TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (Reuters)
The Honduran capital
faces possible violent
explosions of fecal matter due to massive
obstructions in its sewage system, officials said Wednesday.
"We are racing against time to unblock the pipes before winter
comes and the pipes and manholes overflow or explode," said
Humberto Puerto, manager of the National Aqueduct and Sewerage
Network Service.
"There are tanks that are full of fecal matter and that could
explode because of the gases being produced and the pressure of
new fluids," he told reporters.
The sewerage
network in Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, a city of
more than 1 million people, has sustained severe cracks and
mounting blockages caused by Hurricane Mitch, which devastated
the impoverished Central American country in October 1998.
Fecal matter and urine have been running openly through city
streets due to the blockages in underground pipelines.
Some 80 percent of Tegucigalpa's pipes are destroyed and 20
percent are blocked by earth, rubbish and sand, officials said.
Repairing and
rebuilding the system would cost $80 million,
Puerto said, adding that although the government does not have
the funds, the danger of epidemics makes the project urgent.
Hey there's a shit cloud coming, run for your lives!
Perfect for the forth of July, don't you think?
