President Gustavo Petro referred to Bogotá’s drinking water and generated concern among the capital’s residents. Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán responded.
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“Bogotá is rationing water today and the quality of the water that comes out of the tap in any house in Bogotá today is worse than that of many communities in La Guajira. Look at that paradox.”. These words from President Petro called into question the quality of the water consumed by Bogota residents.
The mayor of the capital of Colombia, Carlos Fernando Galán, asked for rigor and political responsibility when talking about an issue as sensitive as that.
“There are issues, such as water, that require technical rigor and we must have political responsibility because, obviously, Bogotá has an aqueduct that meets the required standards, which permanently measures, every day, the quality of the water. Bogotá’s water is within the standards that meet the regulations, it is fine, it is drinkable and there are no problems. A call for tranquility”Galan mentioned.
For his part, the Secretary of Health of Bogotá, Gerson Bermont, assured that the increase in digestive or diarrheal diseases has nothing to do with the drinkability of the capital’s water: “We are permanently monitoring the risk index of water quality, where, due to parameters, it always has to be below five points. Indeed, never in Bogotá, not even in the worst of times, has it risen above five points. We did not find a direct relationship with diarrheal disease in the population. “We are analyzing other behaviors that could be related to acute diarrheal disease, such as poor handwashing, and that is already a public health issue.”
The Manuela Beltrán University carried out an analysis of water potability in the city, samples were taken in six locations and the microbiological experts assure that There is no doubt about the good quality of the liquid.
“In the tests carried out we have not found growth of any type of microorganism that could suggest that there is contamination in the water,” reported the educational institution.
The manager of the Bogotá Aqueduct published a table certifying the risk levels of potability in the information system for water surveillance and observing that from January to April 2024 there is no risk.
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