They are appealing to motel users not to throw condoms down the toilet
This weekend marks the Day of Love and Friendship, and the Bogotá Aqueduct and Sewerage Company (EAAB) asked citizens to pass a simple act of love: a condom in the bin, not in the toilet.
According to Cristina Arango, manager of the EAAB Throwing condoms or sanitary materials down the pipe – such as cups or wet wipes – causes blockages when mixed with other waste and increases the risk of puddles and flooding in the city.
In addition, these sanitary wastes, along with grease and debris, cause major environmental impacts on urban rivers, wetlands, and streams.
EAAB operators have found during preventive maintenance some sectors where the ducts are most clogged with sanitary materials and condoms, among which, Center, Avenida 1 de Mayo; on August 7, Las Ferias, Carrera 15 between streets 72 and 100; and areas around Kennedy Central and Bossa La Estación.
Technical staff from the Aqueduct company reached out to the Chapinero motels and residences sector with a call for proper final disposal of consumer hygiene items on the eve of the celebration of love and friendship, all within the framework of EAAB’s educational campaign “Let it rain conscience”. which seeks to sensitize consumers on the proper use of sewage to reduce impacts during rains.
Cristina Arango, EAAB General Manager, indicated that the organization is working to reduce the impact of the second rainy season in the nation’s capital.
“We implemented four actions to prevent and mitigate vulnerability due to rain: build new networks to expand drainage capacity; preventive maintenance tasks and critical points; strengthening operational capacity with new equipment; and educational actions with citizens on proper garbage and waste management,” he said.
In its daily life, EAAB carries out urban sewage prevention, It has removed more than 63,700 tons of waste in the last year and invested more than 20 billion pesos in the same period of time.
Similarly, in the course of 2022, EAAB carried out the renovation and/or construction of more than 22 kilometers of local storm and sanitary sewer networks to expand the city’s drainage capacity.
Protective device for love and friendship
The Secretaries of Security, Government and Women together with the Metropolitan Police of Bogotá (Mebog) presented the device of security and coexistence for this weekend of the celebration of love and friendship, which aims to ensure that the people of Bogotá live this date in a healthy coexistence and thereby continue to reduce homicide and injury rates.
The event will be rolled out in 19 locations in the city, with priority given to San Cristobal, Suba, Kennedy, Ciudad Bolivar, Fontibon, Bosa and Usaquenof over 700 control-preventive actions aimed at avoiding conflicts, fights and crimes that can negatively affect the lives and privacy of citizens.
The city will have more than 5,000 uniformed officers from various police specialties such as Gaula, Sijín, Sipol, Carabineros and others; three mobile units of Access to Justice and about 300 territorial staff of the security secretariat.
The Security Secretary, Anibal Fernández de Soto, indicated that “as we did last year, when we were able to have a more peaceful weekend of love and friendship, with more coexistence and less crimes committed for many years, we want to repeat this exercise. have a positive, safe and peaceful weekend”.
Historically, this is one of the dates that deserves special attention during the year due to the number of violent clashes that are recorded inside and outside homes. According to data from the Bogotá Metropolitan Police, during the 2021 Love and Friendship Weekend, between September 17 and 19, Telephone number 123 received 12,773 calls, of which 2,704 were for fighting, 2,338 for noise and 338 for bodily harm.
