The miners are interwoven many designs ... This is a story that shows 15 years after mining interests on water in Miramar.
Sonia Torres
Environmental Committee Miramar
May 25, 2010
The arrival of the rains do not represent any relief to Miramar and co neighboring communities continue to suffer from water shortage, caused this time, by landslides that collapsed Molina source causing the pollution accumulated educt with mud and water shortages and rationing from Saturdays do at night, putting at risk human health .
view the crisis that has forced to interrupt the school year at the Lyceum and some schools in the community, Miramar Environment Committee requested the Commission to Local and National Emergency, to conduct a comprehensive geotechnical study to determine the exact vulnerability of pipelines and municipal water catchments. The Environment Committee also called for intervention by health authorities to safeguard the welfare and Dad quality of life of the people using the municipal water.
The current problem dates back to 1994 when City Council Montes de Oro approved a water supply project, simple, effective and cheaper than was to capture the emerging Cob to inject the municipal water system. However, a few days, employees of the mining company, including the geologist Michael Alan, questioned the project and "good faith" the City Council commissioned Mr Alan "coordination" of a pre-project culminating with a diversion of the pipe that leaves the source for the mining Cob occupy public areas, and recommendations tion to incorporate the emerging municipal system Molina to justify the disengagement posterity Montezuma or of the sources 1 and 2, as indeed it did when it began operating the mine open pit gold in Bellavista.
During that time, the mining company ingratiated himself with the City conducting studies free of charge, giving him an old car, donating tubes and 200 thousand colones in cash, which ended up convincing the municipal executive Sammy Cortes, engineer Arturo Herrera of the Institute of Municipal Promotion and Advice (IFAM) and to the aldermen at the time, ended by approving the loan application of 85 million IFAM, convinced of the "advantages" to capture the source Molina, rising to the miners painted with an image of abundance
In the vicinity of the source Molina, the current city administration has not been able to halt the illegal exploitation of slab or exert control over road construction on private farms. Nor does it account for at least two recent drilling 2 ¼ inches on land made by the locals belong to the geologist Alan, whose purpose is unknown, but undoubtedly contributing alterations aquifer deterioration Molina caught in the emerging, which is superficial in nature flow direction north-northwest and is covered by a layer of highly permeable alluvium and colluvium.
For members of the C ommittee Environmental catchments of the Molina and Cob sources were not made with the right design in the case of broken parts, hard rocks weathered soils with high rainfall and geologically unstable, causing landslides as the cause of the current crisis in the spring Molina.
For its part, the city government continues to fail by not led themselves with MINAE and SENARA to delimit and demarcate the aquifer recharge areas of all the springs connected to the municipal aqueduct , threatening human health by risk of contamination with human and animal waste and chemicals.
few remaining hopes of capturing clean water in the upper basin of Rio Plums despite efforts of residents who through motions filed by former Councilman Claudio González (1996) l former Councilwoman Martha White (1998) sought to declare the basin as a water reservoir for human consumption. succumbed area by mining open pit gold and now instead d and produce water, is deforested, covered with scrap tanks filled with crumpled debris of rocks, flanked by lagoons mining dumps plastics and below, full of broken geomembranes covered with crushed rocks leached by cyanide.
While cl loves water, Mayor Alvaro Jiménez defender of mining, only managed to say to look for water in the neighboring basin Naranjo River, also in the sights of AyA.
Images:
1. Material muddy slipped from the top of vegetation cover, which protects the Molina. Photo May 25, 20102. In dry period, the crisis caused by lack of water. Note overflow tank dry Molina source output. Photo April 18, 2010
3. Slip affected source Molina and R615 route which links to Laguna Miramar in wet season 2009. Circle encloses the output tank; arrow uptake. Photo October 10, 2009
4. Mud and sand catchment areas flooded and destroyed understory, which protects the Molina. Photo May 25, 2010