighbors and relatives who live in other communities and do not have the possibility of getting water themselves.
“I built the car welding stuff due to the need for water. I used a steel column that I had in the house without use. I searched the mountains for metal scrap and everything that could be useful to me. With that I bring water to my sister whose husband is bedridden, they dialyze him and since she can’t go out, I help her by bringing her water. I also take water to my dad who is also bedridden and I take some to my house. Sometimes the neighbors ask me, and one can’t refuse if we are all going through the same situation,” he explained.
Revilla took the opportunity to ask Hidrofalcón (Government run water utility) to find a way for the water to reach homes, even if it is every two weeks. “So be it if it is every 15 days, one settles in, but every month or month and a half, nobody can stand this. Look how we are, we are wasting away,” he lamented.
Mario Lugo is 25 years old and lives in Nuevo Pueblo, Carirubana Municipality. For three years he has been selling water in the communities where he arrives with a push cart that he built with recycled material and that he pushes with its own weight through the streets of the Caja de Agua, Menca de Leoni, Antiguo Aeropuerto and Nuevo Pueblo.
Lugo was a fisherman, but due to the lack of work, he decided to venture into the sale of water. With scrap material and a lot of welding, he managed to build his push cart, which fills with metal barrels (pipes). He goes to the clandestine taps of the Ali Primera inter-communal road to fill them and then walk to the communities and offer water for two and three dollars per 200-liter metal barrel.
The young man said that due to the need to support his home, where he lives with his grandparents and other cousins, he decided to venture into this business. On productive days, he manages to raise as much as $25, but there are clients who only have food to trade for water.
“The best days are weekends, because people start to wash and clean, and without water it is impossible. Those days I make up to six trips. During the day I don’t eat anything or drink water, because I would feel more tired. The worst is when night falls, it hurts all over my body and there are days when I don’t go out, because heat stroke knocks me out. Not everything is bad, with this job I have bought boots, some flip-flops and some t-shirts. In addition, I bring food for the house, the essential thing is to make 10 dollars a day for food, it is the minimum that is spent,” he said.
A risky activity
In the last three years, the Falcón regional media have recorded four people who have died from being run over while looking for water in clandestine taps. In February 2020, Ramón Antonio Carrasquero, 63, died on Carnival Monday after being run over by a Toyota van that sped away.
On March 13th, 2021, Jhonny José Álvarez Colina, 58 years old, was run over and his body was left on the banks of the Ali Primera inter-communal road next to a cart that he was pushing with several barrels full of water. The man sold water in the surrounding communities and worked late into the night.
In August 2021, Benito Antonio Morales, 54, was also run over. The vehicle involved sped away. On September 12th, 2022, the deceased was César Gustavo Paz Zavala, 61 years old, who was hit by a truck. He lived in Callejón Sucre in the Juan Crisóstomo Falcón neighborhood of Santa Elena, a nearby community where the incident occurred.