Bolivia declares national emergency amidst drought

Bolivia has declared a national emergency as the Andean country struggles to cope with severe drought amidst the highest temperatures seen in a century.

The government issued decree 2987, which will facilitate allocation of funding to local governments around the country to invest in potable water projects, President Evo Morales said.

The government has created work teams made up of engineers to analyze water solutions such as storage tanks, rainwater catchment and new wells, particularly in the capital, Morales said.

"This phenomenon has appeared due to climate change. The lakes continue to dry up and people are praying for rain," Morales said in broadcast comments. "It's now everyone's obligation not to waste water."

Morales last week replaced the head of state water company Epsas and the director of state water authority AAPS for failing to warn the government about the lack of water supply in La Paz, a highland city of 800,000 inhabitants.

Epsas extended water rationing in the capital this week, restricting water availability to three hours a day from eight hours a day previously, according to La Paz-based newspaper La Razón.

The government earlier this year announced a US$158mn investment program in water and irrigation projects to counter the impact of widespread drought, which has affected at least 174,000 families in 172 of the country's 339 municipalities. Drought has blighted 500,000ha of croplands, killed tens of thousands of livestock and caused an estimated US$500mn in losses, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The drought comes in the wake of the El Niño phenomenon, which causes warmer sea temperatures in the Pacific Ocean and sparked widespread flooding in Bolivia and much of South America last year. The country now faces La Niña, where cooler ocean temperatures leads to drought in the highlands.

Bolivia's government seeks to expand potable water and sewerage coverage to 100% of its population by 2025, according to the environment and water ministry.

While Morales has pledged US$48.6bn in infrastructure and energy investments over the next five years, his government is struggling to line up financing as economic growth slows. Bolivia, which depends on natural gas for half its export revenue, saw hydrocarbon revenue plunge 50.8% to US$1.1bn in the first half.

Morales, who lost a referendum to extend his mandate in February after being sworn in for a third consecutive term last year, has seized pension funds, oil fields, mines, electricity, water and telecommunications companies since first taking office in 2006 in a bid to strengthen state control over the economy.

Morales allocated US$6.395bn to public spending in 2016, compared with US$6.178bn last year. The country, which allocated US$2.5bn to infrastructure projects in 2015, earmarked 30% of this year's budget to infrastructure.