Fighting water scarcity in Peru

Lima, Peru faces serious water stress, which is particularly pronounced during the dry season months of May through December. During the rainy season, the region enjoys a surplus of water: reservoirs are full and river flow is high. However, the dry season sees very little rain and, therefore, shortages of water in reservoirs, streams, and rivers. Five years ago, the water utility serving Lima, SEDAPAL, approved the largest financial commitment for natural infrastructure investment of any country in Latin America, to be funded by the monthly tariffs paid by the city’s water users. The funding’s focus is on projects in the upper catchments of the Chillon, Rimac, and Alto Mantaro rivers that feed Lima. The challenge lies in deciding which projects to fund. Which projects provide the best bang-for-the-buck in terms of ensuring water reaches Lima during the dry season?

K&A worked with Forest Trends under a USAID funded project to answer that question. Our goal was to develop a series of quantification methodologies and easy-to-use tools for the different types of conservation practices being considered in Peru. What we developed was launched by Forest Trends as CUBHIC. This series of tools utilizes condensed and modified versions of complex hydrologic models such as SWAT that can work inside of a simple Excel spreadsheet, allowing project managers to easily compare the benefits of different projects in terms of both water quantity and when that water is made available for use. Having these tools available will allow conservation funding to be put to use where it can make the most impact.