In 1824 Peru gained their Independence, but colonization has had a lasting impact on the country, the capital city, Lima, was founded by the Spanish. It was not typical for Incan cities to be located on the desert coast, where there is a severe lack of water supplies. Peru’s population is 33 million and Lima’s population is 9.7 million. The city produces about half of the countries’ GDP. It is important to note that 60% of Peru’s population live on the coast, to the west of the Andes, where only 2% of the countries water resources are located. Lima, Peru is an incredibly interesting city as it has urbanized quite rapidly in the past few decades. Urban to rural migration, driven by the prospects of higher economic opportunity within the city, has led to significant increases in the city population. In 1940 the population of Lima was about 10% of whole Peruvian population. In 2010 Lima’s population accounts for 30% of the Peruvian Population.
Issues Contributing to the Water Crisis
From a water point of view, there are a variety of issues that contribute to the water crisis that is facing the city. Geographic water scarcity is a major issue that faces the water supplies of the country in the present and in the future. In Lima, on average, there is less than 2 inches of rain annually. The annual rainfall data varies depending on the article and data source, with the lowest being about 1/3 of an inch a year and the highest 2 inches. Further research should be conducted on the validity of the rainfall data for Lima Peru.
There are three major water supplies for the city of Lima, which are Rio Rimac, Rio Lurin, and Rio Chillon.
Lima’s water supply is mostly on these rivers which are partly fed by Glacial melt in the Andes. The water supply of the city is becoming more uncertain as the Glacier coverage as retreated by 40% in the last 40 years and the population of Lima keeps growing rapidly. It is expected to reach 12 million by 2030. These rivers struggle to supply the growing population of the city and there have been reductions in average flow of each. Each river is dependent on weather patterns and are polluted.
The city of Lima is divided into 43 districts, each with varying water access and quality of life. More than 1.5 million of Lima residents are underserved, with no access to running water and a dependence on private water delivery trucks. Many of these underserved areas are informal settlements, located on the fringes of the city. Informal settlements, or referred locally as Barriadas or Pueblos Jovenes, have become the home to many of the newer city residents. Oftentimes these settlements are located on steep mountain sides or far away from city infrastructure. In 1981 only 68% of people in the Barriadas had access to public water facilities.
Jesus Maria, Miraflores, San Borja, and San Isidrio are considered high income districts (San Isidrio’s household income about 8,000 soles or about $24,000) and have 99%-100% of water supplied by public water utilities. In the high-income districts, people are consuming a lot of water. Average household in San Isidrio consumes about 447 liters per day, which is significantly higher than the World Health Organization suggested 50-100 liters a day. Medium income districts include La Molina, Lince, and Surquillo, with about 98% of the water used being supplied by public water utilities. (La Molina’s average household income 6000 soles or $18,000). On the outskirts of the city are the low-income areas, some of which include Independencia, Pachacamac, and Puente Piedra. The percentage of water supplied by public utilities varies greatly with only 11% in Pachacamac and 60% in Independencia. It’s important to note that in Pachacamac, 73% of water is supplied by water tankers, which tend to be private companies. Citizens with running, potable water pay 1.3 sols ($0.40) to Lima’s water utility SEDAPAL for each cubic meter of water. On the other hand, trucked-in water costs roughly 20 sols ($6) per cubic meter.
Not only does Lima have water scarcity because of the geographic location of the city, but also because the lack of institutional and managerial capacity of the city government. In a nutshell, there is a lot of corruption that makes it difficult to do things in the country. The President in 2006, Alan Garcia, rolled out a plan water for all, Agua Para Todos, (show picture) but was never fully realized and favored large scale investments and privatization. Currently there is a new 2-billion-dollar water master plan, which includes desalination, but the future is uncertain as the president had to resign a year ago and now is in prison. Lima faces a unique struggle as water supplies are becoming less reliable, population keeps growing, and water inequality remains a major issue.
Potential Solutions
Because there are many issues facing Lima, there are plenty of solutions that could alleviate some of the issues. Some of which include tighter regulations on industry, such as mining. Creating large Scale infrastructure, like piping more water in from East of the Andes, is another option. This would be a major infrastructure investment, and probably look good for the politicians, but would require a lot of money, may not feasible, and would take a long time. Large scale government reform that would hopefully eliminate corruption, also probably not the most feasible. But based on the past few years the water utility has been moving in the right direction with plans to invest significantly in water infrastructure, but construction is slow and corruption and political uncertainty make it difficult to move forward.
The proposed solution is to increase water rates based on consumption. Block rates would probably work the best, with prices increasing the more you consume. The distinctions of each block, and the rate that prices will increase will need to be determined by Peruvian economists. Ultimately the goal is to get high consumption areas to pay more for their water because they are consuming more. Hopefully this will stop people from consuming as much and create funds to help with water access projects. Creating a pricing system based on consumption would require an accurate water metering system to also be in place. Moving forward any new water pipe infrastructure would be required to have accurate metering, and updating outdated water metering will begin in high consumption areas.
The extra costs from the increased rates will be put into a water trust fund. I drew inspiration from Aquafondo, a Nature Conservancy Project in Lima, which has a similar system, but is based on water tariffs that are paid by utilities to pay for ecosystem services, green infrastructure, and climate change adaptation. The fund will be overseen by local NGOS and stakeholders, which will add another level of accountability and hopefully not allow mismanagement and corruption to occur. Some potential partners include AquaFondo or the water.org project which goal is to provide water to everyone using private funds and affordable micro financing options.
The trust fund will fund 3 major initiatives, the first being simply providing municipal access to where it is needed. The trust fund will fund 3 major initiatives, the first being simply providing municipal access to where it is needed. This goes along with the previous President’s Plan “Agua para Todos” or water for all. The locations would have to be strategic and only where financially feasible. For example, areas that are already are close to piped water infrastructure or areas with density that can support pulling piped water out.
The next initiative is using the funds for community-based infrastructure. This would be neighborhood faucets, where people could fill up or perhaps large storage tanks The picture on the left is a water storage tank in the informal settlement Urucancha, and with the help of MedLife a non-profit that helps communities in Latin America and Africa get access to water and health services they were able to build it. The way it works is water trucks come into the neighborhood, fill the tanks up, and the residents can have longer term access to water rather than storing water in blue barrels where it was prone to get contaminated. The last initiative is to subsidize private water suppliers. With NGO oversight the private suppliers would hopefully be able to provide cheaper water rates for hard to access places. Currently citizens with running water pay 40 cents per cubic meter while water from tankers costs 6 dollars per cubic meter.
A lot of the informal settlements of Lima, where municipal water access is not available it is not feasible either. On the right is Urucancha, the low density of development, and steep mountain slope make it difficult to provide municipal water access. By using the water trust fund to subsidize private water, such as tankers, the people who live in these informal settlements can have access to clean water and not be paying ridiculous amounts for it. Hopefully using all three of these initiatives will help provide water access to the people in Lima who need it the most.
SOURCES
ARTICLES
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30390041
https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/waterandwaste/lima-water-project-kicks-off
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30390041
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6412351.stm
https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/waterandwaste/peru-building-limas-first-desalination-plant1
The geography of Multiple scarcities:Urban Development and water problems in Lima Peru
Integrated Water Resources Management inPeru
Water scarcity and the exclusionary city:the struggle for water justice in Lima Peru
GIS DATA
https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=0da030d7979c46088b1bcd1e8225cd90
https://data.humdata.org/dataset/hotosm_per_waterways
https://data.humdata.org/dataset/hidrografia-de-peru
https://data.humdata.org/dataset/fisiografia-de-peru
https://data.humdata.org/dataset/limites-de-peru
PHOTOS
https://peru21.pe/lima/vecinos-alerta-incremento-caudal-rio-rimac-chosica-videos-392899
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rio_Rimac_-panoramio.jpg https://elcomercio.pe/lima/devastador-paso-rio-lurin-cieneguilla-fotos-145003?foto=9 https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GCEU_enUS844US844&biw=1920&bih=888&tbs=isz%3Al&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=dPG-XP-RGYey5wKGoYiAAg& q=informal+settlements+lima+peru&oq=informal+settlements+lima+peru&gs_l=img.3…2617985.2624388..2624945…3.0..0.169.2 565.12j12……1….1..gws-wiz-img…….35i39j0j0i7i30j0i7i5i30j0i5i30.b_Cc1OyBXNQ#imgrc=mPUzevdiWdcEOM: https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GCEU_enUS844US844&biw=1920&bih=888&tbs=isz%3Al&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=dPG-XP-RGYey5wKGoYiAAg& q=informal+settlements+lima+peru&oq=informal+settlements+lima+peru&gs_l=img.3…2617985.2624388..2624945…3.0..0.169.2 565.12j12……1….1..gws-wiz-img…….35i39j0j0i7i30j0i7i5i30j0i5i30.b_Cc1OyBXNQ#imgrc=eB38ij4c84FICM: https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GCEU_enUS844US844&biw=1920&bih=888&tbs=isz%3Al&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=dPG-XP-RGYey5wKGoYiAAg& q=informal+settlements+lima+peru&oq=informal+settlements+lima+peru&gs_l=img.3…2617985.2624388..2624945…3.0..0.169.2 565.12j12……1….1..gws-wiz-img…….35i39j0j0i7i30j0i7i5i30j0i5i30.b_Cc1OyBXNQ#imgrc=Ib7AsXR5DtSaoM: https://www.google.com/search?q=san+isidro+peru&tbm=isch&source=lnt&tbs=isz:l&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwib6-vVlObhAhWrrVkKHfGdCBc- QpwUIIQ&biw=1920&bih=888&dpr=1#imgrc=
https://www.google.com/search?q=aquafondo&rlz=1C1GCEU_enUS844US844&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj98ePL3PfhAhUrhOAKHUZWBdgQ_
AUIECgD&biw=1536&bih=722#imgrc=X3mOzeKnqNSaxM:
https://www.google.com/search?q=water.org&rlz=1C1GCEU_enUS844US844&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj06t2O3ffhAhVPTd8KHcSLCWEQ_
AUIECgD&biw=1536&bih=674#imgrc=JGs134Mc-ONrSM:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/waterdotorg/albums/72157696186489464/with/27990080300/
https://www.medlifemovement.org/blog/item/538-water-access-in-lima.html