Problem Statement
Lobitos and Piedritas are towns located in a hyper-arid region with an aridity index of 0.05 due to less rainfall. Thus, these towns are faced with many challenges regarding the supply of water and water sanitization. The towns majorly depend on water from Talara, a neighboring city. These water shortages and scarcity problems, coupled with unreliable or inexistent water sanitization challenges pose a major health risk to the locals (Kahil et al., 2019). This report therefore aims at investigating and coming up with solutions to help combat the water problem in the region.
Literature Review
Peru is a country blessed with many natural resources and a rich biodiversity. Sustainable development has been greatly reduced as well as a significant surge in water scarcity due to the manufacturing industries misusing the water resources, the country’s growing population, climatic change and agriculture practices that are inadequate (Faldetta et al., 2014). More than 16% of the population in Peru has no access to clean water. In addition to this, only 62% of the wastewater gets treated (Martin-Carrasco, Garrote, Iglesias & Mediero, 2013). Lobitos depends on municipal sewage systems to treat the water and since they have failed, the domestic water does not get treated thus spilling on the ground causing serious health concerns to the population. In Piedritas, wastewater affluents from Talara plant flows through public spaces and residential houses without taking into considerations the health standards. This wastewater also flows through the region’s touristic dry forest not only polluting it but also making it difficult for the locals to promote it as a tourist destination. In addition, these two towns, Lobitos and Piedritas, are highly affected by water shortages.
Options that were explored and the tests and analysis undertaken
To help address the water shortage and scarcity issue in the towns, certain solutions have been explored for consideration. These solutions have been arrived at through continuous trials, training of the local community and continuous research. One option investigated is the desalinization of the sea water by use of solar distillers (Fujiwara & Kikuchi, 2017). With the availability of domestically unusable water in plenty from the sea due to its salinity, then by desalinizing the water by use of solar distillers, then the water scarcity could be potentially reduced (Pistocchi et al., 2020). To help save water in the cities, a dry toilet has also been considered for implementation. Currently, the implementation of the project has been at Lobitos but however, with the expansion of the idea and seeing to it that it gets expanded to having more dry toilets at different locations, then water can be really saved.
Another option would be to tap available groundwater resources. Doing this will also help to restore and regenerate the regions thus promoting conservation, community-based ecotourism as well as a sustainable agroforestry.
Training and educating the nearby communities and the locals on the importance of reforestation is also an option for consideration. This not only helps conserve the environment but also the growth of forests which could serve as water catchment areas.
Another option investigated is the distribution of community water filters for relief as a result of disasters especially during the El Nino events. Finally, the relevant stakeholders, as well as water authorities should be engaged to help in the designing and development of wide-scale solutions.
Final agreed proposal
Lobitos and Piedritas contain areas worth recovering and which are currently subject to flash-floods and run-off water causing erosion especially during the El Nino phenomenon (Anderson, 2016). To bar disasters such as water shortage in the areas, the dry forest should be recovered. This will help prevent soil erosion which is the loss of minerals that enrich the soil such as silt. To recover the dry forest, the runoff water and water from flash floods should be collected and left in order to recharge the water-table. In addition to this, the underground water should be tapped to help recover the dry forest. This will help achieve the social continuous sustainable use of the water (Smyrilli et al., 2018).
Figure 1Modern well to suck water from the underground with an electric pump
Benefits to the local/regional communities
The neighboring community will greatly benefit from the eradication or reduction of the water scarcity problem in the region. First, they will be able to access clean water for drinking and domestic use. This will go a long way to improve their health.
The locals could also engage in small-scale farming. The land can be cultivated and irrigated using the tapped underground water thus advancing food security and also improving the livelihoods of people in the region.
Recovering the runoff water to help prevent soil erosion will also enable enrich the soil and thus agricultural activities can be undertaken by the locals.
By reducing the water scarcity levels and recovering the dry forest, tourists can also start visiting the region. This will improve the socioeconomic status of the people with the locals taking up roles of becoming surfing instructors to the tourists. This not only brings financial investment to the region but also creates employment opportunities.
How the long-term sustainability of the proposal will be ensured.
Tapping of the underground water to help mitigate the water scarcity problem can be greatly improved by ensuring that there is easy access to low cost technologies to be used on pumps and drilling services (Giordano et al., 2015). The farm produce arrived at after the implementation of the project should also have a ready market to help create income opportunities for the locals. To make sure that the proposed project is sustained in long-term, the small-scale farmers need to be educated on local management skills and how to maximize the use of the available resources for irrigation. They should also be given a choice of choosing the crops that require less water.
Analysis
Alternative solutions investigated that could be viable in curbing water scarcity in Lobitos and Piedritas include the tapping into underground water sources, sensitization on the use of dry toilets to minimize the usage of water used in flushing, distributing relief community water filters during disasters and also the desalinization of sea water.
References
Anderson, K. A. (2016). Concerns of Water Scarcity and Water Quality among two Andean Communities in Peru.
Faldetta, K. F., Reighard, D. A., Dickinson, K. L., Wang, C. Q., George, D. R., Rodriguez Benavides, L., & Strosnider, W. H. (2014). Assessing domestic water quality in Belén municipality, Iquitos, Peru. Journal of water, sanitation and hygiene for development, 4(3), 391-399.
Fujiwara, M., & Kikuchi, M. (2017). Solar desalination of seawater using double-dye-modified PTFE membrane. Water research, 127, 96-103.
Giordano, R., D’Agostino, D., Apollonio, C., Scardigno, A., Pagano, A., Portoghese, I., & Vurro, M. (2015). Evaluating acceptability of groundwater protection measures under different agricultural policies. Agricultural water management, 147, 54-66.
Kahil, T., Albiac, J., Fischer, G., Strokal, M., Tramberend, S., Greve, P., & Wada, Y. (2019). A nexus modeling framework for assessing water scarcity solutions. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 40, 72-80.
Martin-Carrasco, F., Garrote, L., Iglesias, A., & Mediero, L. (2013). Diagnosing causes of water scarcity in complex water resources systems and identifying risk management actions. Water resources management, 27(6), 1693-1705.
Pistocchi, A., Bleninger, T., Breyer, C., Caldera, U., Dorati, C., Ganora, D., & Sapiano, M. (2020). Can seawater desalination be a win-win fix to our water cycle? Water Research, 115906.
Smyrilli, C., Selvakumaran, S., Alderson, M., Pizarro, A., Almendrades, D., Harris, B., & Bustamante, A. (2018). Sustainable decentralised wastewater treatment schemes in the context of Lobitos, Peru. Journal of Environmental Engineering and Science, 13(1), 8-16.
