Water access, wide gap

Bicentennial Pact “Closing the Gaps”, in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the proclamation independence of Panama from Spainlast November 2021, it was an initiative of the current government to call for a dialogue with the participation of all stakeholders, so that citizens could contribute ideas and express their unresolved needs, realities, aspirations with the aim of establishing a consensus and agreement to overcome the causes deep ones that produce inequality and exclusion, ever since Panama It is the sixth most unequal country in the world where almost a million people suffer from multidimensional poverty, Which resulted in a total of 391 agreements embodied in the final report, according to the contributions of 215 thousand citizens through the platform known as Ágora, reaching 14.8% of water issues as one of the most significant.

Thus, the reflection of the concern of citizens thirsty for access to water is reflected in this final report Bicentennial Pact, it should not be archived by raising dust, but should be monitored, as he pointed out at the time President of the Republic. For this reason, IDAAN among his projects he set Pact proposals how is creation National Maintenance Administration, National Water Resources Administration and Master Plan for Sewage Network and Wastewater Treatment.

It is not for nothing that the problem of closing the streets as a measure of protest against the lack of vital fluid has been repeated. However, certainly everything IDAAN worker will agree that the issue of access to water is a very complex problem, starting with water treatment plants that do not have the capacity to respond to the population, as seen in the districts of Panama, San Miguelito, Arraiján, Chorrera and Chamemostly, not to mention the high delinquency that exists in entities that is about 75 million balbos, since the residential sector is the highest, followed by the government sector and to a lesser extent the commercial sector, together with the budget allocation each year that limits the true modernization plan; but how could a larger budget be allocated with the high indebtedness of the country, if every institution equally demands its small budget every time it is faced with its support.

Well, there is no doubt that the decision makers will have short- and medium-term strategies, urgently, to avoid the social explosion of a population that has had enough of patience and requires a solution, because it has long been known as strategies: greater optimization Chilibre water treatment plant, which includes improvements to raw water collection, clarifiers, improvements to the reserve tank and the conduit leading to the plant’s inlet channel; procurement of power plants; the new Arraiján water treatment plant to solve the water shortage problem West Panama, which comes with four water treatment plants: Laguna Alta, Miraflores, Mendoza and Jaime Díaz Quintero.

The author of this article is former judge of the Supreme Court of Justice, lawyer and university professor.