Coastal Problems
Water is the biggest issue that this country faces today. 100% of water in El Salvador is contaminated by faeces and minerals, even the bottled water. This is because 90% of companies in El Salvador have no control over their waste water, so if they want to treat it, they can’t. As a result only 12% of water dumped in rivers is treated. Also, families throw their rubbish directly into the rivers, compounding the problem. This is due to a lack of education, particularly about environmental issues and a failing on the government’s part to implement a free trash disposal service. The people most affected by the contaminated water are the elderly and young people. 500 children die a year from diseases caused by tainted water.
Another huge factor is mining. There are currently 32 different mining projects in El Salvador. These companies arrive solely to exploit the country, extract the precious minerals using highly toxic chemicals which is then dumped into pools with no treatment. If there is ever an accident with this toxic water and it gets into people’s drinking water then the outcomes would be dire.
Deforestation in El Salvador has had serious environmental, social, and economic impacts. Today over 50 percent of El Salvador is not even suitable for food cultivation, and much of the country is plagued with severe soil erosion. Denuded hillsides leave the country vulnerable to devastating mudslides, landslides resulting from a series of storms killed more than 50 and required the evacuation of more than 34,000 residents. Degraded forest areas are more susceptible to fires—in 1998 fires caused more than $172 million in damage to forests and agricultural plots. Today most deforestation in El Salvador results from the country's high population that relies heavily on the collection of fuelwood and subsistence hunting and agriculture. Although the government has protected areas of forest, forestry laws go unenforced due to lack of funds and management. In total, El Salvador lost 20.5 percent of its forest cover between 1990 and 2005. The country's deforestation rate has increased by 18 percent since the close of the 1990s. Lack of money, and education prevents the people from preventing these issues.
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