The water crisis in the region of Azuero, Panama

Francisco Rivas Ríos.

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Azuero Peninsula.

Azuero Peninsula is the largest of the Republic of Panama and Central America's southernmost. It is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean to the south and west and the Gulf of Panama to the east. It covers all the provinces of Herrera and Los Santos, and the southeast part of the province of Veraguas, Republic of Panama.

Azuero region as the population and housing census of 2010, has approximately 202.176 inhabitants. Herrera's population is about 107.911 inhabitants, the most populous province in the region; the Los Santos province has 88.487 inhabitants, and the district Mariato (Veraguas Province) is the least populated area with 5,778 inhabitants.

The River Basin La Villa.

The river La Villa is the length of the Azuero Peninsula. Born in the Cordillera Occidental of Azuero, in the forest reserve of El Montuoso. Its watershed covers the territories of Los Santos and Herrera. Empties into the Pacific Ocean in the Gulf of Parita, in a wide estuary between the provinces of Herrera and Los Santos. During his tour of Azuero from west to east, through towns like Macaracas, La Villa de Los Santos and Chitre. It has an area of ​​1157. 5 square kilometers and 107.793 inhabitants (50% male and 50% female), for a population density of 83.95 inhabitants / km2. His political-administrative division includes 2 Provinces (Herrera and Los Santos), 8 districts and 48 townships.

In the province of Herrera are four districts as part of the River Basin La Villa:

• Las Minas: 138.3 square kilometers (31.7% of Its total land area, 5,036 inhabitants).
• Los Pozos: 345.4 square kilometers (90.2% of Its total land area, 6,879 inhabitants).
• Pesé: 115.1 square kilometers (40.6% of Its total land area, 11,574 inhabitants). 
• Chitré: 47 square kilometers (51.6% of Its total land area, 50 684 inhabitants). In this district is the main water supply.

The incident that caused the pollution of the Rio La Villa on 20 June 20134 occurred in the District of Pese, specifically in the path Las Cabras (1,914 inhabitants), when there was a burst pipe driving the company Golf Pesé SA, which is involved in the production of ethanol.

 
In the province of Los Santos are two Districts that are located inside the La Villa River Basin:

• Macaracas: 299.3 square kilometers (59.3% of its total area, 9,021 inhabitants).
• Los Santos: 212.4 square kilometers (49.7% of its total area, 21.829 inhabitants). In this district is the water intake "Rufina Alfaro". 

The dumping of vinasse and agrochemical pollution of the Rio La Villa is part of a continuous process of environmental degradation that has intensified five years ago.

The basin is characterized by strong growth of the food processing industry, the mills, pig farming, export crops, maize production for the domestic market and urban sprawl. To this ranching occupies as much space in the Basin, and subsistence agriculture is putting strong pressure on the forest cover in the upper part of the basin adds.

Pollution + drought

The June 20, 2014, the two water treatment that the source of the river La Villa, in the region of Azuero, Panama paralyzed operations for the disposal of vinasse, a liquid byproduct of the distillation of wine into ethanol fermentation and the unusual presence of the herbicide atrazine in the flow of the river La Villa, whose effects are toxic to humans and animals.

The Ministry of Health (MINSA for its acronym in Spanish) warned the people not to consume tap water because of the high toxicity levels also classes in schools and public and private schools were suspended, pending a new notification of the Ministry of Health to resume. The population has shown signs of despair at the lack of bottled water in shops and supermarkets, in a climate of alarmist rumors.

This is a problem which has been identified and characterized for over a decade. The Plan of environmental territorial ordering of the watershed of the river La Villa, developed by CATIE to the National Environmental Authority (ANAM, now the Ministry of Environment - MIAMBIENTE for its acronym in Spanish), in 2008, we read:

"As general results obtained by Arden & Price 2002 can be seen that the quality indices of water have values that reflect a degree of contamination even in the rainy season, since some points for this time resulted in lower values of 70 Rating and regular, in points of Estivaná and lower river La Villa.

These values decrease even more in the dry season flows are reduced. By this time, the values of ICA below 70 are reflected in nine of the 11 sampling points. The Estivaná, Llano de Piedra and Las Cabras in Pese-river gorge Villa dots show a very low, close to the character index value as "Bad".

In the case of the analysis performed by CATIE in January 2008, shows that only two points is reflected by the ICA, water quality can be considered good, five points as a regular point of the Grande and broken by his ICA value can be considered as bad".

In 2015 a new problem affects the Azuero region: El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Is a weather phenomenon that causes the currents of the tropical Pacific warm creating atmospheric disturbances. It is characterized by low rainfall and generally is a very dry season. Panama for a very dry season is projected in the Pacific region especially in the area called "Dry Arc" in Capira begins and ends in the Azuero region. As a result it is expected that in 2016 dry season lasts until May.

Pollution.

Indiscriminate use of chemicals in agriculture.

Although there are several factors causing pollution of the waters of rivers and streams in the watershed, Agrochemicals are the most dangerous, due to their massive and indiscriminate use among farmers, most of whom do not follow the recommendations required by the Ministry of Health (MINSA).

A report by the newspaper La Prensa ("Sick rivers of Panama") on December 1, 2001, 14 years ago, said the biggest agrochemicals pollution is recorded where corn, tomatoes, squash, rice, watermelon is grown and melon, among other products, whose producers to eradicate weeds and insects, herbicides and pesticides used on crops amounts. Finally, when it rains, the waste will end up in streams and tributaries of the river La Villa. One of those weeds that cause more headache to industrial tomato growers is the pimientilla, forcing farmers to invest a large sum of money in the purchase of agrochemicals.

According to observers, is occurring a change in farming practices in Azuero: farmers increasingly rely less machete to make cuts and, instead of the traditional tool, prefers the use of pesticides to get rid of weeds, although often unaware that this alters their own health and the surrounding ecosystem. Atrazine in particular, is used intensively in corn, sorghum, grass, sugarcane, pineapple and pastures. The same applies to farmers in the districts of Macaracas, Guararé, Las Tablas and Los Santos, who have to spray their lands with 2,4-D, atrazine, Tordon, to end pimentilla, polluting the tributaries of the rivers Estivaná, Guararé and La Villa. 

The pimientilla, which was imported in the 1970s from Mexico, in order to avoid erosion and avoid slopes when some dams on the river La Villa were built, spread throughout the country through the currents of water and the winds. Today is like a plague to ranchers and the farmers.

On the other hand, some years ago a report by the Institute of Agricultural Research of Panama (IDIAP) noted that insects such as whitefly, the bollworm, the miner, the chinillas, grubs, ants and budworm affecting agriculture in the region, and to eradicate them and achieve a good harvest, you have to spend thousands of dollars on the purchase of agrochemicals. 

Therefore, the main responsible for contamination with agrochemicals Rio La Villa, they are ranchers and farmers (including those who grow sugar cane).

The excreta of pigs and the use of chemical cleaning galleys.

Pork production has generated a growing social conflict with other users of the Basin. Farmers, agribusinesses and inhabitants, mainly complain that piggeries are polluting water sources and soil and are the source of odors.

During the 2010/2011 crop year 38.74% of the national pig herd (192.098 heads), it was located in the watershed of the Rio La Villa. While nationally the average head swine farm was 88, on farms located in this basin was 256. This situation is reflected in the economic performance of pig farms, because in both national annual sales They were $ 8079.95 in the farm within the Basin rose to $ 13,506.34.

The Corregimientos that concentrate pig production in the province of Los Santos are Las Cruces are Lourdes Villa of District Los Santos, and Llano de Piedra of Macaracas District; while in the province of Herrera they are concentrated in the districts of Las Cabras Pesé and in Monagrillo and Llano Bonito in Chitre.

The manure from pig farm effluents discharged directly into the Rio La Villa, causing a high biological and chemical pollution, the latter through the use of cleaning materials in their galleys.

The industry of sugarcane (ethanol production and liquor).

In 1999 the Rio La Villa and was contaminated with vines, from the tubs and the July 24, 2000, about 200,000 liters of pure alcohol Alcoholes del Istmo were dispersed. Therefore, what happened in June 2014 an incident is repeated. The Ministry of Health and the National Environmental Authority (ANAM) have been identified as responsible for environmental incident in 2014 the company Campos de Pesé S.A. dedicated to the cultivation of sugarcane.

This company is part of a consortium with a vertical structure that includes: Alcohols del Istmo, SA dedicated to the distillery of alcohol; Isthmus alcohols International S.A. specializes in the export of fresh alcohol and spirits distillery products, and the National Consortium distiller, SA - Alcohol and Rum from Panama, S.A. whose main product is the aging of alcohol, rum formulations and private label bottling services.

According to statistics from the Regional Directorate of Herrera of the ANAM (National Environmental Authority), Alcoholes del Istmo SA It is consuming 792 m3 / day of water and fields Pesé SA 1,800 m3 / day, ie 2,592 m3 / day, between the two, becoming the second largest users of Cuenca, just behind Chitre treatment plants (27.252 m3 24 hours) and Los Santos (20,160 m3 24 hours).

The cultivation of sugar cane is characterized by a vicious circle: the lack of good practices of conservation in production demand increasingly more pesticides, which has as a result that the lands become less fertile and with lower yields per hectare. It is necessary, therefore, apply more fertilizer and devote more land to agriculture, with the consequential impact on the environment and the health of persons. In addition, the burning of large tracts of farming generates a negative impact on the health of workers and inhabitants of the communities located within a large radius of action, due to exposure to emissions. This unsustainable pattern of production is the cause of that environmental problems escalate continuously to an upper stage, namely: the indiscriminate use of pesticides, the inefficient use of fertilizers, emissions of dioxins and furans, degradation of soil and impact on surface and ground waters.

Inadequate solid waste management (dioxins and furans).

In the field of the hydrographic basin of the town the River, its 107,793 inhabitants would be generating 86 tons/day (800 grams an inhabitant / day) of organic and inorganic solid waste, considering that according to studies, that rural poor would be 300 grams/inhabitant/day and in urban areas 1 Kr/capita/day.

The 2,587 tons per month of garbage generated within this basin are subject to bad practices: are buried, are deposited in the own La Villa River and tributaries, accumulate in public places and burn to open both domestic and municipal landfills of Chitre and La Villa. Open fires are a critical factor for its negative impacts on the health of the population and the environment.

When the garbage "current" mixed with hazardous wastes (for example, plastic PVC, packaging of agricultural products, and lubricants, agricultural residues), and then burned, then produces smoke with toxic substances (dioxins and furans). Dioxins and furans, more exactly dibenzo-p-dioxin dibenzo (PCDD) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFS) are two of the seventeen persistent organic pollutants (POPs). After released to the atmosphere, as a result of burning domestic and municipal waste, dioxins and furans are housed in all compartments of the ecosystem, including air, water, soil, also in.

It is extremely toxic chemical substances capable of affecting the health of humans and animals at very low concentrations. Its effects on human beings may be evident in very low concentrations in the order of micrograms (ug =. 001 parts per million) or even smaller, parts per trillion (ppt) (. 000001 parts per million).

Dioxins and furans can cause chronic effects, such as cancer and birth defects in animals and humans. Most of them can affect the endocrine (hormonal) system. They can i.e. enters cells and mimic or block the normal action of hormones, and can cause serious effects on the immune system of our body, the development of intelligence, fertility and reproduction, especially if exposure occurs at critical periods of development of the fetus.

There are mainly 3 municipal landfills where continuously burn tons of solid waste open pit, generators of dioxins and furans in the basin of the Rio La Villa: Chitré and Las Tablas, Los Santos. However, in all the municipalities is also a daily practice, to which we must add the burning of wastes in the courtyards of the houses and public places.

Conclusions Pollution. 

1. Over the past decade the Rio La Over the past decade the Rio La Villa has undergone a continual process of environmental degradation as a result of human activities.  From large companies to humble farmers, unsustainable use practices such as slash and burn, overgrazing, crops for slopes, inappropriate use of land suitable for agriculture, deforestation, the massive use of agrochemicals, and inadequate management solid waste in the context of a chaotic urban sprawl.

2. The indiscriminate use of agrochemicals is longstanding, and responsible owners of cattle farms and agricultural producers, including those devoted to export crops. The sugar industry, particularly ethanol production, is also a major consumer of chemicals, but not alone.

3. Environmental degradation of the Rio La Villa is also due, in large part, by improper use of solid waste, being a critical factor in the contamination of soil, groundwater and surface water and the release of dioxins and furans due to the practice of open burning, which have a higher level of atrazine toxicity.

4. If contamination of the Rio La Villa showing alarming signs, at least 5 years, why so far the government authorities warn that the water is not drinkable? There are several possibilities: a) that the MINSA and the MIAMBIENTE lack of a system for monitoring the water quality of the Rio La Villa and its tributaries; b) monitoring is conducted, but the analysis of water quality focused on physical and microbiological parameters, but not chemical; 3) analyzes were carried out previously and reflected the presence of chemical agents, but refrained from reporting to avoid "alarm" to the population, a common practice in all governments.

The June 20 incident is the tip of the iceberg, a clear indicator that the Rio de La Villa is on the verge of collapse because of years of continuity and increased environmental degradation, to the neglect of Tire and Trojans, government officials, entrepreneurs, local authorities and citizens.

5. Restore River Basin La Villa is the strategic task imposed. It will be necessary to restructure the completely productive system to adopt environmentally sustainable practices, move to a sustainable agriculture and livestock and agribusiness. To achieve this will require huge investments, possibly agriculture, livestock, and agribusiness. To achieve this will require huge investments, possibly hundreds of millions of dollars and the contribution of scientists and technicians. Because environmental material, - it is teaching us - the more expensive it is to repair destroyed.

Drought.

According to the Department of Hydrometeorology (ETESA) the evolution of some meteorological variables of Panama, due to ENSO until May 2016, is as follows:

The average air temperatures is increased above the historical average between 1 ° C or 2 ° C throughout much of the territory. The months of February, March and April 2016, presented anomalous average air temperature above the historical average of 0.5 ° C and 1 ° C, and higher to 2 ° C in the Azuero Peninsula.

Forecasters warn of the existence of more than five hectares of forest and vulnerable to burning, particularly in the Azuero Peninsula grasslands. High temperatures and dryness are the causes of fires that destroy the vegetation and grasslands. Official records indicate that in 2015, 2,500 hectares were affected in protected areas of the Colmon, Los Santos, and El Cenegal del Mangle in Herrera.

Agricultural production (mainly rice and maize) decreased between 30% and 40% and many producers have decided not to plant by the long dry season in 2016 (through May).

About $ 40 million lost livestock sector by drought caused by ENSO and the extension of the dry season, which has strongly affected this year, according to the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MIDA). Farmers have had to sell cattle to lower inventory held on each farm to achieve more grass available. However, the biggest problem remains the water.

There are sectors in the Guararé Arriba, province of Los Santos, where rainfall is scarce; beside the river is almost dry Guararé. According to residents of the area this is the first time something like living where water is being completed as to achieve pumping over 600 feet is required. Season crops have been lost entirely

In 2015, there are 51% less rainfall, which has begun to affect the drinking water intake for the communities of Herrera and Los Santos. For this reason, the MINSA is considering recommending the rationing of drinking water.

Conclusions on drought.

The Los Santos Province of Panama is comprised of seven Districts with a total population of 90,000 persons. The Herrera Province of Panama is also comprised of seven Districts with a total population of 111,000 persons.

The Province is experiences several very dry months, causing wells and the rivers in the area to become unproductive for up to five months per year (please see chart on the following slide).During the dry season, the wells in the District generally go dry, leaving the population to obtain water from compromised natural sources. Deforestation has caused great segments of the region to become barren and affect water and waste runoff.

The collapse of the water treatment plants in Azuero.

A new water plant that uses ground water or wells as its source water is the most common traditional approach. Provides clean water at the plant, but unmaintained piping to the community has may drawbacks: Chemical contaminants such as pesticides, herbicides and benzenes are free to enter the clean water. 

Many collapsed sections of pipe between the water plant and homes lead to great losses in water. In Macaracas for example, over a million gallons of water needs to be produced every day for a population of under 10,000 persons.

The increased water loss further leads to a loss of water in the aquifers and water table. Localized infiltration of sediment and silt from pipe shifts, tree roots and collapsed sections enable contaminants to compromise the clean water. Biological contaminants such as e-coli and coliforms are free to enter the clean water.  The water plant will further deplete the water in the river.