I am probably paranoid because I think the current water wars in beautiful downtown Catemaco occured after I moved next to the water company and embarrased them to clean up their act.
Or maybe not, because:
1. The water is not fit for human consumption
2. The water pressure is less than than a prostate´s inflamed outflow.
3. Water pressure in the uphill communities of beautiful uptown Catemaco is so low that holding tanks get filled maybe once or twice a week.
4. The flavor of the water is so obnoxious, even my dogs prefer to drink out of rain gutters.
Catemaco depends on deep water wells to provide municipal water. The city lost one of its major wells because the city permitted the still disfunctional sewage system to penetrate the well area. Aside from that, the city could probably drill a dozen wells to capture the aquifers of the surrounding hills.
A quirk in Mexican law allows people not to pay their water bills, (obviously Carlos Slim of Telmex never heard of this). Aside from that, the water lines are so broken that who knows what percentage actually dribbles out of the pipes after being pumped into them.
So to make up for all that, there are now 10 companies in Catemaco, racing around the city and competing to sell bottled water at 12-14 pesos per 5 gallon (19 l) jug. Meanwhile, someone in Xalapa promised to install a municipal water tower in the hills to provide pressured water.
Considering the rain quantities in Los Tuxtlas, it may seem to be ridiculous to complain about water shortages. Shortages actually exist in most communities surrounding Los Tuxtlas. Primarily because everyone shits in their water supply.
Meanwhile, I dug a 3.5 meter well and I get to sprinkle my neighborhood or anyone that walks along. That probably caused the rash of water abuse comments to Xalapa that obligated (4 inspectors, so far), to consider my water abuse, or maybe that goes under the rubric DWG (driving while Gringo).
