In 1974 drainage structures were built to maintain the level eight metres below the height of the damming moraine in order to protect against overtopping in the event of an avalanche or ice fall into the lake.

[3][4] In April 2003, NASA scientists discovered a fissure in the glacier above Lake Palcacocha on Terra satellite images of November 2001.

Their warnings reached Peru just two weeks after the staff of the UGRH (Unidad de Glaciologia y Recursos Hidricos) had done some field mapping of Lake Palcacocha, where a moraine rupture had caused a minor flood on 19 March 2003 which the safety constructions from the 1940s had captured.

According to research done by scientists of the Innsbruck university in Austria, the ensuing panic among the inhabitants and economic damage to Huaraz' tourism industry could have been prevented, as from their findings the NASA warnings were a misinterpretation of satellite data.

Since the regional authorities did not come up with the funds to implement the measures proposed by the UGRH, six drainpipes were installed in 2011 which reduced the water level by three meters by July 2013.