Venezuela to Punish Profligate Water Consumption

CARACAS – The Venezuelan government said that starting next month consumers whose water use exceeds allowable levels will be punished with higher rates and even service cut-offs, part of a plan to preserve reservoir levels at hydroelectric dams amid a prolonged, severe drought.

President Hugo Chavez’s administration has implemented scheduled water and power cuts since November and January, respectively, to battle an electricity crisis that experts warn could cause a complete collapse of the nation’s power grid.

Alejandro Hitcher, environment minister and head of state-run water utility Hidrocapital, which serves Caracas, said in an interview with the Ultimas Noticias daily that beginning March 1 higher rates will be charged for every cubic meter of water consumed above allowable levels and that repeat offenders will have their service cut off altogether.

The minister said a monthly ceiling of 40 cubic meters of water per home – charged at a rate of 1 bolivar (23 cents) per cubic meter – has been established for residential consumers.

Each additional cubic meter of water consumed – up to a limit of 100 cubic meters per month – will be charged at a rate of 3.5 bolivars (81 cents). That rate will then climb to 5 bolivars ($1.16) per cubic meter for consumption levels in excess of 100 cubic meters.

A similar pricing scheme will be in effect for commercial and industrial consumers, with the latter group divided into companies whose water use is deemed either essential or non-essential.

“Those people who don’t mind paying the higher rates and continue wasting water will have their service cut off, even if they are up-to-date on their payments,” Hitcher told the Caracas daily.

The minister said the savings regime is necessary because of critically low water levels at Venezuelan reservoirs brought about by the country’s worst drought in 45 years, according to official figures.

Hitcher said Caracas and its surrounding area has a reserve cushion of “370 days, presuming that not one drop of water were to fall, which doesn’t mean (authorities can tolerate) irrational use of the service.”

A report released in December by the state-owned Corporacion Electrica Nacional predicted a nationwide collapse of Venezuela’s power grid by May at the latest if water levels continue to fall at the Guri hydroelectric dam, which supplies about 70 percent of Venezuela’s electricity.

The crisis has forced the government to declare a state of emergency and launch an energy-saving plan in Caracas that includes fines and even suspensions of service for excessive power consumers.

President Hugo Chavez last week decreed an “electricity emergency,” which will allow the transfer of resources initially destined for other sectors and force medium- and large-sized businesses in Caracas – both public and private – to cut power use by 20 percent under threat of fines or suspension of service.

Those measures are in addition to a program of rolling blackouts that was implemented nationwide last month, though quickly halted in Caracas.

The government attributes the crisis to a severe drought, while the opposition says the Chavez government’s lack of foresight and investment in electricity projects over the past decade is to blame. EFE


Sulamérica Trânsito

Sphere: Related Content