Paying my $2 per month water bill in rural Ecuador

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Ай бұрын

Paying my $2 per month water bill. No online payment system here in rural Ecuador. I need to show up at the office each month, wait in line, and pay cash. Sometimes it’s 10 minute wait, sometimes it’s an hour.

Пікірлер: 28

@davidkoziar1811 Ай бұрын

I love how dogs just wander around inside. A two dollar water bill is hilariously awesome. Is it only on the one day you can pay or can you go a few days earlier?

@FallofftheMap Ай бұрын

Only on the one day, and the exact day is not always the same. So have to watch for a notification each month to know what day I have to go there and pay. It’s goofy.

@davidveraok Ай бұрын

_Hello from Peru. You are blessed with those prices. In Peru the cost is about 12 to 15 soles in rural areas ( about $3 to $4 ). It is due to not having "medidor" ( water meter). As a side note, Ecuador do have more rain than Peru during the year. So power outages should not be a problem. The situation is not gathering the water during the rainy season. Peru has about 10 or 20 times more water reservoirs than Ecuador. That is the key of the problem. Poechos, Tinajones, Irrigacion Olmos, Laguna La Niña ( manmade), etc. If we look for words as "construccion de reservorio de agua" or "construccion de represa de agua" in youtube, 50% or more of the links point out to Peru, the other 50% to the rest of latin-countries. Another good point are the PTAR Plantas de Tratamiento de Aguas Residuales, Water treatment plants all over the country , providing resusable the water for parks , public gardens , etc in Lima and several coastal cities_

@FallofftheMap Ай бұрын

$3 to $4 in most rural areas in Peru is good. I have much lower water bills than most of Ecuador. Here, the low bill is because of a well organized agricultural community with access to an alpine lake and a water system owned by the community. If I go to most rural areas they typically pay more than $5 for potable water if they even have access to it. If not, they’re paying $2.5 to refill 3 gallon water bottles a few times per month.

@davidveraok Ай бұрын

@@FallofftheMap you have chosen a very good place in Ecuador, indeed. Water should always be part of the community and the people, and never be private ownership. Chile made that mistake. Over there the private property of water has led to people living around farming areas having no water, at all. Now they are receiving water using water truck, while big companies over-using all of the water. I was wondering if you could investigate more about building water reservoirs in Ecuador in rural-areas. Here in Peru we have companies providing all the pipeline + geomembranas + all the necessary equipment made in plastic factories, made in Peru. Just thinking out loud. keyword "fabrica de geomembrana" , "fabrica de tuberias de polietieno" , etc.

@FallofftheMap Ай бұрын

@davidveraok the world is heading towards a water a water shortage, inevitably every community that owns its own water will eventually be forced to give up its water rights. The solution for those that are forward thinking is water collection and recycling, and building efficient systems to conserve water. I give my community 5 years max before they lose control of their water system. By then my little farm will be efficient enough that I don’t need anything but the rain that falls here.

@davidveraok Ай бұрын

@@FallofftheMap That is true, but I hope not all the entire World. Some blessed countries as Ecuador and Peru can overcome that lack of fresh water due to Climate Change. The Andes is the sponge that retain water and thousands of springs flourishing after rainy season. Peru indeed has had a reduction of its fresh water the last 2 or 3 decades, so water reservoirs is an important key factor to control this new situation. Gobiernos Regionales are working hard on it , and is the priority on every corner of the Country. Probably the Inca Culture has something to do with this kind of respect for water. I was shocked when Colombia had water shortage for a while, even though they have more rains than us. keyword GOBIERNO REGIONAL + RESERVORIO OR IRRIGACION. Thousands and thousands of "small" water reservoirs across the country, just googling in youtube.

@FallofftheMap Ай бұрын

@@davidveraok I appreciate your optimism. Three things are happening simultaneously… the climate is changing, warming, and entering more extreme periods of floods and drought, agricultural pressures is reducing the forests and highland páramo grasslands as they are turned into cattle pasture, and international corporations are applying pressure on politicians to permit the exploitation of local water resources.

@jerrygarcia4390 Ай бұрын

😂👍🏾

@RobinNielsen Ай бұрын

The local water company here accepts bank transfers and I just WhatsApp them a screenshot of the payment. They don’t advertise it so I was going in person like you until one day I asked and they were like, of course you can pay by bank transfer! Might be worth asking if you haven't yet.

@FallofftheMap Ай бұрын

Thanks. I’ll look into it

@BPe-ie9je Ай бұрын

??? is there always water??? Bogata, CO, Mexico City about to run out ta,,,of water... Not sure I understood Cuencas temp. issues?

@FallofftheMap Ай бұрын

On my farm we always have water unless they are working on the system. This area has an amazing water supply for drinking water and irrigation. My water comes from an alpine lake called Laguna Mojanda. I collect rainwater for watering my farm because it’s not allowed to use the drinking water for irrigation and would be irresponsible to abuse the water supply in that way. I never have a shortage of rainwater since I invested in a few cisterns and dug a pond.

@BPe-ie9je Ай бұрын

@@FallofftheMap excellent. tks. Is Quito and Cuenca water supply secure? safe?

@FallofftheMap Ай бұрын

@@BPe-ie9je it’s a hard question to answer. I believe Quito has a safe and secure water supply. I don’t have enough information about Cuenca to speculate about their water.

@DJTheMetalheadMercenary Ай бұрын

At least they give that option heheh, you know how it is here, everything is online or by phone for that.

@FallofftheMap Ай бұрын

Sure, but man I would definitely choose automatic billing over sitting in line in this town each month and risking getting shut off if I’m out of town on the one day per month to pay.

@DJTheMetalheadMercenary Ай бұрын

@@FallofftheMap Yeah for sure, having both options is much better.

@ajax8341 Ай бұрын

@@FallofftheMap Is there not a way to just pay 24 bux a year? Or hell 240 and then you're set for a decade haha

@FallofftheMap Ай бұрын

@@ajax8341 I could probably ask, but I’d be afraid they’d forget that I prepaid and shut me off. It’s not a very organized water system. It’s run by folks from the community that get elected, basically just a neighbor from one of the villages near here.

@ajax8341 Ай бұрын

@@FallofftheMap ahh gotcha. Sounds like you need to be in charge then! Haha