In desert suburb of Lima, poorest pay most for scarce water

[Buster's Uncle]

In desert suburb of Lima, poorest pay most for scarce water
Reuters
By Alister Doyle  December 12, 2014 12:09 PM



NUEVO PACHACUTEC, Peru (Reuters) - On a desert hillside north of Lima, a worker with a hose splashes water from a truck into plastic containers in a dusty neighborhood where the very poorest people pay most for water.

Water will become scarcer in sprawling settlements such as Nuevo Pachacutec on the Pacific coast as the population of Peru's capital surges and global warming thaws Andean glaciers, reducing flows in coming decades as the ice disappears.

The world's environment ministers are meeting in Lima this week to work out ways to fight climate change but residents doubt a United Nations deal due in Paris next year will ease problems for 160,000 people in this area.

"We often feel a bit forgotten," said Danitza Cruz Navarro, 40, who lives on an unpaved street where trucks carrying water filtered from the River Chillon fill containers as the only source of water under a tropical sun.

"Mosquitos breed in some of the containers. The children get a lot of illnesses," she said. She counts herself lucky because she has a 1,100 liter (290 U.S. gallon) sealed tank, rather than just open-top plastic drums like many neighbors.

Nearby, Ycella Bonilla, 36, says her family pays 80 soles ($27) a month for water, far more than about 10 soles for richer people in the city connected to municipal pipes.

The Lima talks are trying to cut greenhouse gas emissions and raise cash to help poor nations cope with impacts such as those on water supplies.

Two decades ago, Nuevo Pachacutec was empty desert.

"When we got here there was just sand," Bonilla said in her home with pumpkin plants growing in the yard. "Now there's electricity, Internet, water. It's not adequate but it's better."

Daily water consumption in Nuevo Pachacutec is estimated at 16 liters per capita, compared to a minimum of 50 liters per person set by the World Health Organization for basic needs.

"The very poor have least access to water and are paying the most. This is not just about poverty, this is also about injustice," said Armando Mendoza Nava of aid charity Oxfam. "With climate change this problem will get worse."

Local development group Alternativa, backed by the German government, has provided some people, including Cruz and Bonilla, with sealed tanks. The 1,100 litre tanks cost 440 soles cash, or 540 with a micro-loan.

(Reporting By Alister Doyle; Editing by Grant McCool)


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