Where's Our Water?

Submitted by fyl on 7 June, 2008 - 12:55.

The water in Bo Alfredo Lazo and beyond vanished yesterday morning. This morning, I took a shower at 5AM in one of the downstairs bathrooms. Ana was a little late and her "shower" was mostly pans of water from the pila. So, what happened?

The official story is that a "pozo exploded". I think that actually means the pump, not the well. Enacal decided they could fix it locally. Well, this morning they decided they couldn't—they would need something from Managua. (I am guessing the truck they use to pull the pump out of the well but am not sure.) In any case, they say they will fix it on Monday.

In the mean time, it is rumored that there will be a bit of water available around 4AM. As I told Ana, at least in the Geek Ranch, we get to decide how we deal with water, electricity, etc. I don't plan on having 3+ days without water when it is under my control.

In the mean time, while you are waiting for water, check out the video I talked about ages ago onthis site. It was done in the mid-1980s featuring Estelí (including my aunt Juana and her then 2 year old daughter Fanny) but it is mostly about Estelí water problems and how they are being fixed. Well, they are getting pretty close, I think. Should be ok "mañana".

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water and power

Submitted by Billy Bob on 8 June, 2008 - 11:43.

Water a/o power are off in Bo Centaennrio at least every other day. This doesn´t seem to be the Ünion Fenosa¨problems of a year ago. It seems to have started with the rainy season, so is probably a matter of bad design, bad maintenance, etc. It is definely a nuisance to come home from a day of running around doing whatever and not being able to take a shower or warm up some food in the micro.

Coping mecanisms include a rainbarrel below a downsprout, several pichingas of drinking water stored, a battering powered emergy light, candles, etc. Not exactly urban living, but we get by.

One annoyance to me that my Nic. family doesn´t understand is that you cannot use äsutomatic¨things . At one stage we had a coffee pot with a clock that could be set up start the coffee at a given time, a much more pleasant wakeup than an alarm clock, but I gave up on it because the power goes off so often that it was more trouble that it was worth. Our computer has a surge protector and UPS.

The other problem is that we are still stuck in a rental house that we are not going to modernize at our expense. In your own house it would be a good idea to have a supplemental water tank which will fill automatically when the water is on and leave you with a 100 or 200 gallon cushion when its off.

As far as urban utilities go, here´s an update on ¨city services¨¨ Water pipes were put in in Residentiales San Ramon in November. In January they received permission to hook up water service from Managua. Then they had to order water meters from Germany, which according to one source arrived in May, but we still can´t hook up. A call to the water company resulted in the usual: bring all your paper work in to the office and talk to the ¨responsable¨¨, who quite likely won´t even be there.

Wastewater is moving along, Esteli style. The pipes and manholes were put in last year but permission to cut the Panam to connect to the sewer plant was not received until this past week. Now all they have to do is hand dig the sewer line about 1 km to the sewer plant in the rainy season. Another problem is that the San Ramon sewer system depends on a lift station that does not have electricity to it. Residentiales San Ramon rep states that he does not anticipate having power to the tract this calendar year ¨because Union Fenosa is fighting with the government¨¨

But all is not inaction!!! In a flurry of raining season activity, manhole covers were delivered and installed with some huge trucks which completely destroyed passage into the tract on both entrances.

Anyone seriously thinking about living in Nic. should take a long look at the utility system. I don´t think Nic has the leadership nor the money to make any major improvements and this recent runup in petroleum prices will probably wipe out a good part of what they have. Rural properties where you provide your own services seem like the way to go. On the urban front, you need to seriously remodel your own hose for a degree of energy independence.