The Water Management team is led by Jonny Puglia who is from the town of Patuca on the southern part of the Cutucu Cordillera in Ecuador.
Approach: Our aim is to protect the water resources of the areas in which we’re working and to contribute to raising awareness of water resource protection and management, and to ensure that our exploration activities leave the streams in their pristine state. If the streams have been impacted by human activity, our goal is to leave them in a better state than that in which we found them.
As the Exploration Group identifies targets for scout drilling, the Water Group undertakes a study of the flow of the adjacent streams to identify those that have sufficient flow so as not to be materially impacted by the withdrawal of water for drilling – approximately 16 litres per minute. Once water offtake points have been identified, the water is analyzed from a point upstream, at the offtake point, as well as downstream. Tests are ideally done at three-week intervals over a period of six-months to accompany the application for a water-use permit for scout drilling from SENAGUA.
A key function of the Water Group is to provide assistance to the communities in identifying appropriate sources of fresh water and training for the communities to maintain water infrastructure. The Water Group works hand-in hand with the Community Engagement Group and the Step Forward Foundation in helping communities improve their access to clean and or potable water, as well as providing training to maintain the water resources in good condition.
SENAGUA recognizes that access to clean and potable water is a basic human right and is working towards achieving that goal. Aurania is providing basic data on the status of water supplies throughout its Lost Cities – Cutucu Project areas as well as potential sources of clean water.
