Abstract

ORTIZ-GOMEZ, Ana Silvia; NUNEZ-ESPINOZA, Juan Felipe  and  MEJIA-CASTILLO, Walter Gerardo. The social perception of drinking water quality and management in the Municipality of Las Vueltas, Chalatenango, El Salvador. Tecnol. cienc. agua [online]. 2019, vol.10, n.3, pp.124-155.  Epub Apr 21, 2021. ISSN 2007-2422.  https://doi.org/10.24850/j-tyca-2019-03-06.

Water management in El Salvador is a social territory of dispute between neoliberal norms and the self-management dynamics of the communities. In this context, water quality is defined as a social construct determined by the time and societal space of consumers, that is why the appropriation and monitoring of its quality is a space for citizens' formation. The comparative analysis of the data gathered in 2008 and 2017, in Las Vueltas, Chalatenango, made it possible to understand the evolution of a self-managed water system based on the direct perception of the population which is the user of the quality of this system. The results state that the increase in the quality of water service coverage is proportional to the perception of increase in public investment for improving water systems, however, the quality of the liquid distributed, both in urban and rural centers, has been decreasing. These findings match the national trend which state that in spite of improvement in coverage, the problems of access and water quality differently impact the population, which are worse in rural areas.

Keywords : Community; organization; water management; quality; vulnerability; natural resources; community perception; governance.