Bolivia water minister resigns, faces drought management probe

Bolivia's top government official for water issues resigned amidst judicial investigations into the government's handling of the country's worst drought in 30 years.

Environment and water minister Alexandra Moreira ruled out attending a congressional interpellation this week for her role in the widespread and ongoing water rationing in the Andean nation's capital as President Evo Morales accepted her resignation.

Moreira, the latest victim in a major overhaul of state water officials since the water crisis began in November and sparked widespread protests, said her office had sent congress at least 10 reports on the situation.

"We complied with informing congress. We sent all the corresponding information," Moreira told reporters in La Paz in broadcast comments. "It no longer behooves me to be present at the interpellation."

Morales in November declared a national emergency and sacked all his top water officials for failing to warn the government about the lack of water supply in La Paz, a highland city of 800,000 inhabitants. State water utility Epsas is restricting water services in 94 neighborhoods of the capital.

The government is working on the Pampahuasi intake system to channel more water to La Paz and has been sending water cistern trucks and installing water tanks in neighborhoods around the city, Moreira said. She added rationing has eased as recent rains partly replenished reservoir levels.

Moreira and former officials from Epsas and state water authority AAPS will have to testify in an ongoing investigation into the government's handling of the crisis, Bolivia's attorney general Ramiro Guerrero said in a televised press conference.

Opposition parties have been calling for both Moreira and her deputy water minister Harold Guerrero to face legal investigations.

"The minister can´t be exonerated from civil and penal responsibility for the lack of action taken, which has led to a profound water crisis," Unidad Demócrata party congresswoman Fernanda San Martín told local media.

The Andean region is facing the effects of the La Niña phenomenon, where cooler ocean temperatures cause drought in the highlands, affecting crops and livestock.

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 the bulk of its export revenue, saw exports drop 20% to US$6.652bn through November 2016.

Pension fund

The government's decision to siphon off US$150mn from Bolivia's US$14bn pension fund to provide credit for drought-stricken farmers won't affect the system, finance minister Luis Arce said, in response to criticism from labor unions.

"In the worst of cases, if we lost the money, would it bankrupt the pension fund system? No," local daily La Razón cited Arce as saying. "The US$150mn in capital is guaranteed."

Morales' administration set up a state pension system in 2011 after seizing private pension funds operated by Spain's BBVA and Zurich Financial Services of Switzerland.