Water crisis looms as glacier recedes- (Parts of Bolivia will run out of water this year)

[JCMach1]

LA PAZ // The Bolivian capital and its twin city of El Alto are facing a water crisis this year, a leading climatologist says.

Demand for water is likely to exceed supply in 2009, with the entire Chacaltaya glacier, which supplies nearly two million people, set to disappear within 12 months, said Edson Ramirez, a hydrologist at San Andres University in La Paz.

“Glaciers have a double function; they reflect the sun’s rays, keeping the earth cool, and act as the world’s water towers. More than 70 per cent of the world’s fresh water is stored in glacial ice,” Mr Ramirez said.

“In 1989 we had estimated that this glacier would last 15 years or more. Now we can see that the glacier has practically disappeared already.”

At his cramped office in the southern zone of La Paz where he has spent years studying satellite imagery tracing the Chacaltaya glacier’s decline, Mr Ramirez outlined a grim future.

“It’s almost gone,” he said, pointing to a diagram charting the glacier’s recession over five-year stages from 1980.

The Chacaltaya waters serve not only most of El Alto’s 800,000 residents, but 60 per cent of La Paz’s one million residents as well.

Melted water from this glacier is also used to generate electricity for the two cities, feeding into 10 hydroelectric plants, Mr Ramirez said.

El Alto’s population is growing at about 6 per cent a year and La Paz’s by about 3 per cent. Mr Ramirez believes there could be social unrest when Chacaltaya melts.

“This year is the tipping point when demand for water in El Alto will be progressively greater than supply. Without water the region’s hydroelectric system will also collapse and no water for irrigation will result in severe food shortages.

“It is not just glacial melt from global warming. The way we utilise water means that this scarce resource is often wasted. Leaking pipes, lack of infrastructure mean that a lot goes, yes, down the drain. We don’t have the capacity to deal with the crisis.”... http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090210/FOREIGN/617909184/1135

[Javaman]

1. It will be interesting to see if Bolivia starts trading it's lithium resources for water. nt

[Bigmack]

2. Not a Problem.....

Haven't you heard? The "solution" is just to privatize water...... The corporations will "solve" this problem by selling water to the highest bidder - just like they "created" it..... Or something..... Ms Bigmack