In coca the drinkable water shortage becomes critical due to the oil contamination

Oil slicks are seen in the Coca and Napo rivers

The rain that fell in the early hours of today, over the provinces of Orellana and Sucumbios, calmed down the current situation in this jurisdiction, due to the crisis caused by the  lack of drinking water in the city of Coca and other towns, because of the pollution in the Coca and Napo rivers by an oil spill which was caused by the rupture of the Trans-Ecuadorian Oil Pipeline System (SOTE).

Yesterday, the provincial Committee of Emerging Operations (COE)  met to assess the situation of the inhabitants of Orellana, this meeting was attended by the Deputy Minister of non-renewable natural resources, Ramiro Cazar, and the Mayor, Anitha Rivas, who said that Petroecuador is not complying with the offer to supply water to this provincial capital.

Meanwhile, the firefighters from other cantons and provinces, among them Sucumbíos, sent tanker trucks to support the provision of water to the town of Coca, but the supply is not enough.

The contamination is a product of the spilled oil caused by the rupture of the SOTE by a landslide in the sector of `El Reventador’, which according to Petroecuador is now operational since yesterday. Crude oil spilled on the Coca River, reached Peruvian land, according to the media, it was confirmed  by El Comercio newspaper from Peru .