President Nayib Bukele’s recent announcement of the possible reactivation of mining in El Salvador has raised concerns in communities such as Potrero de Batres, in San Isidro, Cabañas. Residents fear that this activity will contaminate the rivers, their main source of water.
This community has been demanding the installation of a drinking water system for years. In 2023, the municipal council submitted a project to the National Directorate of Municipal Works (DOM), which was approved. Since then, however, no progress has been made. Currently, residents rely on water sources for domestic use, but the water is not fit for consumption. Resident Milenis de Alvarado says:
“We go to the springs to collect water for domestic use and cooking. We boil it to eliminate bacteria, but it is not completely clean, so we buy bottled water.”
Residents warn that mining could exacerbate water shortages and increase disease, particularly kidney failure, as rivers are polluted by chemicals used in metal extraction. A 2020 study by the Argentine Society of Paediatrics says that mining generates dust with heavy metals that affect the respiratory tract and increase respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Yolanda Bonilla, a resident of Potrero de Batres, warns:
“Mining would damage our aquifers and our health. We no longer have clean water to drink, and mining would pollute the rivers even more. Diseases such as kidney failure would increase in the canton.”
The community is demanding that their right to drinking water be respected and that any attempt to reactivate metal mining be rejected. For them, access to clean and safe water must take priority over any economic project that threatens their health and the environment.
