Citizen water conservation prevents rationing; Group wants ban on burning New Year’s dummies; Organ donors sought; Nutcracker at Carlos Cueva Tamariz

Lunes, 25/11/2024

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Fantasía y emoción se vivirá con ballet “El Cascanueces” (Fantasy and excitement will be experienced with “The Nutcracker” ballet) – The Nutcracker will be performed from el 19-21/12 in the Teatro Carlos Cueva Tamariz by the Compañía de Danza, the Coro Polifónico and the Orquesta Sinfónica of the U. of Cuenca. <No time given, but it’s still a couple of weeks away so there might be a follow-up article. Be patient.>

Titular –

A group of environmentalists and firefighters want to stop the practice of burning New Year’s dummies. (El Mercurio)

Cuenca asegura abastecimiento de agua potable (Cuenca ensures drinking water supply) – At least for now, and thanks to water saving by the citizenry, potable water for Cuenca is guaranteed. <The key words are “for now.”> Veronica Polo, general manager of ETAPA explained that the institution has various systems to purify water with 3 main processing plants. The Sustag plant is in the río Yanuncay watershed, the Cebollar plant is supplied by the Tomebamba, and the Tixán plant by the Machángara watershed. Generally, the plants are in good shape, but ETAPA has asked for a loan from the Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) to invest in different projects including improving the Cebollar plant. The project would include reconstructing the capture of and pipeline for raw water since this canal is over 60 years old and loses 30% which is critical in times of drought. Also, the water treatment modules will be replaced.

The rest of the plants are relatively new and always receive preventive and corrective maintenance to continue working. Polo said there isn’t a medium range project to build a new plant, including Sustag which was designed with 2 purification modules but actually has one with the possibility of adding a 2nd. She clarified that water saving by people has allowed the continuation of service without rationing and hoped that this communal habit would be maintained to survive the drought.
Not all residents of Cuenca have had the same luck. The 8,300 users of the Junta Administradora de Agua Potable y Saneamiento (JAAPyS) Proyecto Nero which serves 43 communities has had extreme water rationing. Representatives of JAAPyS have met with authorities from ETAPA to analyze the number of customers which has increased exponentially without having made any additional adjustments to the system.

There were conversations about Nero customers switching to the ETAPA system and there are sectors that are close to ETAPA networks where the interconnection would be simple. First there would need to be an informational campaign since the cost per cubic meter is different. ETAPA’s rates include expansion and investment projects. If the people served by Nero are in agreement with these rates, they could switch to ETAPA and the change would take a couple of months. <Hopefully there will have been rain by then anyway.> It will not be possible to switch all customers of Nero since there would need to be an analysis of the state of the infrastructure, pipelines and the process for an adequate and planned transition.

Cuenca –

Renuevan cancha (Renovation of court) – The deteriorated sports court in the Tres Tienda barrio in the Puertas del Sol sector will be reinaugurated. For the past month and half, city workers have compacted the soil, constructed a base and installed concrete and painted. For the residents of the sector, the new court is a meeting point, mostly for sports and bailotherapia.

INDOT registra 670 transplantes exitosos en lo que va del año (INDOT records 670 successful transplants so far this year) – In spite of Ecuador seeing a significant advance in organ donations since 6 out of every 10 Ecuadorians become donors when they get their cedulas, the Instituto Nacional de Donación y Trasplante de Órganos, Tejidos y Células (INDOT – National Institute for Organ, Tissue and Cell Donation and Transplantation) is working to raise awareness, educate and promote the culture of donation. It has a program to inform and train students, teachers and administrators about the importance of donations. At a national level it coordinates with the public and private health networks, and other institutions such as the Policía Nacional, Armed Forces, ECU 911, Registro Civil and others. There are 86 establishments and aid services that are accredited to guarantee the process of donations and transplants. So far this year there have been 670 successful transplants.

Piden no quemar años viejos (No burning of old year dummies) – Marcello Ullauri, an environmental engineer and other volunteers who have been helping fight wildfires in the Cajas are planning an initiative to avoid burning monigotes (dummies <we’re not talking about your idiot neighbor>) this year. Ullauri said that the smoke from fires has a devastating impact on the environment which not only affects air quality and contribute to climate change, but damages ecosystems. There is also an effect on water since acid rain is a consequence of liberating sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the air. The smoke contains a large amount of fine particulates (PM2.5 & PM10) and toxic gases that disperse and form smog. Monigotes also contain materials such as cardboard, wood, plastics, paint, cloth and other synthetics which produce a variety of toxic gases such as carbon monoxide which destroy the ozone layer.

He said that a formal request has been made to the Amistad Club which organizes the traditional Años Viejos contest to ask contestants not to burn the structures. <How about a dramatic and noisy self-destruct of the structures instead? You pull a string or rope and the whole thing comes tumbling down and sounds like a bomb going off.> Ulluari said they have also asked the Federación de Barrio de Cuenca and the Rural Parish Boards to join in this proposal which seeks to protect the environment.

César Banegas, president of the Amistad Club explained that they have received a formal request and the board is taking it under consideration. The club has promised to promote activities that not only benefit the community, but also contribute to the respect for and conservation of nature. Registrations for the Años Viejos 2024 on el 31/12, and the Comparsas 2025 on el 6/1 are open.

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne