Post date: Nov 21, 2013 1:11:49 PM
This is hardly a post for the faint of stomach. It is about sewage.
Seems that Granada does not have much of a sewage system. I first noticed that the liquid flowing in the gutters (even when it hasn't rained) is not entirely clear. In fact, it is downright cloudy and sometimes contains grains of rice! Outside the laundromat it smells of detergent. Hmmm.
Graywater (from sinks, showers, and laundry) flows into the street. Each house (even though only 15' wide) has a septic tank. I first noticed this in Nueva Vida, the poorest neighborhood of the poorest city (Ciudad Sandino) in the second poorest country of the western hemisphere. In that context the graywater running in the streets didn't seem so odd. Yes, it smells, but not stinky like 'sanitary sewage'. And in Nueva Vida, where the streets are not paved, it means little ditches to navigate on foot, bicycle, or auto. And there are disputes among neighbors whether the ditch runs on my side or your side of the street.
But I somehow expected more of an old city like Granada. And, upon reflection, this city does have a sewer system to collect the water from the gutters. (I'm not sure how well it is treated before it goes into the lake, however.) Of course, without a collection system the place would flood during heavy rains.
In one of the older residences of La Esperanza Granada (which I voluntarily maintain) I noticed a tank in the garden. In the house we rent, I don't see evidence of such a tank. Maybe there really is a collection system, and only new houses need to connect.
So far, Lake Nicaragua is not badly polluted. We went for a boat ride yesterday morning to look at birds, and I didn't notice any problem with the water. Even with many of the little islands populated. Of course this lake is big, and it could be that the sewage is simply diluted. Lake Managua, on the other hand, is badly polluted, and it flows into Lake Managua. With increasing population, it is only a matter of time before the sewage problem is noticeable in more places.
We had a similar problem in Seattle and Lake Washington in the late 1960's. A very large investment in pipelines and treatment plants (and connecting the houseboats to the sewer lines) quickly cleared the cloudy waters of Lake Washington. But where is Nicaragua going to find the capital for such a project?