In Peru’s capital city, vulnerable communities pay a premium for water as poor infrastructure, population growth, and climate change pressure supplies.

Photo © J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue

Nearly 1 million people in Lima, Peru, are not connected to city water supplies. Instead, they receive water from tanker trucks and other private sources—many times at a significantly higher price. Click image to enlarge.

Households in Lima, Peru, that are not connected to city water supplies are paying up to six times as much for water as households with a connection, according to a survey released in May by the National Superintendence of Sanitation Services (SUNASS). Rapid population growth and a lack of corresponding infrastructure improvements have left some of the city’s most vulnerable communities without affordable, reliable water supplies—a situation that could worsen due to climate change.

More than 700,000 of Lima’s 9 million residents do not have a household water connection, the survey found, while many of those who are connected receive water only a few hours each day. The desert capital is one of the driest cities in the world, with a per capita water availability of less than 500 cubic meters (17,657 cubic feet), according to the National Water Authority of Peru. The city receives 25 millimeters (1 inch) of rainfall annually.

High prices for informal water supplies are a serious problem globally, especially in growing urban areas where poor people are disproportionately affected, according to the United Nations. In New Delhi, for example, an estimated 4 million people are unconnected to piped supplies and rely on water tankers, which sell water to residents at a price of up to $US 47.41 per 5,000-liter tank, The New York Times reported. In Mali, families unconnected to water utilities do not benefit from water subsidies, forcing them to pay higher prices, the Guardian reported. Even in California, poor families in the San Joaquin Valley must pay extra to secure safe drinking water supplies due to pollution from nitrates, according to Environmental Health News.

Lima faces a particularly potent mix of population growth, insufficient infrastructure investment, and dwindling water supplies, hindering equal and affordable access to water. The city’s population is more than nine times larger than it was in 1950, leaving city water utility Sedapal scrambling to provide water access. According to industry experts, the Peruvian government would need to invest $US 19 billion to meet demand for water and sewage, the Lima-based Semana Economica newspaper reported.

At the same time, the city’s most important source of water—the Rimac River—is slowing. The river snakes down from the Andean glaciers to provide 75 percent of Lima’s water. Though river discharges fluctuate by a wide margin during the wet and dry seasons, glaciers that supply the river water are disappearing. Glacial coverage in Peru shrank by 40 percent in the past 40 years, Reuters reported.

High Water Costs

The northern and southern districts of Lima are the areas most affected by water insecurity. The northern districts, which began as settlements in the early 1980s, have struggled with poverty and water access for years. Households in these areas without in-home water access receive their water from water trucks and tankers every few days.