A River Runs Through It...

Written by Alexandra Duncan, John Kline, Liz Kuenstner, and Becca Title

“Before, there weren’t that many illnesses around. Water was less polluted and thirty years ago there were more trees, more mountains, less contamination and less population upriver as well... The waters began to change color and they became foul-smelling and there are some rivers that are not useful at all anymore they’re of a purple or light blue color. For example, El Pobe, that is now useless for drinking, bathing or washing clothes. And it harms the body.” -Wilson Aguavil, Búa Resident

All water issues in Búa flow from the rivers. Forty years ago, the Tsáchila used the rivers for all their water needs. Though many still boiled the water before drinking, it was clean enough for washing and bathing. Large fish lived in the rivers and were a substantial part of the Tsáchila diet. Around fifteen years ago the last of those big fish died out, leaving only small ones behind. Around that time, many families began building wells to provide a new source of water, giving them greater independence from the polluted rivers. In a 2007 survey, thirty-seven out of thirty-nine families had wells.¹

Although there is general agreement regarding the changes in the rivers over the past two generations, there are differing opinions as to their cause. Jose Felipe Aguavil, a plantain farmer, attributes the pollution in the rivers to pesticides used by Tsáchila farmers. Others blame mestizos² for introducing Tsáchila farmers to pesticides and thus greatly expanding their use in the region. According to Jonas Aguavil, president of the cabildo, the community’s governing body, “the mestizos, white people, came and started to work in all the highlands, around the community’s boundaries and’ when it started: all the toxic liquids started to come down to the water. This is why the white people started to build wells, and eventually we also had to build the wells, as the river was so contaminated.”³ Does the fact that Jonas absolves the Tsáchila farmers of any responsibility for polluting the rivers despite the fact that they are using similar farming techniques expose some sort of prejudice on his part? To what extent might this prejudice inhibit the ability of the Tsáchila to respond to the contamination in the rivers? Other Tsáchila, however, don’t mention agriculture at all when discussing pollution. Diana Aguavil described the effects of chemicals from the chicken factory upstream. Coincidentally, hers is a family of farmers.

The contamination problem extends far beyond pesticides and chicken factories; deforestation also contributes to the problem. Farmers eager to make the most of their land plant their crops right up to the river’s edge. The destruction of this buffering patch of forest between farmland and river intensifies the erosive effects of rain and sends more fertilizer and pesticide flowing into the water. When nitrogenous fertilizers contaminate river water, they nourish the algae, which in turn kill fish by either depriving them of oxygen or producing bio-toxins. It is this phenomenon that led Marcia Aguavil to apologize to her host daughter over dinner one night for serving her a fish only eight inches long. Where the Tsáchila used to spear fish a foot long or more, they now catch only the small ones.

Another problem facing the community is the use of the rivers for bathing and washing. Eighty-five percent of Búa’s inhabitants bathe in the rivers while ninety-two percent wade in waist deep to wash their laundry.⁴ Biodegradable soap is not available in the community, so harsher, inorganic detergents and shampoos mix with the river water and flow on downstream. Added to this mix is the runoff from the many latrines and overflowing septic tanks situated near the rivers’ banks. It is possible to walk along one river and see several women doing laundry and washing shrimp for dinner at the bottom of a slope and at the top see a bamboo and plastic tarp latrine, the runoff from which mingles with their soapy water. A 2007 report notes that “People in Búa are largely aware that their daily activities contaminate the very rivers they depend on for survival (especially after Alfonso [head of the cultural center and a major community leader] convinced some of the more stubborn residents that soap was, in fact, a contaminant by suggesting that they eat a piece and see what happens to their body).”⁵

As if those sources of pollution were not enough, there is no institutional system for trash collection or recycling in Búa, so all trash cans lead either to the rivers or to the bonfire. Walking along the riverbanks, it is easy to spot a dirty diaper, empty pesticide bottles and discarded clothing floating along or draped haphazardly on rocks. While some families have begun to separate organic from inorganic trash in an effort to minimize waste by composting the organic trash, there is still no viable alternative for the disposal of inorganic refuse. Even the environmentally minded who collect trash from the rivers and its banks know that their efforts are largely futile as the collected refuse will either return to the rivers or be burned and contaminate the air. Without the municipal garbage collection system that many in the developed world take for granted, there seems to be no solution. Than again, just because collected trash in the developed world is less visible doesn’t mean it disappears. Out of sight should not be out of mind.

Citations:
1 Ramkissoon, Jennifer. Public Health Report: Los Tsáchilas Del Búa May 2007 Survey Results, page 7. Compiled on behalf of the Yanapuma Foundation of Quito, Ecuador.
2 A common term in Latin America for people of mixed European and indigenous heritage, used by the Tsáchila as a label for any cultural outsider
3 As translated by Isabel Juarez
4 Ramkissoon, Jennifer. Public Health Report: Los Tsáchilas Del Búa May 2007 Survey Results, page 8. Compiled on behalf of the Yanapuma Foundation of Quito, Ecuador.
5 Bury, Trisha. Report on Public Health Issues and the Bano Seco Pilot Project in the Comuna Colorados del Búa, page 1. Complied on behalf of the Yanapuma Foundation in August, 2007.