Thousands of community members, ranchers, artisanal fishermen, farmers, among others, are being affected by the progressive drying of the Ñapique lagoon, located in the Sechura desert, jurisdiction of the Cristo Nos Valga district, in the province of Sechura, region Piura.
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Leaders Lucio Pingo Paiva and Pedro Espinoza Galán said that the Ñapique lagoon is drying up because it has no natural water supply and is in danger of disappearing in the coming months.
“We had warned that the lagoon could disappear in the next six months and that this would directly affect cattle ranchers and thousands of jobs in family agriculture, fishermen in the lagoon, tourism and all the activities that take place in this place,” the leaders explained.
They added that this situation has worsened in recent weeks and could be caused by the cleaning and protection work on the Piura River dam, carried out by the Regional Government. There, a channel was dug to divert water towards the desert and the sea, but the natural accesses that allowed the lagoon to be supplied and to fulfil its natural function throughout the year were blocked.
Congresswoman Maricruz Zeta also visited the site, following warnings from ranchers and citizens, and verified the enormous retreat of the water mirror that encompasses this large lagoon and that today its space has been reduced by almost two thirds of its original size.
He recalled that there is Law 31413 which declared the Tapa de Cuy, a dam in the lower part of the river, of national public interest and necessity, which would serve to retain water in this part of the basin and in times of drought, such as the current one, could supply both the fields and the lagoons or natural reservoirs that are in the lower part of the desert.
