Water resources management in Guatemala
Groundwater from wells and springs is important to the national supply resource meeting demands for potable water for public and domestic needs.
The National Institute of Electricity (INDE) (El Instituto Nacional de Electrificacion) oversees and implements hydroelectric projects in Guatemala.
This equates to small quantities of surface water and inadequate groundwater sources that cannot fully supplement the needs of the city.
Some of the rivers in this zone transport volcanic sediments to be deposited along the coast and contributes to coastal flooding due to reduced depths of tidal marshes.
The country is also mountainous and rainfall is influenced by Pacific and Atlantic Ocean weather patterns such as El Niño, La Niña, and hurricanes.
The current population in the mountainous northwestern zone numbers around five million inhabitants and this region has high levels of rainfall (up to 4,000 mm per year) and steep slopes that are susceptible to erosion.
Storage capacity in up to half of the lakes in Guatemala is used solely for hydroelectric energy generation, and the volume of water is around 524 million m3.
A dam with a railway on top was constructed at the narrowest point, thus effectively dividing the lake into two water bodies with different physical, chemical and biological characteristics.
Based on established biological and chemical standards, every water body in Guatemala is considered to be moderately if not critically contaminated.
[2] Sewage from Guatemala City has caused the Villalobos and Las Vacas Rivers to be considered the most contaminated streams in the country.
Additionally, biological contamination of shallow aquifers by pathogens due to the improper disposal of human or animal wastes is a problem in many populated and rural areas of the country.
Along both coasts are streams, marshes, and swamps that contain large quantities of brackish or saline water; and unless desalinated, these sources are unsuitable for most uses.
The Atlantic coast region has low humidity and high evapotranspiration so irrigation is needed for the cultivation of bananas, tomatoes, watermelon, and tobacco.
There is a more recent fee aimed at covering this difference that includes an annual payment for a period of 40 years whereby the state will recuperate about 60% of the money invested on projects.
The lack of adequate infrastructure to quickly drain large amounts of water has caused flooding problems in the southern coastal regions.
[9] The National Institute of Electricity (INDE) (El Instituto Nacional de Electrificacion) encouraged the private sector to build over 1,000 megawatts (MW) of new hydropower in Guatemala.
Additionally, INDE constructed the following projects: 340MW Chulac, 130MW Xalala, 135-MW Serchil, 69MW Oregano, 60MW Santa Maria II, 59MW Camotan, and the 23MW El Palmar.
[11] Ministries Service Providers Research Institutes The upper watershed of the Lempa River is shared by Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, as outlined in the Trifinio Plan, which was established and signed by the aforementioned countries to address economic and environmental problems in the Lempa River basin, and foster cooperation and regional integration.
The Trifinio plan or treaty sought to provide a more viable and effective alternative to unilateral development thereby concentrating on greater multinational integration.
Member countries include Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Bolivia, with additional support from Canada and Mexico.
[19] The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), in collaboration with local partners, is developing a water fund to finance responsible watershed management in Guatemala's Sierra de las Minas Biosphere.
The fund is meant to encourage short-term investments to optimize industrial water use as a means of reducing effluents to the Motagua and Polochic Rivers.
[20] The World Bank is implementing the $85 million project aimed at improving the capacity of the country to respond to and recover from flooding caused by tropical storms and hurricanes.
This objective will be achieved by supporting policy and institutional reform in the following aspects of disaster risk management: The Inter-American Development Bank has three ongoing projects under implementation and many more that have been completed since 1961.
Each community will make all key decisions related to their respective projects, selecting the system that best suits their needs and capacity.
Autonomous water associations have been established by the residents of each village and serve to manage the services, and cover operation and maintenance costs by collecting tariffs from users.
