Victor Funez and his daughter Patricia carry water pitchers back to their house after filling them up at a cemetery tap.
The Guardian
LIVING WITHOUT WATER: THE CRISIS PUSHING PEOPLE OUT OF EL SALVADOR
by Nina Lakhani in Nejapa
El Salvador will run out of water within 80 years unless radical action is taken, a study found, while corporate interests, corruption and gangs worsen the problem
ust after 6am, Victor Funez fills a three-gallon plastic pitcher with water from a tap in the cemetery, balances it on his head and trudges home, where his wife waits to soak maize kernels so she can make tortillas for breakfast.
Funez, 38, stops briefly to help his daughter with some homework before heading back to the cemetery with the pink urn. This load fills large plastic milk and juice bottles used for drinking throughout the day.
The tap is the family’s only source of water, so Funez makes the journey along the dusty dirt road 15 to 20 times each day.
“My husband’s job is to fetch the water so I can do the housework. It’s like this every day, all day,” said Bianca Lopez, 46. “We can live without electricity – we have candles and lamps – but water, that’s essential.”
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A family uses a plastic container to store water. Nejapa has a water crisis, as many communities do not have access to potable water and those who do tend to get water only a few hours or days a week.
A local washes clothes at the San Antonio River, which is drying out due to climate change. The river has a long history of being used to wash clothes, bathe and even drink water
Untreated water coming out from the Coca-Cola beverage factory into the San Antonio river which continues to be contaminated by the factory which is one of the major producers of carbonated soft drinks.
The Coca-Cola company beverage factory uses lots of waters from natural resources around the Nejapa region and has been accused of contamination the rives in the area.
Men place seeds to harvest corn right next to the Nejapa waste dump, which contaminates the areas around the community.
A family walks along the train rails which are no longer used at La Estación, a makeshift community which was settled along an abandoned railway.
Esmeralda shows the drawings of how to build a home sewage system, which is what the Salvadoran water department is requiring for residents to have if they wish to be considered to have a potable water system in their home.