A Bath a Day

Foreign Minister Jose Vincente Trujillo had a wonderful time in the U.S.A. First he took a wife: 33-year-old Mary Louise Wellensiek of Pomona, Calif., whom he had met about a year ago at a presidential reception in Quito. Then he had a friendly chat with Harry Truman, came away impressed by the President's "grasp of modern and ancient Ecuadorian history." Finally last week, as his North American honeymoon ended, Trujillo announced that he had wangled two $4 million loans from the U.S. Export-Import Bank, to complete modernization of the water systems of Ecuador's capital and chief port.

Quito (pop. 160,000), wrinkled in a tight little Andean valley, gets its water from rivulets and springs in the mountains, has a fair supply only during the rainy season. But even when the clouds open, distribution pumps often break down. Hilltop houses generally have water only at night, if at all. On Quito streets Indian women carrying buckets in search of water are as familiar a sight as lottery-ticket vendors in Havana. Complained an indignant letter-writer in Quito's El Comercio: "In the morning the cook must take a streetcar to the hospital to see if she can get some water. She usually returns late and without any, so we have lunch at 4 p.m. without a drop to wash our hands. . . . Whenever I need a shave, I buy a bottle of beer."

Distribution is not the only problem. The reservoirs are supplied by open ditches in which Indians delight in bathing. Result: contamination that may have been worsened by leakage from the city's sewer system, which dates back to colonial times.

With the $8 million, Ecuador plans to provide Quito with new pumps and water mains to every part of the city. Some of the money will be spent on the steaming port of Guayaquil (pop. 170,000), which shares most of the water troubles that plague the capital. Guayaquil will get a system of artesian wells to supplement the present source of supply, the stinking, putrid Guayas River. Eventual goal for capital and port: plenty of water to drink, a bath a day for everyone.

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