Topic: Ensuring Access to Potable Water
Country: Peru
Delegate Name: Kay Zubkus
School: Forest Hills Northern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Peru position papers GLIMUN 2016 committees
Tap water in Peru isn't potable by any means. Peruvians are highly advised to stay away from drinking water straight out of the tap without boiling it first. It is recommended to just stick to buying bottled water for drinking purposes. Sanitation of water has been an issue for a while, mainly in the larger cities like Lima. Lima gets its tap water from the Rio Rimac, which is one of the world's most polluted rivers due to mining runoff in the tributaries. The main way the government tries to purify the water is by adding in chlorine to kill off bacteria in the water such as e-coli.
The water source in Peru has been continually contaminated by mining runoff and unhealthy bacteria for over half a century. As the mining industry took over and prospered, the companies needed a way to get rid of the waste from their plants. The problem with the contaminated water is that Peruvians are forced to either boil their water or buy bottled water. This is a problem because in the rural areas of Peru, only 37% of people living there have access to a natural water source, which is most likely contaminated, but they also don’t have access to bottled water.
There have been strategies to purify the natural water source by reverse osmosis, then that cleansed water is stored in tanks of 20 L each. In the first three months, this process has provided over 10 thousand liters of potable water for Peruvians. Another resolution is to receive funding for water filters, or even better, water detoxification plants based around the Rio Rimac in Lima. This would allow the city to be supplied with a safe water source and would reduce the amount of wasted water that is playing a role in Peru’s water crisis. The government has not put funding into effect yet, however many small charities are working to provide water filters into Peruvian families homes.
Peru believes that by providing potable water, through water detoxification plants, to their citizens that they will in turn be able to reduce the amount of water that is wasted in their cities. It supplies families with a healthy source of water for a small cost, which also reduces the families costs on drinking water in the long run.
