Essay and Audio by Luis Carlos Sierra

Chiquinquirá a destination with environmental pollution

Audio: Here

The municipality of Chiquinquirá is a destination that attracts many visitors for its title of religious capital of Colombia, however they present some contaminating factors such as lack of drinking water, air pollution generated by the emission, accumulation and mixing of pollutants in the air from industrial activity, packs of stray dogs after the dogs in heat, poverty and mishandling of garbage. 

One of the environmental problems presented by the municipality of Chiquinquirá is the lack of potable water, the problem is the contamination of the Suárez River waters that come from the lagoon system of Fúquene, Cucunubá and Palacio, that contamination makes it almost impossible to purify it. The affected inhabitants have had to buy water in bags to bathe and cook. Some go in their private cars to neighboring municipalities to look for water and those who do not have how to travel, they do it on request. Many who reside in rural areas collect rainwater to be consumed, which is why assistance is sought from the departmental and national government to treat the water resource. 

Chiquinquirá is within the areas that contribute the most contaminating factors to the air by emissions from fixed sources (industries), due to activities such as production of refined salt, glass, brick making, coke manufacturing, metal foundation, auto parts, clay manufacturing, others Approximately 95 tons are generated by brick and ceramic production, placing Chiquinquirá within the most contaminated areas of the CAR jurisdiction. 

In the streets of Chiquinquirá, small groups of dogs are seen daily that cause disorder and daily they have strong fights between them, especially when there are females dogs in heat. The dogs do theirs breaking the garbage bags, leaving their feces in the street, giving a bad presentation to tourists and passing the fights that occur daily also damage the ornamental plants that were planted a few days ago in the Julio Flórez Park, it would be opportune that the Municipal Authorities, especially those of control of animals and animal protection societies, collect these dogs to sterilize them and place them in suitable places for them. 

The mishandling of garbage bags make some pedestrians constantly have to suffer the waste streams on the pedestrian path and green areas of Chiquinquirá, some residents of the municipality take out their garbage bags and leave them on the floor in front of each house, that causes stray dogs to break the packaging and produce disorder, for this reason it is important to make a call to the community to have citizen culture and so that as far as possible take out the garbage at the time the car passes, and the competent authorities to look for practical solutions.