Abstract

The island of San Andres, for a long time isolated and practically disconnected from Colombia, has begun in the last two years and by will of the National Government, an era of systematic progress, channeled mainly to take advantage of its privileged geographical situation, the beauty of its landscape, and its natural wealth for tourist purposes, all of which will benefit the island's natives. To this end, it currently has a modern airport capable of handling all kinds of heavy machinery, a series of houses have been built for tourists, and one or two comfortable hotels for the same purposes. Furthermore, to take advantage of the large coconut plantations on the island, a modern grease factory has been set up, which will soon begin production.

Logically, such material advances and the good prospects for the island’s future imply new obligations and needs, by the demands of modern life, such as sanitary services, sewage, aqueduct, and others. To this day, the inhabitants of San Andres and the whole island are precariously supplied with water by different methods: rainwater collected in cisterns, underground water from cisterns, small springs, and karst caves. Therefore, it is urgent to construct a modern aqueduct that fully satisfies the hygienic and domestic needs of its inhabitants.

For the above reasons, the Minister of Development and the National Institute of Municipal Development requested the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum a study on the possible use of the freshwater deposit on the island for an aqueduct of this kind. Accordingly, by Resolution issued by the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, the undersigned traveled on April 14 of this year to San Andres to study this problem.

Dr. Raúl Mesa, Engineer of the Instituto de Fomento Municipal, was integral to the study commission.