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As an ONG remakes the work
of a prefecture
The National park of Sajama
shelters some records of which the Sajama
volcano (6520 m, the second highest mountain
of Bolivia) and the highest forest of the
world (5000m).
The park was creates in 1995 with the assistance
of the German technical co-operation and
an ONG Bolivian GRAMA. Today, Germany only
is still implied financially in the survival
of the park.
In 1997 the prefecture of Oruro on which
the village depends interested closely in
the problem of the supply drinking water
in this area. At the time, the village fed
out of water near two sources located on
both sides village. It was thus necessary
to leave at home to have water. The prefecture
then decided to start research of sources
to install running water in each house.
In 1999 the project of the prefecture is
finished. It places at the disposal of the
village a system complexes made up of a
pump, a tank and a network of drain.
In order to provide water in a constant
way, the prefecture envisaged a tank of
several tens of cubic meters. The tank located
at a few meters above the source (itself
with 1km of the village) makes it possible
to distribute water in all the village in
a gravitating way. It is thus necessary
to pump spring water to send it in the tank.
The role of the tank is to allow a continuity
in the flow delivered the village.
However, as of the first months of use,
this system shows its limits:
- the pump, with thermal engine, requires
gasoline and a quasi permanent maintenance
by a person dedicated to this task (the
winters up there are hard...);
- the pump under is dimensioned, one needs
consequently 24h to fill the tank.
Then the question arises very quickly,
of which will pay for the maintenance and
the gasoline of the pump.
After a few months of startup, the villagers
call upon still active ONG GRAMA in the
park.
ONG does not exist today any more, but it
worked since 1995 in the national park with
the development and the realization of many
medical projects and management of domestic
waste. Their principal achievements were
the digging of pits for waste, the installation
of latrines public to the accesses of the
houses and the school of the village (of
which an experimentation of latrines dry)
and other projects of communication and
education to hygiene.
In front of the insistence of the villagers,
GRAMA puts an engineer on the blow. This
one decides all to simplify. The pump is
removed, the concrete tank (tank) is not
useful any more and water is directly sent
by gravity of the source to the village
via another drain.
Thanks to this system, the villagers have
a water with the tap which costs them 2
bolivianos per month (the average wages
are of 25 bolivianos per day).
Felix Mamani responsible for the national
park made us share of its concerns for the
future:
- According to recent studies', the climatic
reheating will have completely melted the
glacier of Sajama which gives the water
of the village.
- the village currently knows an expansion
to the top (upstream), which makes more
difficult the water supply for reasons of
loss of pressure.
To face these contingencies "it will
undoubtedly be necessary to remake to function
the tank and to restart a pump...",
says us it.
Characteristics of a village in high mountain
such as Sajama:
- In winter, it makes -30°C during
the night and -5°C during the day. Besides
fortunately, the sun manages to heat the
water pipelines frozen during the night...
It arrives often that control and the taps
are split under the pressure of freezing.
- the construction of the cement houses
is disadvised by the National park because
cement is less insulating (it leads the
cold) that the adobe (not cooked brick dried).
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