For years, in Ica There has been talk of water shortage problems. Xynergica’s president, Manuel Olaecheahe pointed out that they have tried to blame agro-exports, but the situation is going in another direction.
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What’s happening with the water in Ica?
For example, agricultural exporters have the problem of a declining aquifer. Small farmers who use much more surface water than groundwater also have their problems. Due to climate change, we now have more water, but in less time. The region is growing more and more and the authorities are not able to build the infrastructure necessary to bring the resource to the population.
Why hasn’t something been done about it?
As agro-exporters, we are blamed for everything that happens in this regard, but every year in Ica, millions upon millions of cubic meters of fresh water are dumped into the sea. There are times when we don’t have water, but other times when we have plenty of it; however, instead of looking for a solution, they pass laws that lead us to continue in free fall. This, I repeat, affects small farmers more because they do not have the financial capacity of companies, which do have the funds to build the infrastructure and secure water. Infrastructure must be built to bring water from the wells to the residents.
What should the authorities do?
Municipalities have problems with public works. When they finally decide to carry out a water or sewerage project, it takes 10 years to complete, and it is already outdated and no longer useful for providing service to everyone. The easiest thing to do is to blame the companies, but if all the agro-industries stopped pumping water today, the aquifer would rise, but that would not give more water to the population, because the problem is that the pipes that should carry the resource do not exist. Due to the interests of some organizations, it is said that we, the agro-exporters, take the water, but this is not true and what must be done is to find a real solution; otherwise, we will end up worse off.
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Can these pipelines be built by the private sector?
The problem is that much of the growth in Ica has been due to land invasions that are not registered. If the municipality says it wants to provide water for these residents, the paperwork is not there. Until it is regularized, no money can be provided.
But beyond these titles, is the private sector willing?
We are building two population wells and participating in the construction of a wastewater treatment plant. As long as there is will, it is easy to solve. We can do it through works for taxes (or another method), but for that we need political will. The population must also understand that they must find a way to regularize the lands on which they live in order to request connections. There is a strong business push willing to work on this. We must take advantage of the fact that companies want to participate and leave blame behind. Ica deserves a solution to be able to grow, reduce poverty, and continue to provide jobs.
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