Metro Quito: 600,000 Citizens Without Potable Water

Adapting

If 600,000 people are drawing their water from the same source, it sounds like a disaster which was waiting to happen.........Why dont they have backup systems........Quito is a big serious city. It should have huge water tanks all over the place to service that sprawling city............one more reason for not living in a big city..........They continue to mount........

Part of life in even the larger South American cities, is that they all have infrastructure problems.  When I lived in Quito over 50 years ago, the whole city's population was less than 600,000 and it was common to lose power every day for short periods and for longer periods 2-3 times a week.  I don't recall that we had water problems, though (except you weren't supposed to drink it, but we did anyway).

Quito does have 200 or more water tanks throughout the metropolitan area to store water - but the landslide blocked the whole river that supplies a large part of the city in the south.  The other 2+ million inhabitants still had potable water.

An overview of the water distribution system is found here:
https://www.aguaquito.gob.ec/?page_id=1392

Uhm ... this is a poor third world country.  Where did you think you were moving to?

Oh I just noticed you are living in Panama considering moving to Ecuador.  There are infrastructure issues here so Ecuador is probably not the place for you.  It's one of the things one must adapt to to enjoy the cost of living.

I love Quito, even with all it's blemishes.

Not that poor really.....Just got back from another months sojurn in Nicaragua. Which IS a poor country.....but despite being poor in general, theres a lot of riches there as there are in Ecuador......And quite a few people living VERY well..........Look at the GDPs and per capita incomes of all these latin countries to get a better idea......Ecuador is looking pretty good over all........and apparently life is not THAT cheap anymore.....Like Costa Rica, over taxed and too much bureauacracy spoils the brew........Colombia is now the best bargain in the latin neighborhood.........

The infrastructure in Quito is just fine at least in my opinion. The roads do take a beating especially after weeks/months of heavy rains but the municipality gets on top of it. There are world class malls, restaurants, cafes, theater, cinema, super markets, nice parks, and internet is just fine. A 10-20 GB download is achievable in about an hour for instance. Cellular/Mobile connection is very good, and the packages are cheaper with more GBs. 

There was a water stoppage twice this year, due to underground construction of the new Metro line. My building has a water tank, so it's a non-issue, but we do limit usage. Electricity is stable, and turned off briefly  twice, at one time it was a scheduled outage from 9:00-2:00, but I received emails beforehand from the electric company, and to this day I have no idea how they got my email as the bill is not under my name.

Other may have differing opinions if they live in south Quito or in some sectors way up north.

Hi everyone,

Please note that some inappropriate posts ( sarcasm) have been removed from this thread.

Thanks,

Priscilla
Expat.com team