water

Aliases: 
waterways

Authors

Authors

The virtual exhibition “The City’s Currents: A History of Water in 20th-Century Bogotá” is a collaboration of the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society and the Línea de Historia Ambiental, the Environmental History Research Group of the Department of History at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá. The exhibition was researched and authored by historians Stefania Gallini, Laura Felacio, Angélica Agredo, and Stephanie Garcés.

Water supply and consumption

Water supply and consumption

Saúl Ordúz, Chorro de Padilla, 1979

Laundry and female laundry workers

Laundry and female laundry workers

“Eventually they arrive at the rivulet, which is as noisy and clattery as they are. Each of them picks a spot and moments later they begin their routine. Their songs and laughter break the steady cadence of the rolling crystalline waters and the sleepy hum of insects hiding below leaves or resting on the riverbanks. The constant smacking of clothes against rocks is reminiscent of alternating hammers on a forge. Playful taunts can be heard flying from wash spot to wash spot like agile arrows.

Bathrooms and personal hygiene

Bathrooms and personal hygiene

Gumersindo Cuéllar Jiménez, Mujer junto a niña sentadas junto al río

Introduction

Introduction

Paisaje del Río Bogotá (Colombia) S.A. The landscape of the Bogotá River. One of the riverbanks is planted entirely with eucalyptus. (Photograph by Gumersindo Cuéllar Jiménez. © Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango.)