WASHINGTON, D.C., April 28, 2017.- More than 3.8 million Peruvians will benefit from a new integrated water management project financed with a US$ 40 million loan approved today by the World Bank 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. The “Coastal Niño” killed 114 people, displaced some 180,000 and affected more than 1.8 million in all.
“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 percent of the country’s water resources. Additionally, worsening water quality, insufficient wastewater 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 in general on the economy.
“With this project, the World Bank will continue efforts to strengthen 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 Rodríguez, World Bank Director for Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. “We hope to help the country prevent water disasters.”
This project is a continuation of a previous intervention supported by the World Bank 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 will create four new water basin boards in Urubamba, Pampas, Mantaro, and Alto Mayo, all located in the Atlantic hydrological region.
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, of which the Government of Peru will contribute US$48.15 million and the World Bank, 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.
