Colombian town fights energy companies over river pollution

Published: 2005-05-26

SIBATE, Colombia (CNS) -- Every Tuesday before 6 p.m., Father Wigberto Suarez prepares for evening Mass in the Colombian town of Sibate. Among his rituals are gathering bug spray, a hand-held pump and a bottle of insecticide. Over the past few years, a mosquito plague in Sibate has disrupted not just church services, but life in general for the town's 32,000 residents. Millions of mosquitoes that breed in the Muna reservoir on Sibate's outskirts have made life so difficult that residents cannot study, read, watch TV or sleep peacefully at night. Muna, once a pristine reservoir that attracted tourists for water sports and recreation, is now a source not only of mosquitoes, but also of foul odors, rats and gastrointestinal, respiratory, dermatological and other disorders, residents said. The problems stemmed from a decision decades ago that allowed the Empresa de Energia de Bogota, a city-owned electricity company, to reroute the Bogota River away from its natural course and into Muna to supply water for two hydroelectric generating plants. Now, the Bogota River is a stew of waste, heavy metals and raw sewage from industrial dumping and a lack of waste treatment plants.

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .