Villa La Angostura, the place chosen by the rich and famous but where 300 residents do not have water 'not even to brush their teeth'

Carlos Guajardo placeholder image

08/24/2021 11:49 AM

• Clarín.com

• Society

Updated 08/24/2021 11:49 AM

Behind its paradisiacal beauty, the place where the rich and famous seek refuge, Villa La Angostura hides another reality a little more mundane:

two neighborhoods inhabited by around 300 residents have been without water

since December.

And what is worse: they already anticipated that for this summer, the situation will be the same.

That is why “they are exploding” and some do not rule out taking some direct action measures, such as cutting the roads or demonstrating in front of the municipality.

It is that they

blame Mayor Fabián Stefan

for the situation they are going through. Since December, the Bandurrias and Villa Correntoso neighborhoods have suffered from the lack of this vital element.

“The structure of Villa La Angostura is quite precarious.

Since ever.

During vacation time there is a lot of tourism and there is a lot of water consumption.

Then the pressure decreases.

In December the water was directly cut off.

Not in the hundred percent, but in almost the entire neighborhood.

We attributed it to tourism, but the summer passed.

People

do not have water

, they have to call the municipality and there are some private companies that have trucks and load water into the Las Piedritas stream and supply the reserve tank of some of the houses with that, ”

Ricardo Szelagowsky, a neighbor,

tells

Clarín

and member of the neighborhood council of the Bandurrias neighborhood.

A heavenly place, but where stable neighbors suffer from the lack of an essential service.

And he adds: “But you get up and

you can't brush your teeth

. The next day the same, and the next day the same and so on every day. In February we had a meeting with the mayor and in half an hour he told us six times that we were right. Then we held a meeting in a square where a significant number of neighbors attended. We agreed that the pump was working poorly. It is the one in Lake Nahuel Huapi ”.

About 300 families live in the neighborhoods.

The point is that

a pump broke

, but it was already working badly because it was incorrectly placed.

They promised the neighbors that the issue would be resolved in 30 days.

That was in February of this year.

Months passed and everything is the same.

Tourism is gone.

The problem remains.

Sometimes they ask for a truck and as it rains a lot or there is some snowy day, it cannot go up. So "you have to bank it."

Villa La Angostura is located northwest of Lake Nahuel Huapi and south of Neuquén.

It has approximately 13,000 stable inhabitants that

triple

, as occurs in the aforementioned neighborhoods,

when tourists arrive

.

It is undoubtedly

a top place

.

Chosen by "rich and famous."

Everyone remembers that it was the preferred place for former President Mauricio Macri during his tenure to spend days off.

And even to meet with his cabinet.

Among other illustrious visitors, personalities such as Richard Gere, the Royal Family of Holland and numerous Argentine and foreign artists passed through Villa La Angostura.

Also businessmen who look for these places of beautiful landscapes with reserved places to have a good time.

A wonderful landscape.

The snow also makes Villa La Angostura a privileged place

But these neighbors are not having a good time. Ricardo tells

how the solution of the water problem is delayed

: “The truth is that they put people to work. And one day when they were changing a couple of pipes, they weren't the size they had to be. There was also a stone that took fifteen days to remove and even a root. Even so, things progressed. But later a man from the municipality named Otranto who was working there got into a fight over a domestic matter with another official, second to the mayor, and they fired him. And they put a certain Arevalo in charge, who is entrenched in the municipality and is a guy who does not solve anything. "

The president of the neighborhood's Neighborhood Board, Valeria Pombo, details that “for months there

have been

neighbors who

have to get by with tanker trucks

. We have meetings, they say they will solve the problem for us, but we still do not have water. It is a lack of respect".

The Neighborhood Council of the Villa Correntoso neighborhood also complains: “We no longer believe anyone.

We have been like this since December 2020. We had a very difficult summer.

Villa La Angostura's service infrastructure is very old and precarious.

It is made for far fewer inhabitants than we are now.

Furthermore, the situation is laughable.

The neighborhoods are between Lake Nahuel Huapi and Lake Correntoso.

We have them a few meters away and we have no water.

Here, a work of kilometers is not required, but a few meters.

But if it

continues like this, people are going to explode

”.

Luxury visit.

The royal family of Holland chose Villa la Angostura, as did the other rich and famous.

But there are neighborhoods without water.

Clarín

tried several times to communicate with the mayor Fabián Stefan to ask for his opinion on the matter, but he never answered the calls.

"He put people to work on the problem, but there were domestic problems between them and everything came to nothing," the neighbors insist.

Ricardo Nieto, who lives in one of the neighborhoods, wrote to the communal chief: “I would like the mayor to show his face and justify his actions in the sector and commit in writing to finish the work in the shortest possible time.

Is it asking too much? "

Chubut.

Correspondent.

NS

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