Water crisis in Venezuela

Problems

• Venezuela was one of the wealthiest countries in the world, with its main exporter being oil.
  Built on oil revenues Caracas' public water system was once an engineering feat, pumping 5 million gallons of water per second up into the city's mountain valley through elaborate aqueducts and hundreds of miles of pipelines.
  
  While the rest of South America has greatly improved access to drinking water over the past two decades, Venezuela's gains have instead been offset by lack of investment, and mismanagement.

• Causes of water crisis in Venezuela

  Venezuela's stagnant economy went into a tailspin in 2014, when a collapse in the country's oil revenues exposed the failure disastrous price and currency control policies. 
  
  Power failures and lack of maintenance have gradually reduced the city's complex water supply to a minimum. Water pumps, sewage treatment plants, chlorine pumping stations and entire reservoirs were abandoned as the state ran out of money and skilled workers.
  
  Study showed a significant decline water quality over the past two decades. 
  Power outages, pipeline failures, shortages of chemicals, and a massive exodus of skilled workers have shaken state-run water utilities to their core.

• Effects of the water problems

  Venezuela has suffered a water and sanitation crisis.
  
  While climate change has significantly impacted Latin America’s resources, Venezuela’s water/sanitation status has affected the lives of Venezuelan citizens.
  
  Due to the economic crisis, Venezuela's only chlorine plant was shut down for several months.
  And frequent power outages allow bacteria to build up in empty pipes, plant officials say.
  Water that reaches homes suffers from quality, color, odor, pressure and quantity problems. Not to mention the deficient purification of this.
  
  The risks associated with poor water quality are especially dangerous for populations weakened by food and medical shortages. But the problem extends beyond the social, political and geographic divisions of the capital, affecting wealthy gated communities and slums.
  
  The incidence of hepatitis A, a liver infection, rose 150 times higher than normal in Terrazas del Avila, a middle-class neighborhood, after a long water cut.
  
  The study found an excessive amount of bacteria in most of the alternative water sources used by the people of Caracas, such as mountain springs, water sold in shops, and water tanks.