With depressing predictability, inequality rears its head to exacerbate these issues. \u00a0WWC figures show that poorer sectors of the population pay between 1.5 and 2.8 times more for their water than wealthier families \u2013 all for a lower quality of water more likely to harbor diarrheal diseases.<\/p>\n Nor do the problems end there. \u00a0The region\u2019s ground water suffers from relentless exploitation. \u00a0In Mexico, for example, 102 of the nation\u2019s 653 aquifers \u2013 or underground water sources – are classed as over-used, threatening the main water source for two-thirds of the population. \u00a0Across South America, around half of all water comes from aquifers subject to increasing pollution from commercial uses.<\/p>\n For those seeking to address some of these dangers the clock is ticking, because mankind\u2019s impact upon the natural world means today\u2019s problems could be tomorrow\u2019s calamities.<\/p>\n The passage of time, coupled with the march of climate change, is only serving to compound Latin America\u2019s growing water crisis.<\/p>\n Glaciers, one of the region\u2019s key sources of fresh water, are melting due to global warming. \u00a0In areas such as the Real Range in Bolivia or the White Range in Peru, the area widely covered by glaciers has shrunk by around one-third since the mid-19th<\/sup> century.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n Chile is a case in point.\u00a0 It has one of the world\u2019s largest reserves of fresh water outside the north and south poles, but its abundant glaciers \u2013 80% of South America\u2019s glaciers are in Chile – are melting fast. \u00a0More than 7 million people living in and around the capital, Santiago, rely on the glaciers to feed most of their water supply in times of drought.\u00a0 But a toxic combination of rising temperatures, a 10-year mega-drought and increasing exploitation, is proving lethal and the ice mass is now retreating one meter per year on average.\u00a0<\/p>\n Less than two decades from now, some glaciers will have disappeared, while the total volume of all glaciers in Chile will have shrunk by half by the end of the century.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n Hurricanes, their frequency and intensity strongly linked to climate change[5]<\/a>, will further imperil water supplies in the region. \u00a0Recent history contains a stark precedent, with Hurricane Mitch in 1998 killing 9,000 people in Central America and dislocating 75% of Hondurans.<\/p>\n Further south, changes in the behavior of the El Ni\u00f1o ocean current could affect weather patterns and bring even more severe droughts to communities.<\/p>\n The UN reports that since 2013 South America\u2019s largest city (Sao Paulo, Brazil: population 11 million) has been caught in its most severe drought for 80 years.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n All of these changes, all of these challenges, must also be seen in the context of rising population numbers. \u00a0The UN estimates the population of Latin America (including the Caribbean) increased from 287 million to 648 million between 1970 and 2019.[7]<\/a> \u00a0Since 2010 the region has experienced population growth of around 10%. \u00a0The WWC notes that \u201cmany major lakes and river basins from North to South America are under great strain from growing populations and resulting accumulated agricultural and industrial run-off\u201d<\/em>. [8]<\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n A generation from now the outlook could be even more fraught \u2013 and the problem is hardly unique to Latin America.<\/p>\n Estimates suggest that by 2030 global water basin supplies could decrease by 10%, or 25% by 2050.[9]<\/a> \u00a0Worldwide, water use has increased by approximately 1% each year for the last 30 years, with more than two billion people now living in countries experiencing high water stress<\/a>.[10]<\/a><\/p>\n While acknowledged as a region-wide problem, the characteristics of Latin America\u2019s water challenges differ on a nation-by-nation basis. \u00a0They are dictated by factors as diverse as politics, economics, topography, culture and history.<\/p>\n Chile, again, exemplifies many of the water difficulties faced by South America.<\/p>\n Its north is overwhelmingly, almost uniquely, arid. \u00a0The 100,000 square kilometer Atacama Desert is the driest place on Earth.<\/p>\n The Andes mountains to the east causes clouds to rise and condense before reaching the desert basin, while the Pacific Ocean to the west is too cold to allow on-shore winds to collect moisture; hence the Atacama generally experiences measurable rainfall just once a century. \u00a0The nearby coastal city of Antofagasta (population: 350,000) records an average precipitation of just 1mm per year.[11]<\/a><\/p>\n Further to the south, climate change was blamed for destructive unseasonal rainfall in 2017. \u00a0The resulting floods deprived more than a million people in the Chilean capital of Santiago of piped water.[12]<\/a>\u00a0 Santiago is also tipped to experience severely reduced water supplies in the future.[13]<\/a><\/p>\n That deluge arguably brought to an end Central Chile\u2019s \u2018mega-drought\u2019, during which the Royal Meteorological Society noted the region (and its 10 million+ inhabitants) had experienced \u201can uninterrupted sequence of dry years since 2010 with mean rainfall deficits of 20 – 40%\u201d.[14]<\/a><\/p>\n Against this backdrop lies another challenge: in some parts of Chile more than 80% of water is privately controlled and earmarked for industry and agriculture. \u00a0This, according to charity the Latin American Bureau, leaves many Chileans facing a shortage of drinking water, while also contaminating sources with industrial waste.[15]<\/a><\/p>\n In the same year Santiago was hit by freak flooding, Bolivia experienced months of drought which led to empty reservoirs, water rationing in major cities and protests in the streets. \u00a0A state of emergency was declared across the country \u2013 a country which according to the UN has already lost 40% of its glaciers to melting in the last two decades. \u00a0While climate change is at least partly culpable, government policies shared some of the blame, thanks to a huge increase in water-intensive industries such as soya growth, along with intensive deforestation.[16]<\/a><\/p>\n In Peru, grassroots environmental groups have accused international mining companies of commandeering water resources, cutting supplies to farmers, and polluting rivers.[17]<\/a> \u00a0Unrest is growing, and in 2016 strikes and clashes over claims of water hijacking saw two provinces declare martial law.[18]<\/a><\/p>\n It is a similar story in Ecuador, where farmers are suffering as agribusinesses and mining companies capitalize on a 2015 law allowing further water privatization and exploitation of scarce supplies. \u00a0The Ecuadorian constitution is unique in enshrining water as a human right, but farmers and environmentalists have been compelled to march on the capital, Quito, demanding equal access. \u00a0Academic Manuela Picq has stated that Ecuador\u2019s wealthiest 1% control 64% of fresh water and says \u201ca single mine can use more water in a day than an entire family in 22 years\u201d.<\/em>[19]<\/a><\/p>\n In Guatemala, meanwhile, evidence is mounting that water shortages are driving internal migration. \u00a0Communities are abandoning areas left dry by corporations sucking up freshwater resources and diverting rivers. \u00a0The corporations are often immune from prosecution due to weak governance \u2013 an example, says the country\u2019s ex-vice-president Eduardo Stein, of the state working \u2018in the interests of a chosen few\u2019 and causing widespread anger.[20]<\/a><\/p>\n Such poor resource management is thrown into sharp relief elsewhere in Latin America, where interventions to improve distribution are having tangible impacts on daily lives.<\/p>\n In communities in Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, for instance, thousands of schemes have been funded to improve the network of clean water supplies in long-neglected rural areas.<\/p>\n Women in particular have benefited. \u00a0No longer expected to walk many miles for water daily, they can now devote more time to farming \u2013 with dramatic results. \u00a0Women\u2019s input has increased agricultural income and food security on a home-by-home, village-by-village basis, leading to an average 30% rise in family incomes.[21]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n Brazil is increasingly regarded as a standard-bearer for positive action to improve water access. \u00a0Favoring a multi-stakeholder approach, the rights of all interested parties (supply companies, energy providers, irrigators and civil groups) to partake in policy decisions has for more than two decades been enshrined in both federal and state law.<\/p>\n In fact, enormous progress has been noted across the Latin American region in extending water access over the past decade, with the World Bank recognizing \u201c70 million more people served in the urban centers than at the turn of the millennium\u201d<\/em>.[22]<\/a><\/p>\n Cross-border collaboration has been at the forefront of many notable advances. \u00a0The Guarani Aquifer System (SAG), one of the world\u2019s largest ground water reservoirs, holds some 37,000 cubic kilometers of water in its 1,190,000 square kilometer area spanning Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. \u00a0A competitive attitude to this invaluable resource could have led to depletion and pollution, but the four countries united in 2001 on an environmental protection and sustainable development plan to safeguard the SAG in the long-term.[23]<\/a><\/p>\n The US$ 26.7 million plan has successfully orchestrated several key policies: gathering together scientific and technical understanding of the SAG; improving groundwater management; promoting public involvement and better communication; and assessing the SAG\u2019s potential for geothermal energy.<\/p>\n As a result of this unique international partnership, it is hoped the SAG will continue to provide people and businesses with freshwater supplies for generations to come and may even serve as a model for elsewhere in the region.<\/p>\n With such success stories to spur momentum, the door is open to the private sector to play a greater leading role in overcoming the region\u2019s persistent water challenges.<\/p>\n Almar Water Solutions<\/a>, part of Abdul Latif Jameel Energy<\/a>, is at the forefront of efforts to tackle water adversity across Latin America, particularly in its driest areas, such as Chile.<\/p>\n Almar is rapidly expanding its footprint in the region through its 2019 acquisition of water treatment company Osmoflo SpA<\/a>. \u00a0In August 2020, Almar, via Osmoflo, won a three-year water services operation and maintenance contract for Chilean mining company Mantos Copper.<\/p>\n Almar will operate a water treatment plant for the client\u2019s Mantos Blancos project in northern Chile, just 45 kilometers north of that notorious dry-spot, Antofagasta. \u00a0The desalination plant will use reverse osmosis to produce water suitable for the kind of mining activity which can bring more jobs and prosperity to the region.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.alj.com\/app\/uploads\/2020\/10\/WWC.jpg\")
Water does more than keep us hydrated. \u00a0It grows our crops, powers our industries and cleanses our homes. \u00a0Yet up to 100 million people in Latin America lack access to sanitation, according to international think tank the World Water Council (WWC<\/a>); factor in those reliant on latrines or septic tanks and that figure rises to 256 million.[2]<\/a> \u00a0Untreated sewage goes on to pollute underground aquifers, rivers and lakes.<\/p>\n![\"ALJ](\"https:\/\/www.alj.com\/app\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ALJ-Stressed-Water-Basins.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGlobal warming and drought: a climate of fear<\/h2>\n
![\"Portillio](\"https:\/\/www.alj.com\/app\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Portillio-del-Cerro-Negro-Olivares-Alfa-Glacier.jpg\")
\n\u00a9 Louis Lliboutry; Alex Cattan and Marc Turrel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWater challenges converge in perfect storm<\/h2>\n
![\"Atacama](\"https:\/\/www.alj.com\/app\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ALJ-Atacama-Desert-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPartnerships, expertise and long-term thinking<\/h2>\n
![\"Guarani](\"https:\/\/www.alj.com\/app\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ALJ-Guarani-Aquifer-scaled.jpg\")
Contract demonstrates scalability of Almar model<\/h2>\n