Cuzco warning due to water shortage | Piure Pond | Sincero | Peru

While landslides, floods, landslides and stream action due to atypical rains have been recorded on the edge of the Cusco forest, the high Andean regions present droughts and water shortages, in both cases with direct consequences for thousands of families, agriculture and livestock. .

Cusco has a varied climate, its territory is divided into Andean mountains (cold – temperate climate) and semi-tropical forests (hot – humid climate). “Cusco is a different territory, we have areas above 3,300 meters above sea level, where we have water shortages in the high Andean areas and another different panorama in the La Convención Valley, which this weekend provided different rains. Activating several streams that ended in various landslides, the floods affected communication routesMiguel Osco, Director of the Risk and Security Management Office of the Regional Government of Cusco, said.

According to officials of the National Institute of Civil Defense (Indesi), the El Nino phenomenon will bring heavy rains on the northern coast, although it will have the opposite effect due to lack of rainfall in the southern part of the country. Water shortages have severely affected more than one million people in 41 provinces and 131 districts, including Puno, Cusco, Dagna, Huancavelica, Pasco, Junín, Ayacucho, Arequipa, and Apurimac, causing severe damage to agriculture, livestock, and vegetation.

Beure Lagoon: Sinceros

In areas above three thousand meters above sea level, sporadic rainfall in recent days has not been sufficient to restore the water flow levels in the springs and lagoons that supply this liquid element to the various high Andean sectors of the Imperial sector. The case of Buray Lake, located in the district of Sincero (Urubamba), where the water gradually descended in its course, away from the banks, leaving a plain of cracked land.

According to contracts with sanitation service provider EPS SedaCusco, drinking water service to Cusco must automatically shut off once water levels reach intake levels, residents say.

“The Bure Pond is receding by half a centimeter per day“, he emphasized Trade Juan Ernesto Figueroa, Chairman of the Board of Directors of EPS SedaCusco, which has the Piuray Lagoon as one of its main sources of surface water collection, providing 37.67% to the upper and central areas of the city of Cusco. That means an average of 15 cm of water per month.

By March 2022, the city recorded an annual production of 9 million cubic meters of water, equivalent to 286 liters per second, according to information from Seda Cusco. “Now, historically it has come down to almost 200 liters per second“, pointed out the SedaCusco director in a statement a month ago.

By then, if at least 100 liters per second are cut, the population will have only ninety more days of supply. Currently, shortages in months, weeks or days are at risk of closure of the bure and indefinite interruption of drinking water service.

Water only for two hours a day

More than 10 thousand residents of Sincero, who live around the lake, are already experiencing the effects lasting only two hours, they cannot water their crops or meet other needs, as well as rationalize water consumption, proper maintenance. Pool gates to prevent spillage. They also condemn the pollution of the water table and non-compliance with commitments such as the water consolidation plans for the Beure Lake and the plan to maintain the functioning of the measures taken to restore ecosystem services.

The low water level in Buray Lake is a result of the impact of climate change and the lack of significant rainfall from the El Niño event. Leonardo Levita, President of the Bure – Corimarca Micro-Basin said Trade He expressed his displeasure over the lack of timely action by the authorities to address the situation, adding that the MERESE Agreements, the remuneration mechanisms for environmental services signed between the City Council of Sedacusco, Sincero District and the Management Committee, have also not been fulfilled. Burey’s – Corimarca Microbasin.

Recently, on November 10, a multi-sectoral technical committee was formed on the situation of Bure Lake. Leonardo Levita, a decrease in water levels has been evident for five months since June.

“The water supply has decreased since June. The local authorities have not responded in time and I request the national government to take action on this. Sincero only has two hours of mains water supply, and before that it was until midday. Years ago there were other springs, but due to the El Nino phenomenon, global warming, those springs have dried up and we have less supply.Levita said.

The situation in Sincero is not new, in the period from 1993 to 1996, the water level of Buray fell by 3 meters below the catchment force, causing the loss of hectares and many families affected by landslides. Lands, acc. To Leonardo Levida, the glassy state of the pool was restored at that time.

“Lands belonging to six communities adjacent to the pond are at risk of collapsing just like the landslides in the nineties that destroyed more than 100 hectares. Today. So officials like Sedakusco, aware of this situation, should have done something in advance, built big dams, harvested water, forested, but they were not interested and devoted themselves to water exploitation.”, emphasized the head of Bure – Corimarca micro-basin.

Juan Ernesto Figueroa, President of the EPS SedaCusco Board of Directors, indicated that the interconnection of the Piuray – Vilcanota drinking water supply systems is a key proposal to address water shortages.We have taken several steps to request the extension of the emergency declaration for Laguna Pueré. Spaces for dialogue were created to solve this problem, one of which was to connect Vilcanota to the Buera system, that is, to bring water from the Pinipamba aquifer in Antahuaylas (Urgos – Quispicanchi) to the high northwest of Cusco. , that is, for the puree system, we are in that task” he announced.

Finally, the authority assured that they have been maintaining a dialogue with the residents of Sincero over the years and evaluating strategies to rationalize water. “Understanding this situation and creating awareness among citizens to save water, we are going to study with technical experts the possibilities of water distribution in the coming months with the support of people.”, he noted.

Last Friday, November 10, a technical table was established on the situation of the Buray Basin, where the leaders of the Buray – Corrimarca Micro Basin Committee, the Mayor of the Sincero District, the Mayor of the Province of Cusco, representatives of the Regional Government of Cusco. , EPS participated, SedaCusco, the National Water Commission – ANA, the Office of the Ombudsman, the National Research Institute for Glaciers and Mountain Ecosystems INAIGEM, the Observatory of National Health Services – SUNASS and other organizations involved in developing a common proposal in support of the sustainability of the ecosystem The service hydrology provided by the Buray reservoir. The next meeting will be held on December 15.