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The problem of water in Honduras - an integrated approach

By Xavier Toby

Out of 186,000 homes in the city of Tegucigalpa, 92,898 lack access to sewage services. These services have collapsed due to lack of maintenance. (LA TRIBUNA, Jan. 2003)

SANAA announced that water would be turned off between 8pm and 11am in Tegucigalpa, due to predicted summer demand. As a result of leaks throughout the city, some residents will stop receiving water entirely. (LA TRIBUNA, March 2003)

Six dead and over a thousand homeless following flooding and landslides in Tegucigalpa. Deforestation and pollution blamed for blocking the natural water channels. (HONDURAS THIS WEEK, June 2003)

These are only a selection of headlines from the past year concerning the water problems of Honduras. Other problems, such as contamination of water supplies and sedimentation in rivers, are so common they are barely mentioned. Reasons for the deterioration in the quantity and quality of water are many and varied, including pollution, deforestation, agriculture, urbanization, and industry, among many others.
Water in an exhaustible resource, however most of the people of Honduras seem to be unaware of this fact. The yearly rainfall of Honduras is roughly constant, while the population grows by approximately 2.6% annually, one of the highest rates in the Americas. By 2015 it is predicted the population of Honduras will have increased to 8.9 million. (EL HERALDO, July 2003) So, while the amount of water we have does not increase, every day there are more people and new industries consuming water. If this trend continues, in the very near future, there will simply not be enough.
Water is used in Honduras in a variety of ways; potable (drinking) water, generating electricity, tourism, industrial processes, sanitation and irrigation for farming. Little has been done, however, to preserve this precious resource. Currently, there is not even a system to properly monitor the distribution or use of water.