Thursday, July 31

WATER FORUM

Today (July 30) we went to a forum on water resources in Managua. It was really fascinating to hear the different viewpoints of why Nicaragua has such water problems, even with seemingly abundant resources, and ideas for how to conserve water in the poorer communities. Many of the people think that capitalism is the culprit for why Third-World countries struggle with providing access to water for their people. Others think that the rich people are to blame for the shortage of water, or poor distribution of water resources. We have talked to people in Matagalpa that talk about how it was years ago, how the Big Matagalpa river was much larger and cleaner 30 years ago. Streams never ran dry. Nowadays, many of the streams run dry in the summer time (dry season), and all the rivers are contaminated. Children bathe in the rivers, and women wash their clothes in the river. Afterwards, they have to carry the water to their homes for drinking and washing. The communities are frustrated and asking, What can we do? We would be interested in hearing your comments on this vital issue.

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