Bolivia moving ahead with La Paz water projects

The Bolivian government inaugurated a 97mn-boliviano (US$13.5mn) potable water pipeline in capital La Paz as President Evo Morales strives to avoid a repeat of last year's water rationing due to drought.

The Pongo Estrellani dam will pump 200lt/sec from the Unduavi river to the Incachaca water distribution system, benefitting 300,000 inhabitants, according to an environment and water ministry statement.

The system, which involves two pumping stations, 6,000km of piping and an electricity substation, is part of a nine-project program to guarantee water supply in La Paz for the next 30 years, environment minister Carlos Ortuño said in the statement.

"The government is investing 462mn bolivianos to guarantee water in La Paz and El Alto," Morales said at the inauguration ceremony.

The government, which brought online the Palcoma pipeline and Alto Hampaturi dam last year, will add another 350lt/sec of water from the Alpaquita, Pampalarama and Chacaltaya dams currently under construction, social investment fund director Vladimir Sánchez told state Radio Patria Nueva. The dams will have a total capacity of 7,600m3.

Other projects include dredging the Tuni dam, lining the Milluni canal, the Jankho Khota pumping system and the Oeste water wells, according to the environment ministry.

Morales, who declared a national emergency in November 2016 and sacked his top water officials for failing to warn the government about the lack of water supply, is accelerating potable water and sewerage projects after the country's worst drought in half a century forced state water utility Epsas to restrict water services late last year in La Paz, a highland city of 800,000 inhabitants.

The government, which completed the US$146mn Misicuni reservoir in March 2016, has invested an additional 980mn bolivianos in potable water and irrigation systems over the past decade, according to the environment ministry.

The eastern Andean region over the past year suffered the effects of both global warming and the La Niña phenomenon, where cooler ocean temperatures cause drought in the highlands. Morales is seeking US$500mn in international emergency aid to invest in potable water and irrigation infrastructure.