2023-12-01 20:43:20
Latin America as a whole faces this problem. According to the World Resources Institute, about 15% of the region’s territory and 35% of its population are located in areas with moderate to extreme levels of water stress. Along these lines, in 2040, 43% of the Latin American population would live in areas of moderate to extreme water stress. A dialogue between the countries of the region is important on how to guarantee drinking water and sanitation services in the face of the impact of water deficit, one of the probable consequences of the coastal El Niño phenomenon.
For this reason, last Wednesday, Lima hosted the XV Ibero-American Regulation Forum, which brought together experts and representatives of regulatory organizations from 18 Latin American countries and Portugal. In this way, it was possible to learn about the experiences of other nations to sustain drinking water and sewage services in the face of extreme events such as droughts or floods.
Sandra Rodríguez spoke about the strategy that the Uruguayan government applied to face the water crisis that the country suffered in the middle of the year. Photo: Sunass
“This event allows us to strengthen collaboration and exchange of knowledge between regulatory bodies in the region, as well as promote the sustainability of drinking water and sanitation services in Latin America and the Caribbean,” said Mauro Gutiérrez, executive president of Sunass, in the inauguration of the forum. This institution presides over the Association of Water and Sanitation Regulatory Entities of the Americas (Aderasa).
An international example of how to deal with a shortage of drinking water as a result of an extreme phenomenon is the case of Uruguay. The lack of rain in the first half of the year caused the reserves of the Paso Severino dam, the main source of drinking water supply for Montevideo and the metropolitan area, to decrease to 1.7% of its total capacity at the beginning of July.
Critical drop
2021: Water level in the Paso Severino reserve, the main source of water supply for Montevideo
In 2023
Paso Severino dam level in June.
Sandra Rodríguez, an official in the Regulatory Unit of Energy and Water Services of Uruguay (URSEA), explained the strategy that the Uruguayan government applied in June to improve the quality of water that reached the homes of 1.7 million people in the metropolitan area, where the increase in sodium levels due to the lack of rain made it practically undrinkable.
“The construction of a dam was determined in the town of Parador Tajes that allowed the Santa Lucía River to pump water up so that it is dammed with the fresh water of the San José River. In this way, in addition to the water from the Paso Severino dam, the fluid was maintained with the appropriate salinity and chloride levels for citizen consumption,” Rodríguez explained.
On the other hand, Mauro Gutiérrez told El Comercio about the multidimensional impact of drinking water, a characteristic that determines why regulatory companies must guarantee that all citizens have access to this service.
Mauro Gutiérrez, executive president of Sunass. Photo: Sunass
“In homes with drinking water service, cases of diarrhea are reduced by 10%. At the rural level, in schools that have access to sanitation services, students improve their grades, get sick less, and drop out is reduced. Furthermore, families with access to drinking water pay up to 6 times less than those who buy from cisterns,” he explained.
What contingency plans will be implemented in the event of El Niño Costero?
Mauro Gutiérrez mentioned to El Comercio that Sunass is promoting the development of contingency plans at the national level with the 50 sanitation service provider companies (EP) in Peru in the face of the arrival of El Niño Costero that could cause intense rains in the north and center of the country, or a deficit of these in the southern zone.
“In the north, work is being done so that, in the event of a flood or flood in a point in the region, the EPS immediately install pumps that suck and remove the accumulated water. It has already started in Piura and will continue in more regions so as not to act only when the emergency breaks out. In the south, the contingency plan requires the EPS to develop a strategy to send tanker trucks and other non-conventional means of supply to areas where drought exists,” he said.
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On the other hand, the executive president of Sunass mentioned that closing gaps in water and sanitation services requires 120,000 million soles in investments until 2030. However, the current investment programs of the 50 EPS have 712 million annual soles, an “insufficient budget.” For this reason, Gutiérrez calls for the Executive to increase the budget allocated to sanitation services.
Likewise, Gutiérrez maintained that the autonomy of Sunass must be preserved to approve the rates and prices of the services of water providers nationwide so that the population receives sanitation services under quality conditions.
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