El Gobierno De Cuenca

Lab at ETAPA

One of the things that is very interesting to observe in Cuenca is the Municipalities of Cuenca, similar to the different departments that would be found in a city in the United States, such as the water and electric departments. There are many different types of these municipalities; some such as ETAPA, which is the Empresa de Tratamiento de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado or water and waste management, are by far the biggest of the empresas, and are in charge of the most. ETAPA is in charge of the waste management, water treatment, telecommunications, including the telephones and internet service, along with being in charge of Cajas National Park. There are many others, such as EMUCE, which cares for the cemeteries. There are fewer private businesses, even in terms of building and construction companies. Therefore, many of the services offered are controlled through the city of Cuenca and the mayor. Every day, you can see the cleaning crews walking the streets and parks and cleaning up all of the trash. This is not something you are as likely to see in the United States. However, this is not necessarily the norm. In cities such as Machala, there was trash everywhere, and there seemed to be almost no municipal presence in services such as street cleaning or police. I was also able to visit the wastewater treatment plant in Cuenca, which was operated in almost the exact same way and with the same technologies as those in the United States. Despite some of the impressive aspects of these organizations, many have a long way to go. For example, the empresa in charge of maintaining the buses and operating the public transit system is also supposed to be in charge of issuing fines for violations of buses that pollute too much, or are too old. This is clearly not done, and my host family has said that it is common for operators to bribe the empresa in order to avoid purchasing a new vehicle; this is evident when you see the horrible pollution spewing from many of the buses. Although there are some shortcomings to the system, there are many things that cities in the US could take away from their operations, such as their recycling programs in which they dispose of used oil from all companies and trucks in Cuenca, along with collecting used batteries. It is clearly not a perfect system, but very impressive nonetheless.