Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 27 June 2018

Venezuela's wealthy beat water crisis drilling private wells

By SCOTT SMITH desperate for water. The
Associated Press phone rings four or five
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) times a day, compared to
— Reaching for the faucet one or two calls a week
felt like a frustrating game a year ago. He said the
of chance for Elizabeth Ro- company's single drilling rig
bles. doesn't get a rest.
At first, water flowed only "Everybody in the world
one or two days a week, wants it now," Gomez said.
so Robles, president of her Even the U.S. Embassy has
homeowners' association, drilled its own well in case
hired trucks to fill the build- the city supply fails.
ing's underground storage Most of the private wells
tank. With self-imposed ra- are going in illegally. The
tioning, the residents had law requires a permit be-
water — but only for an fore drilling starts, but the
hour, three times each day. paperwork can take up to
"When you get home at two years, and few are will-
five in the afternoon all ing to wait. When officials
sweaty, you couldn't take stick their nose in, a build-
a shower," said Robles, a ing's residents ask the best-
small business owner and connected among them
lawyer. "It's like punishment to pull strings.
by water." In this May 31, 2018 photo, a water well driller rests for lunch outside the luxury apartment complex But drilling isn't an option
Finally they were fed up. in the Campo Alegre neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela. for the vast majority of Ven-
Since the government Associated Press ezuelans who have seen
couldn't provide water, wages pulverized by a col-
they decided to drill their city's most-exclusive coun- day filling containers at a state-run water provider, Hi- lapsing currency and five-
own well alongside their try club, have hired the spring. drocapital, blames incom- digit inflation. The minimum
apartment building in the same engineer. Neighborhood water short- petence, and dismisses the wage amounts to less than
tony Campo Alegre neigh- The firm moves its crew and ages have sparked more government's explanation $2 a month.
borhood, an increasingly towering yellow rig from than 400 protests country- that the rainy season has Down a maze of narrow
popular solution among one work site to the next. wide in the first five months been slow to kick off and passageways in Petare,
the well-to-do as Venezue- The noisy diesel-powered of the year, according to replenish drained reservoirs. one of Venezuela's most
la's water system crumbles machine clatters around the Venezuelan Observa- The system was designed sprawling slums, Carmen
along with its socialist-run the clock for several days tory of Social Conflict. to see the city through dry Rivero said water is a source
economy. until the drill strikes water, Caracas once had a world- spells, he said. of celebration when it flows,
Venezuela's meltdown has generally about 260 feet class water system, pump- "Without staying on top of and anger when it doesn't
been accelerating under (80 meters) down. ing water from far-off reser- the problems every day, — which is most of the time.
President Nicolas Maduro's Meanwhile, the less fortu- voirs over towering moun- we'll have less and less wa- She said the neighbor-
rule, prompting masses of nate struggle with dwin- tains into the valley that ter in the city," De Viana hood recently went three
people to abandon the dling public water supplies, cradles the city. Now its said. "We'll only have more months without tap water,
nation in frustration at short- hoping sporadic flows will pipes are bursting, pumps protesting and rage." and before that, a full eight
ages of food and medi- fill their 150-gallon (560-li- are failing and a small herd Officials at Hidrocapital months. Residents get by
cine, street violence, ram- ter) plastic storage tanks of cattle grazes at the bot- and Venezuela's Ecosocial- filling water barrels from a
pant blackouts — and now fitted with buzzing electric tom of the Mariposa reser- ism and Water Ministry did spring and service from city
sputtering faucets. pumps. Or they stand in line voir outside the city, feed- not respond to requests for water trucks.
Robles said she and her at trickling hillside springs to ing on grass that should be comment by The Associ- One night recently, a sur-
neighbors hired a drilling fill up empty jugs for free. deep underwater. ated Press. prise surge of water made
firm in February for $7,000 "Sometimes your dirty A lack of rain compounds Well driller Fernando Go- her neighborhood break
— roughly $280 per family. clothes pile up," said Car- the lack of maintenance, mez at the firm Venezu- out in joy. "Everybody shout-
At least three other build- los Garcia, an unemployed experts say. ela Pump Engineering said ed, 'Ay, the water came!'"
ings on their tree-lined construction worker who Jose Maria de Viana, for- calls have spiked in the last said Rivero, who rushed to
street, which is near the used up eight hours one mer president of Caracas' two months from people a spigot in her home.q