In accordance with Company policy and regulations, Gran Tierra regularly monitors and analyzes surface and groundwater using an external lab certified by government authorities; however, a myth that the Company often encounters in local communities is that lab results released by a corporation must be compromised.
To counter this, GTE will fund additional independent water studies for local communities in Colombia and Ecuador if they want to hire their own laboratory (as long as it is certified by Colombian and Ecuadorian regulators). GTE will take its own samples and compare them with the communities’ samples, sharing the results at a community meeting.
“With GTE, we’ve always had a dialogue and have been able to work out any issues. It’s clear that GTE wants to show us that they have nothing to hide, and we’ve worked together very well with the company on different environmental and social initiatives.”