Evo Morales Addresses Unease Amid Water Crisis

Bolivian President Evo Morales announced four plans on December 1 to address unease after three weeks of water rationing and protests in the capital city of La Paz. In an effort to counteract declining water levels, La Paz began rationing water in early December. Three key dams that supply the city reached performance levels of under 10 percent capacity, sparking chaos as citizens suffered from the lack of clean water. Hardest hit were the city’s southern districts where long lines and feuds between neighbors became commonplace at water distribution points.

“Sometimes people come with very large jugs which create fear for the people in the back of the line that they will not receive water” said Susana A., a resident of the Huajchilla neighborhood in La Paz. Protests and roadblocks threaten the city as government water officials have been taken hostage.

The widespread chaos and fear is not new, however. Crises over the water-distribution system are frequent occurrences in Bolivia, most notably the 2004 Water Wars in Cochabamba when Bolivian water moved from private to public management.

The plans proposed by President Morales are the product of three weeks of work by the Presidential Cabinet and newly formed Water Cabinet, a creation of the recently declared state of emergency.

Morales’ plans cover a wide array of responses and span the next 120 days. Morales aims to construct an eight kilometer pipe to carry water from Lake Khasiri, an 18 kilometer pipe that will carry water from the Pongo, Estrellani, and Incachaca districts, and a third from the Irpavi River. The complex technology is a single step in the plans of building water purification plants, a policy that would overwhelmingly improve the quality of water and life for the citizens. Lastly, the plan calls for a new dam on the Choqueyapu River in an effort to provide 100 liters of water per second, the most advanced dam of its kind in Bolivia.

Despite these aims, concerns remain high over La Paz’s future water use as the ongoing La Nina weather phenomenon is expected to cause even drier conditions.