More than 3.8 million Peruvians will benefit from a new integrated water management project financed with a US$40 million loan approved on Friday by the World Bank Group (WBG) Board of Directors.
The project, Integrated Management of Water Resources in 10 Basins of Peru, helps prevent and mitigate natural disasters such as the recent flooding that affected the Peruvian coast.
As is known, the "Coastal El Niño" killed 114 people, displaced some 180,000 and affected more than 1 million.
"The approved project will help address the challenges to guarantee the country's water security by working to significantly improve integrated water resource management by 2021," said Abelardo De la Torre, Head of the National Water Authority (ANA).
In Peru, water shortages and climate variations are key concerns in many basins, particularly in the Pacific hydrological region, which, despite its vigorous economic activity and high population density, has only 1.8% of the country's water resources.
Additionally, worsening water quality, insufficient waste-water treatment in urban and industrial areas, together with unrestricted dumping —as well as mudslides and flooding— have a negative impact on human safety and health, the production costs of drinking water, agribusiness prospects and on the economy.
"With this project, the World Bank Group will continue efforts to strengthening ANA, the executive agency and maximum technical-legal authority of the National Water Resource Management System, which is responsible for enforcing the Water Resource Law," said Alberto Rodriguez, WBG Director for Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.
"We hope to help the country prevent water disasters," he added.
This project is a continuation of a previous intervention supported by the WBG to strengthen ANA capacities to develop a water quality management strategy and a program to promote a new "culture of water."
It also helped strengthen six water basin boards in Tumbes, Chira-Piura, Chancay-Lambayeque, Chancay-Huaral, Quilca-Chili and Caplina-Locumba in the Pacific hydrological region.
The new project will address water resources management challenges and prevent water disasters nationwide. In this new phase, the project will prioritize 24 of Peru's 159 basins due to their importance in production.
This project will strengthen the six existing water basin boards and create four new water basin boards in Urubamba, Pampas, Mantaro and Alto Mayo.
Specifically, the project will finance: the acquisition and installation of water quality monitoring equipment; measurement of use of water blocks for agricultural irrigation; monitoring of selected underground aquifers; modernization of the monitoring equipment of selected dams; and measurement of water volume and levels of important rivers.
The project will develop a comprehensive program of dam safety and will strengthen conflict resolution mechanisms. Additionally, it will build capacities to store, process, analyze and disseminate information; to monitor and forecast flooding and droughts; and to ensure the incorporation of these data in the National Water Resource Information System.
The total cost of the program is US$88.15 million, from which the Government of Peru will contribute US$48.15 million, and the WBG US$40.00 million. The project is scheduled for completion in 2022. The loan has a maturity date of seven years, including a five-year grace period.