Water use in Colombia and Peru: Double the OECD average

💧🆘 Colombia and Peru: two countries struggling to stay afloat. Learn why ↓

Of all the dangers climate change poses, the one posed to water is no doubt the most serious.

Water is the most essential need to sustain life, and our interactions with it are changing across the globe, from dried-up reservoirs to melting glaciers to flooding. Where water goes, humanity follows—just think of how all the great cities and civilizations of the world were built near water access.

But what happens when water gets harder to obtain after a society’s already been built?

Well, some Andean countries are experiencing precisely this, as a mixture of rising regional temperatures and low rainfall has led to record-low reservoir levels, mandating drastic measures.

The Colombian capital of Bogotá, for example, has experienced severe water rationing in recent months, with different sectors of the city giving up any access to running water for different 24-hour stretches. Mind you, this is a city of nearly 10M people.

As the recurring El Niño climate phenomenon wreaks havoc on global temperatures, climate change, and rapid urbanization have also been cited as contributing to ongoing droughts.

Meanwhile, it’s worth noting that – owing largely to agriculture and construction – water usage in Colombia, as in neighboring Peru, is roughly double the average figure for the countries of the developed Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) grouping.

Shorter showers certainly help, but long-term policy needs to be shifted in these countries and their neighbors to stay ahead of the effects of rising global temperatures and climate change.

After all, Mexico City and Montevideo have also seen severe shortages in recent years.

Argentina experienced its worst drought in a century last year. The Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul has been pummeled by deadly floods.

As our region tries to grow its prosperity, it must prioritize sustainable water management to mitigate the impacts of climate change and recurrent phenomena like El Niño.

Clean, reliable water is indispensable; after all, Coca-Cola is no substitute.