By Patricia Recio

Users from two communities in San Juan de Dios de Desamparados will receive water from tank trucks

The Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA) recommended residents of the areas of Robles Street and Cemetery Street in San Juan de Dios de Desamparados to avoid consuming tap water. The decision was made due to reports from users about a strange odor in the liquid.

The entity reported that, as a protocolary measure in these situations, technical teams have been deployed and initial samples have already been taken for analysis at the National Water Laboratory to verify the quality of the resource.

Likewise, since Friday afternoon, the distribution of drinking water through tank trucks to the residents of these two streets has begun. Users who detect abnormal conditions in the water supplied by AyA can make a report by telephone at 800-737-6783.

A tank truck hired by the Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA) distributed drinking water on Tuesday morning. Men, women, and children of all ages approached with bottles, jugs, pots, and pans to collect water amid the crisis caused by the contamination of the liquid with an unknown hydrocarbon so far. AyA has already taken samples and is sending tank trucks to supply the neighbors of these two streets.

This situation in the neighborhoods south of San José arises after the confirmation, at the end of January, of the contamination of one of the sources of the aqueduct system that supplies residents of Tibás, Goicoechea, and Moravia.

This affected approximately 107,000 people, who experienced suspensions and rationing in the service due to contamination with a type of hydrocarbon called xylene.

A similar problem occurred in the municipal aqueduct of Turrialba. Although initially the Ministry of Health confirmed the presence of hydrocarbons in said system, this contamination was subsequently ruled out by laboratories at the University of Costa Rica.

-News from the newspaper La Nacion-
Reference