Waters from Above: A Collective Account of an Ever Flowing Stream

In Peru, global warming is merely a starting point for injustice. As the snow capped mountains relentlessly release their melting waters to the desert lands below and eventually to the seas beyond, there is another injustice at work — the injustice of how that water is channeled. Below is a collective account of the story of how water flows from one mountain area of Huancavelica to one lowland desert area of Ica — from the indigenous lands above occupied through centuries of care and tradition down to the corporate lands below who hope to generate economic growth for years to come.

To make desert land more arable, a channel was built from the high glacier-fed lakes to the Ica desert area, where asparagus, cotton and other crops are now cultivated. In fact, this looks like very successful development — Peru exports more asparagus than any other country in the world. Forty percent of that is grown in Ica. The United States buys more asparagus than any other country in the world. But, with glaciers melting, a larger percentage of water is flowing away from the mountains to the desert to support the production and export of asparagus. This is creating conflict in Peru. Read the story of the waters as told by community members, NGO representatives and government officials from both Huancavelica and Ica.

Section 1: Voices from Huancavelica — the mountains above

Silvano Guerrero Quispe
President, Community Affairs Commission
Community of Carhuancho

The first references to the indigenous community of Carhuancho appeared in 1696 as a ranch, a site where there were around 25 indigenous persons. And in 1712, the community of Carhuancho was already recognized by the Viceroy Don Diego Ladrón de Guevara, with a title that supports it in the position of its soils. Since those times to today, we have maintained ourselves on those lands, which our parents have left us. Our fundamental activity is the alpaca, we have been raising alpacas long ago and we are alpaca ranchers.

Dante Carhuallanqui Ibarra
Natural resources and environmental manager
Regional Government of Huancavelica

This is a resource that is generated in the high areas of Huancavelica, through the snow caps, through the marshes, through all of the water sources. It forms the bodies of water like lakes. We have the Choclococha lagoon, the Orcococha lagoon, etc. They are, shall we say, a group of aquifers which for over approximately 50 years, Ica has channeled this resources in its entirety to irrigate its farmlands.

Silvano Guerrero Quispe
President, Community Affairs Commission
Community of Carhuancho

None of the water coming from the highlands goes out of the channel to us, it stays in the channel and the water goes to the Ica valley and leaves the communities, the farmers, the residents of the lower parts, without any water.

Angélica Betalilluz Chirinos
Huancavelica Water Management Technical Round Table
ATIYPAQ NGO

Actually, this channel would be totally harmless if it maintained its normal course. Years ago, there was a channel that took the water to the coast, but it didn’t have this concrete material which keeps the water from filtering to the sides.

Floriberto Quispe Cáceres, engineer
Executive Director Huancavelica Water Management Technical Round Table

The effect of sending the water towards Ica by way of this large collector channel is precisely the interruption of these natural water flows which before the construction of this channel, continued their natural flow and fed the marshes and natural grass lands which are located all along the lower part of this large collection channel.

Silvano Guerrero Quispe
President, Community Affairs Commission
Community of Carhuancho

The engineers who have managed the projects are not in the least bit interested in the problems of the farmers further up, the only thing they want is to take the water. Their mission is to take the water to Ica, but the rest is of no interest; the problem of the marshes, the destruction of ranches, of grass lands, the use of explosives, the abuse of the ecosystems; that doesn’t exist in their minds.

Marta Ventura Riveros
Community Leader of Huaracco

Fifty years ago, this irrigation channel to Ica was constructed and during all that time, we have lost animals. Here are alpaca, sheep, llama; everything has been destroyed by the channel.

Shepherdess
Community of Choclococha

We are very worried because it is affecting us and this lagoon and it will continue to affect us.

Angélica Betalilluz Chirinos
Huancavelica Water Management Technical Round Table

In order to use the channel water, the law forces the farmers and herders of Huancavelica, to pay the Watering Association of Ica. The Watering Association of Ica, unfortunately is only thinking of their area. What they do is rehabilitate the parts of the channel which are damaged, but they do not invest in reforestation of this area, which would be a way for the water to maintain the volume we still have.

Silvano Guerrero Quispe
President, Community Affairs Commission
Community of Carhuancho

We, as native communities, and even though we are owners of our communities, of our soils, of our resources, however, it seems that in Ica, they still think like back in the ‘50s or earlier, when the landlord or landowner could do as he wished with the resources, he had the say and the common peasant, the native, or Indian, if that is what you want to call them, had no say.

Section 2: Voices from Ica — the desert below

Carlos Gonzáles Fuentes
Operations and maintenance chief
Water Users Association of La Achirana — Ica

The water comes from the highlands of the department of Huancavelica, from the Choclococha lagoon. It comes by way of the river bed and arrives to this part of the Ica Valley for the users of this valley.

Wilder Ramos
Farmer

Here in Ica there have always been problems, we wait for the rains, and I don’t know, they will last one more month and then we will have to wait until November, October, November and December, until the water returns, ‘til the rains start.

Juan Pineda Moran, Engineer
General Manager — PETACC

This hydraulic plan is always intended to being able to establish a balance in the valley. What does balance mean? Balance is being able to try to have the necessary water resources in accordance with the agricultural and other needs that exist in the Ica region. As this initial Choclococha Project was being set up, a supply was generated and a reclaiming of the valley aquifer, but as the recovery took place, it developed the structure of the valley, also increasing the farming area. As the farming areas grew, it has also generated a widening of the agricultural border and each time it is not exclusively dedicated to the recovery of the aquifer but there are also other needs to be addressed, so once again we came back to the situation we had in the ‘50s. We need more water.

Section 3: The conversation continues

Ivonne Pacheco Maita, attorney
Huancavelica Water Management Technical Round Table —  CEPES NGO

Unfortunately, the water use needs of high Andean communities of Huancavelica are not taken into consideration. They rely on economic activities like alpaca farming, human consumption, for example even including activities which are starting to develop such as water farms.

Federico Salas Schultz
President, Huancavelica Regional Government

We have already begun to gather technicians in order to find a solution. That is, a solution which does not continue to turn the Huancavelica sierra into a desert mountain. We cannot allow it to be drained by way of channels carrying water to Ica … There is a concept that the people of Ica have not been able to understand. For them, I think, their concern boils down to the export of more asparagus this year, but they don’t realize that there is a much more serious and bigger problem. That being the total collapse of Ica’s agro-exports if, as of today we don’t start to plan for the “water harvest”.

Dimas Gonzáles Bravo, engineer
Technical manager for the Huancavelica Irrigation District

25 years ago one could find water beneath the desert floor of Ica at 25-30 meters deep and you could pump 24 hours a day. Now, wells are being dug to 120, 130 meters, which means that the groundwater level has decreased considerably and what is most unfortunate and dangerous is that is that one of those wells could run into salt water which would actually ruining the entire aquifer.

José Chlimper
President, Agrokasa

The Agro-exporters deepen our wells, but the towns that use them for human consumption do not always have the resources or speed to do the same. Therefore I foresee social problems in the future if the aquifer is not well managed. We have the capacity to replenish it intelligently but we are not doing it.

Jorge Caillaux, attorney
President, Environmental Law Society of Peru

In every society water is not only a sacred asset for many, but it is at the core of social and economic organization. Currently, international law recognizes the access to water as a human right. Therefore a society that distributes this right in an unequal manner is a society that is violating human rights.

Floriberto Quispe Cáceres, engineer
Executive director, Huancavelica Water Management Technical Round Table

There are solutions. There are alternatives that we need to agree on between Huancavelica and Ica. There is a need to re-vegetate all these natural grass lands because they serve as a cushion more or less to store, to draw in more water and replenish the aquifer in a more efficient way.

Zarem Adinaguyev
Environmental and agricultural consultant

We need to build mid-sized reservoirs all along the entire river basin. You store water so that it can filter underneath or you let it go little by little towards the coast.

Federico Salas Schultz
President, Huancavelica Regional Government

I think that this is an issue that can be resolved through dialog, as long as the authorities in Ica, and I’d say the agro-industrials and also the people dedicated to agriculture in Ica understand that it is a common problem for both Regions. Nothing will ever be resolved if one of them, whichever, will only want to resolve things only to their own benefit and does not care what happens to the other.

Wilder Ramos
Farmer from Ica

I think that what they are asking for in Huancavelica is fair. Because if we use the water that they have there, then I think that Ica should pay them back in some other way.

Silvano Guerrero Quispe
President, Community Affairs Commission
Community of Carhuancho

As indigenous people from the highlands, we will continue to live there and we should have the unencumbered right to the resources left to us by our ancestors.