Waiting for water: It's everywhere in this Colombian city — except in the pipes

SANTA MARTA, Colombia — For as long as she can remember, July Paola Merino has been waiting for water.

Pointing to a tangle of 1-inch white plastic pipes poking through the weeds and trash beside the dirt road just down the hill from her home, the 36-year-old mom says that this is where the water would flow from the local utility. But there hasn't been a drop for 28 days and counting.

Ana Troncoso, who lives next door to her daughter July, ran out of water the day before. She opens the square steel lid that sits atop the alberca — a concrete cistern just outside her front door. In her neighborhood, none of the homes has indoor plumbing. They store water in a cistern, which can hold about a two-week supply for washing laundry and dishes, bathing and flushing toilets, among other things.

Now there's only an inch of water on the algae-mottled bottom of the alberca, just enough to keep the tank from cracking in the 90-plus-degree summer heat, she explains.

"I feel bad because we need the water more than electricity. If there's a power outage it's OK," says the 60-year-old, whose forehead is already