JICA, environ. authority sign water resources agreement

Japan's international cooperation agency Jica and Paraguay's environment authority Seam have signed a three-year water resources technical cooperation agreement, Diario ABC Color and La Nacion reported. Under the agreement, Jica will help establish an environment monitoring system for the Ypacarai lake and Paraguay river basins, investigate what effects the use of Ypacarai water has on residents, and how to improve water quality in the basin areas. Seam, along with the national environmental sanitation service Senasa, will coordinate the effort. In October, Senasa reported that all but one of the beaches along the Paraguay river have high fecal chloroform levels. Ypacarai is a shallow and swampy natural lake some 30km east of the capital Asuncion, with a surface area of some 60 sq. km and a maximum depth of 3m, according to the Worlds Lake Database, which adds that the lake has recently suffered from progressive eutrophication owing to the nutrient discharge from surrounding crop fields, livestock farms, residential areas, deforestation and large-scale land development. According to a Jica report, wastewater and household effluent is deteriorating the water quality of both inflowing rivers and the lake, which is a crucial drinking-water source for landlocked Paraguay.