Too much or too little water


Several news topics from El Salvador at the end of September involve water.

Major Water Crisis in the Capital

A significant water crisis occurred in September due to a collapse in a 48-inch pipeline belonging to the Northern Zone System, which services large parts of the San Salvador Metropolitan Area (AMSS) and La Libertad. The initial suspension of service occurred on September 16, but the problem was aggravated when the newly repaired pipe collapsed again shortly afterward. This led to a prolonged, multi-day water shortage affecting major zones of the metro area.

On Wednesday, September 17, approximately four hours after the initial repair was reported as complete and the system had begun the slow process of refilling, the catastrophic secondary failure occurred. The high-pressure pipeline collapsed again, and this time it took with it the entire structure which supported it over a ravine outside Apopa. This cascading failure transformed a manageable technical problem into a full-blown infrastructure disaster. The damage was now far more extensive, requiring not just a pipe replacement but a complete structural rebuild. It was not until September 23, a week after the first break, that water service began to be restored.

To address the severe water shortage caused by the collapsed pipeline, the government initiated a contingency plan. This involved deploying over 180 water trucks (pipas) from various state entities. The government contracted and brought in 40 additional water trucks from Guatemala to reinforce the supply efforts. The contingency plan prioritized supplying water to hospitals, schools, and communities identified as highly vulnerable, and the need for such reinforcements continued through the month.

The water woes cost the head of the national water authority (ANDA) his job. President Nayib Bukele promptly fired Jorge Castaneda, who had served for one year, and replaced him with Dagoberto Arévalo, an engineer within ANDA.

Meanwhile, a report from the Ministry of Finance on the execution of the 2025 Public Investment Program revealed that ANDA had only executed 12% of its allocated budget for infrastructure improvements to the water system including projects for the "resilience" of priority systems.

Ongoing Flood and Rain Warnings

While households in greater San Salvador were longing for water to flow through their pipes at the end of the month, on other days the skies opened up with entirely too much water. Throughout September, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) and Protección Civil maintained active alerts and issued repeated warnings concerning heavy rainfall.

On Sunday, September 21, a strong thunderstorm drenched greater San Salvador leading to flooding, street damage, small landslides and some destroyed houses as illustrated in this news coverage.

At the end of the month, the town of San Francisco Gotera experienced significant flooding after the San Franciso River overflowed due to torrential rains, shown in this post on X.



Urban flooding in San Salvador may be getting worse due to ongoing construction and development in the metropolitan area.   This article from Inter Press Service, written after similar flooding in August, explains:
With each new construction, the soil absorbs less rainwater, and each storm turns the runoff into a river that reaches the poor neighborhoods of San Salvador, a city of 2.4 million inhabitants, including its metropolitan area, within a total country population of six million.


El Salvador's Largest Lake is covered with aquatic weeds

In other water-related news, El Salvador's largest lake, Lake Suchitlan, looked like this from the air a week ago:

The bright green color comes from "ninfas" or water lettuce which invades and spreads over the surface of the lake, thriving on the polluted runoff which feeds into the lake from the country's contaminated rivers.  

This video illustrates well the scope of the problem:


Environmental Advocates and Water Defenders, the Santa Marta 5, are Acquitted Again

A court in El Salvador dismissed for the second time charges against a group of community environmental activists who have come to be known as the Santa Marta 5. The group included leaders in the fight against gold-mining in the country which Nayib Bukele has sought to restart after activist achieved a legal ban on the practice in 2017. The case against the five alleged their connection to a murder more than 40 years ago during El Salvador's civil war, but the prosecution was seen by most as retaliation for their environmental activism.

International allies celebrated the new acquittal.






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