The two faces of Quito’s water crisis: While there are neighbourhoods in Ecuador’s capital Quito that suffer water cuts of up to 15 days at a time, there are also areas where water wastage is notorious. Epmaps stresses the need to conserve drinking water.
The drinking water crisis in Quito, caused by a lack of rain and power cuts, reflects a paradox: some people have so much water that they waste it, while others die of thirst for weeks on end. In the highlands of the northwest, such as Pisulí, Twinza and Rumicucho, water has become a privilege. Residents of the Twinza neighbourhood complain that they suffer water cuts every week, with no warning from the Empresa de Agua Potable (Epmaps).
Water shortages have been exacerbated by government-imposed power cuts, as the resource is delivered by pumping systems that use electricity. “We used to have water a few days a week. Now we go up to eight days in a row without a drop”, laments María Altamirano, a resident of Twinza.
The situation is even worse 12 kilometres away in Rumicucho. This dry and hot district in the parish of San Antonio has been without water since 15 November 2024. Its 5,000 inhabitants are used to living without water for long periods, which can last up to 15 days in the summer. As a result, most homes have plastic tanks to store water, which they get from private water tankers.
The Empresa de Agua Potable explains that this problem is due to the fact that the plant that supplies water to the north-western districts has to supply Calderón first. This means that when consumption in Calderón is high, these neighbourhoods are left without water. Other areas with water distribution problems are those served by the Puegansí plant. This infrastructure supplies water to 27% of the city’s districts, mainly in the south and central north.
But the city’s drought has prevented the Pita River, the plant’s main source, from maintaining the 2.2 cubic metres per second flow needed to meet demand. Currently, the river only provides between 1.4 and 1.6 cubic metres per second. This has forced Epmaps to implement water cuts of up to 12 hours in these sectors. According to the municipality, this measure will remain in place until at least 30 November 2024.
Waste of water
Those who visit the south of Quito know that water is wasted indiscriminately in neighbourhoods such as La Gatazo and Turubamba. The reason? Dozens of carwashes, many of them without operating licences, use drinking water in their operations, which start at 06:00 and end after 21:00. Some even operate until the early hours of the morning.
Faced with the proliferation of these businesses, the Metropolitan Control Agency (AMC), the Ministry of the Environment and Epmaps carried out control operations between 21 and 22 November 2024. The results: 17 washing machines were sanctioned for not having an operating licence. In addition, Epmaps found three meters that had been tampered with to avoid counting water consumption and four illegal connections.
The authorities assure that controls will be intensified in these neighbourhoods to verify the good use of the resource. Although Epmaps assures that the high consumption of users is another reason why Quito is facing problems in the distribution of water.
In addition, water is wasted through leaks throughout the city. While there is no figure for the amount lost, the agency says it repairs about 60 leaks a day. Epmaps insists that less water must be used to avoid massive cuts from January 2025.
