Guest Blog: Steven Malca, South American Initiative
Efforts in Venezuela Series: Part 5
Have you ever been through a water shortage? Without water daily life stops.
You can only live for three to four days with no water before you become so dehydrated you experience organ failure (kidney and liver) and die a few days later.
Most people take water for granted, but all that changes when you are going through a water shortage.
What Creates Water Shortages In Cities?
In Venezuela thousands of people spend their day waiting in line to get water. Why? The answer is simple. Electricity runs the water pumps that bring water to faucets throughout the country.
When the power goes down, the water stops pumping and the faucets run dry. Many cities in Venezuela only have electricity for 3-5 hours a day. When this happens water flow stops until the power goes back on. If the power is off for 19-21 hours a day, so is the water.
Not Fit To Drink
Not only that, when the water starts to flow again, it picks up all the debris from decaying, rusting pipes making the water yellow, brown, or orange (the color of rust). This water looks dirty, is not fit for drinking, and may contain dangerous levels of lead.
When you drink dirty water it causes gastrointestinal infections, diarrhea, and severe stomach problems. People living in third world countries know this. That’s why they wait in long lines for hours just to get a bucket or two of clean drinking water, or walk miles to the nearest creek, stream, lake or other natural body of water.
Venezuela was once the richest country in South America, but now it has become a third world country faced with famine, drought, and shortages of every kind.
Clean & Abundant Water Shows The Strength of Country
Getting water to the public has always been the key element for maintaining civilization. Water distribution is a measure of a successful society. Water distribution was the foundation of the Roman Empire.
Over 64% of Venezuela is powered by hydroelectricity. That means the power comes from dams that have huge turbines that spin and generate hydro-electricity from water flow. Right now the dams in Venezuela are very low due to low rainfall and drought.
That’s the government’s story.
Insiders say the current power outage and water shortage crisis has been attributed to the Maduro regime’s incompetence, underinvestment, brain drain, and massive corruption.
Without Clean Water, Living Day-To-Day Is A Life & Death Struggle
When there is no clean drinking water and no water coming from the faucets in every home, business, hospital, and public utility throughout the city, living day-to-day becomes a life and death struggle. That’s what has happened in Venezuela.
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