Ecuador: even children drink water directly from the water tap

Mariana Castro is shy and does not speak much. She is quiet while the cold wind moves her hair. She remembers  the summer when there was little rain. Water was scarce in San Pablo del Lago, a tourism town in Otavalo, at the foot of the Imbabura volcano. "Before, there was no water, and if there was, it was dirty".  

The fact that today potable water is available is due to the works of the two phases of the Environmental Sanitation Program for Community Development (Promadec, for its acronym in Spanish). The initiative materializes the goal of the National Development Plan to close the gap in the coverage of basic services which extends not only to the neighboring populations such as Abatag, Cusinpamba, and Gualabi, but also to others that are far away from San Pablo del Lago. 

Currently, 208 municipalities of Ecuador, where 3.5 million people live, have quality potable water services; sewage that evacuates rain waters; and collection and disposal of solid residues that improve the health conditions of young and old. There are over 450 projects improving the life of Ecuadoreans. 

For example, in the framework of the Promadec, improvement works in the potable water plant were constructed for San Pablo del Lago, together with the expansion of the potable water system distribution network.   

This project, together with others in other municipalities of Ecuador, waas granted financing by CAF development bank of Latin America, in coordination with Banco del Estado (BdE). In the case of San Pablo del Lago, potable water coverage has reached 99 percent. "Now the water is much better, it is potable" says Mariana, standing by the hanging clothes in the shadow of the Imbabura. 

Luis Arango is an inhabitant of San Pablo del Lago. He is dressed in a red jacket such as the one used by Marty McFly in Back to the Future. He speaks about the diseases that existed "when water was dark and murky". Today, the situation is different, "even children drink water directly from the water tap, without any problems".