Capama in Hot Water Over Failure to Supply

(Acapulco, NA 10 November) The many inhabitants of the Infonavit housing projects in the Alta Progreso district of Acapulco are tired of water shortages. The local water authority, CAPAMA, has announced yet another period of 15 days in which no running water will be supplied to a large portion of the city, including Alta Progreso. The reason given was a reinstallation of the pipeline in the Las Cruces area. Inhabitants complained that the water comes on briefly only about once a week, and now that will be cut. Neighbors consider it irresponsible of CAPAMA to cut water every time the streets and roads departments undertake a repaving project. The work in Las Cruces has been going on for months. The director of the streets and roads department replied that they have completed their work on schedule, essentially depriving CAPAMA of the usual excuse. CAPAMA has been sending water tanker trucks to the neighborhoods once a week, but this is not enough to meet basic sanitary needs of the population.

The residents in the upslope neighborhoods called upon CAPAMA’s current director, Rigoberto Félix Díaz, to explain what is really going on inside the parastatal entity, or otherwise to resign. “These officials are earning millions of pesos and do not even know how to do their jobs,” they said.

For its part, CAPAMA announced another suspension of service for 72 hours, not 15 days, as the citizens had reported. The cut in service will affect many neighborhoods, including Zapata, Renacimiento, Sabana and as far west as Mozimba. The CAPAMA director also said that unknown persons frequently shut off the supply valves without authorization in these neighborhoods, a practice on which he did not elaborate, but rather indicated that it was a continuing problem unrelated to the construction projects.

Not all of CAPAMA’s difficulties are in the neighborhoods on higher terrain. Residents in Las Playas, Costa Azul and Colosio, for example, also find themselves periodically without running water, though they are at sea level and near tourist beaches. Gubernatorial candidate Añorve Baños campaigned for mayor of Acapulco mainly on the promise of restoring water service to the city, and yet the problems persist. Reasons usually provided by the water company include fouled pumping stations, decrepit transmission facilities, and highway construction projects. The electric utility, CFE, periodically cuts of power to the water company for lack of payment.