This is copied from the Nicaragua New bulletin which is published by the Nicaragua Network each week. It has some interesting information about different topics. This is the only explanation about how the water utility works that I have seen. The cost for water can really vary from place to place as well as the availability. The article:
Water shortages are a growing problem in Nicaragua due to deforestation, contamination, and global warming. Erwin Barreda, president of the Nicaraguan Aqueducts and Sewers Company (ENACAL), said that the problem on a national level is serious. As the country waits for the entry in force of the rainy season, he urged water users who live in low neighborhoods to use water sparingly so that those at higher elevations in towns and cities can also have water available. He said that families in at least thirty municipalities and neighborhoods at higher elevations or at greater distance from water pumping facilities are having difficulty getting water in their homes. He added, “We prepare for each dry season with forty cisterns spread out over the entire country and we install valves to control water distribution so that all the population can get some of this vital liquid in their houses.”
A 2014 study by the Humboldt Center indicated that more than two million people in 96 of the country’s 153 municipalities, representing 46% of the nation’s population, confront some level of water scarcity. That figure could reach 85% of the population by 2050, the study predicted. Water scarcity is greater in the countryside in areas around Villanueva, Somotillo, Cinco Pinos, Mateare, Murra, Ciudad Dario, Bonanza, Nueva Guinea, and San Jose de Bocay. Along with climate and environmental causes, the scarcity is aggravated by the limited amount of investment in distribution infrastructure, a situation particularly serious in Managua where the population growth is greatest. In Rivas, the mayor’s office and the fire department are sending out tanker trucks to provide water to the city’s neighborhoods because a pump is not working and a new one has to be purchased. People who have wells sell water to their neighbors but some say that their wells are going dry due to climate change.
On May 12, the government announced that, in 2015, it plans to carry out 900 infrastructure projects to improve water and sanitation services for 260,000 families in 144 municipalities and four indigenous territories. Government spokesperson Rosario Murillo said, “A fundamental element is attention to rural aqueducts of which we have 4,604 in the country.” She said that a system will be set up under which the water in those systems will be analyzed every six months and “This will have an enormous impact on the health of families and communities.” (El Nuevo Diario, May 14; Informe Pastran, May 12)
Water shortages are a growing problem in Nicaragua due to deforestation, contamination, and global warming. Erwin Barreda, president of the Nicaraguan Aqueducts and Sewers Company (ENACAL), said that the problem on a national level is serious. As the country waits for the entry in force of the rainy season, he urged water users who live in low neighborhoods to use water sparingly so that those at higher elevations in towns and cities can also have water available. He said that families in at least thirty municipalities and neighborhoods at higher elevations or at greater distance from water pumping facilities are having difficulty getting water in their homes. He added, “We prepare for each dry season with forty cisterns spread out over the entire country and we install valves to control water distribution so that all the population can get some of this vital liquid in their houses.”
A 2014 study by the Humboldt Center indicated that more than two million people in 96 of the country’s 153 municipalities, representing 46% of the nation’s population, confront some level of water scarcity. That figure could reach 85% of the population by 2050, the study predicted. Water scarcity is greater in the countryside in areas around Villanueva, Somotillo, Cinco Pinos, Mateare, Murra, Ciudad Dario, Bonanza, Nueva Guinea, and San Jose de Bocay. Along with climate and environmental causes, the scarcity is aggravated by the limited amount of investment in distribution infrastructure, a situation particularly serious in Managua where the population growth is greatest. In Rivas, the mayor’s office and the fire department are sending out tanker trucks to provide water to the city’s neighborhoods because a pump is not working and a new one has to be purchased. People who have wells sell water to their neighbors but some say that their wells are going dry due to climate change.
On May 12, the government announced that, in 2015, it plans to carry out 900 infrastructure projects to improve water and sanitation services for 260,000 families in 144 municipalities and four indigenous territories. Government spokesperson Rosario Murillo said, “A fundamental element is attention to rural aqueducts of which we have 4,604 in the country.” She said that a system will be set up under which the water in those systems will be analyzed every six months and “This will have an enormous impact on the health of families and communities.” (El Nuevo Diario, May 14; Informe Pastran, May 12)
