In the desert city of Ica, Peru, the booming agriculture export industry is considered a “miracle”. Accounting for almost a fifth of the country’s exports, water thirsty crops like asparagus and avocado are cultivated year round in the hyper-arid region for international consumption. With multiple loans from the World Bank, major agro-export companies have built an economy on a subsiding and vulnerable groundwater aquifer. Over-exploitation of the Villacurí Aquifer, containing 40% of Peru’s groundwater reserves, has led to multiple National Water Authority (ANA) studies to predict empty wells in as few as 11 years if current pumping rates continue (2018). 

Climate change projections indicate rainfall in the source water region of the Ica River Basin, Huancavelica, will decrease 0.2mm/decade. Peru is home to 70% of the world’s tropical glaciers, but rising temperatures in the country will lead to all glaciers below 5,500 m above sea level to disappear within 15 years (Panoramas, 2016). In addition to rainfall, seasonal glacier melt east of the Andes mountains is a critical contributor to the Ica River and further infiltration source for the basin’s aquifers.  In the lush Ica valley, rising temperatures will lead to enhanced crop evapotranspiration and the demand for irrigated water will increase amidst growing physical water scarcity (Wilfredo et al., 2015).

Between 2003 and 2013, the Ica department has experienced an alarming increase in extreme meteorological events as a result of climate change (GORE Ica, 2014[6]), especially from increased rain (49% of total incidents), floods (16%) and huaycos (12%), an Andean term for flash floods and mudslides. These events have made managing water resources in the area even more challenging.

Regional Hydrology

The Ica Valley receives a mean annual precipitation of 10 mm a year and relies heavily on upstream water sources. The Ica River begins in the Andes in the smaller and poorer district of Huancavelica. 

At the start of the year, from January to April, upstream rainfall and the melting of tropical glaciers trickles toward the Pacific Ocean only to dry out during the winter months, May through August, usually before reaching the coast due to water demands. The dry period breaks in September and the system is renewed by  the engineered Choclococha system flow, an interbasin canal that channels water from the Amazon basin east of the Andes.

 

Current Water Portfolio

Administrative Water Authorities and Local Water Administrations have attempted to expand Ica’s water management portfolio to supplement reliance on groundwater by incorporating inter-basin water transfers, strategic use of surface water and encouraging privatization of wastewater treatment for water reuse.

Interbasin Transfer

The water diversion project, the Choclococha Transfer, was completed in 1959 to bring water from the wetter side of the Andes mountains to the Ica Valley Basin (Salmoral et al. 2020). Supplementing natural river flow, the canal transfers water from the Choclococha Lake into the Ica Valley Basin, providing water from September to December. The interbasin transfer brings more than 100 million m³ of water per year into the Ica Valley Basin and accounts for approximately 10% of the city’s annual water use (GESAAM, 2016). In 2015, discussions to expand interbasin transfer projects but proposals were ultimately rejected by the Inter-American Council.

Diverting water for the downstream agricultural industry has resulted in a heavy cost for upstream residents of Huancavelica. Sourcewater, rural communities are experiencing dwindling water supply for drinking and small-scale farming, and witnessing the ecological impact from diminished in-stream flows. In tributaries to the Ica River, agriculture can become idle or abandoned due to limited rainfall and water diversion.

Surface Water

Highly seasonal rainfall is the main contributor to the Ica Valley Basin’s surface water. During the months of river flow, surface water is diverted to recharge the valley’s main water source, the Ica-Villacurí Aquifer. Through strategically placed infiltration ponds and traditional spate irrigation, the sandy-clayey and sandy-silty porous ground provides optimal infiltration and the geology has high capacity for water retention (Peña et al., 2010).

Groundwater and Agriculture (Aquifer Pumping)

The Ica-Villacurí Aquifer, the largest aquifer in Peru which contains 40% of the country’s groundwater reserves (Oré, 2005), accounts for nearly 90% of total irrigation demand in the valley (Salmoral, 2020). Although the two aquifers are hydraulically connected, with subsurface flow from the Ica Valley Aquifer to the Pampa Villacurí, there is a difference in water management and natural aquifer renewability. The Ica Valley Aquifer is recharged directly and indirectly by the Ica River and provides both water for irrigation and drinking water. The Pampa Villacurí Aquifer has little access to natural recharge and is used exclusively for crop irrigation by large-scale agro-export companies.

 

Water Reuse

As recently as August, 2020 a major agro-export company has taken the lead to diversify and increase water efficiency by constructing a Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Ica. Wastewater from the city of Ica will be directed to the privately owned treatment plant instead of the region’s oxidation lagoons, Ica’s current wastewater strategy. Operating 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, the WWTP will create 3,000 jobs and reduce the risk of contamination from the aging and overwhelmed oxidation lagoons.

The primary use for this wastewater investment is to expand crop production by 800-1,300 hectares of water intensive crops like avocado, table-grapes and blueberries. There is no mention of increasing water reuse to deter reliance on groundwater or to incorporate water reuse to recharge aquifers.

Water Demand for Export-Oriented Agriculture

Groundwater extraction began in the 1990s and then in earnest towards the latter half of the decade. This extraction was the result of the growth of the agro-industry sector in the Valley. The export of “fresh green asparagus” began in the 1990s (FAO, 2007). A group of enterprising Ica residents formed called the Ica Producers Association (IPA) (FAO, 2007). Seeing the “high international price obtained during the off-season periods for asparagus”, the IPA encouraged its membership to adopt asparagus as a crop (FAO, 2007). At the time, asparagus was priced at $2.80/kilogram. In 2007, this fell to $1.00/kilogram (FAO, 2007). In December 2021, prices for a kilogram of asparagus were $3.01/kilogram (Agronometrics, 2021). Although prices have fluctuated, asparagus remains a high value crops, especially during the winter in the Northern Hemisphere when asparagus does not grow and demand is highest. 

A combination of market-oriented policies and land privatization led to the growth of crops such as “avocados, grapes and citrus” as well as asparagus in Peru (FAO 2007). Land privatization initially started on irrigated land. However, as surface-water irrigated land became scarcer, private enterprises expanded “gradually to cover non-irrigated land, with the objective of promoting private investments in water drilling, extraction and derivations (FAO 2007). In response to the market-oriented and export-friendly policies of the government, firms such as Agrokasa – a major agroindustrial firm in the Ica Valley – began buying up land and equipment for aquifer pumping. The expansion of thirsty crops like asparagus, avocados, grapes and citrus onto unirrigated land necessitated the new investments in pumps and drills that could tap into deep groundwater sources.

Growth of water intensive crops has been the steepest; grapes, asparagus, and avocado have all had major production gains since the early 2000s. Asparagus, grapes, jojoba, avocado and pomegranate crops use the most aquifer water. “The two main crops grown for export are asparagus and grapes, which together account for 67% of the total WFblue, with 92% of the volume abstracted from groundwater” (Salmoral et al. 2020). Groundwater extraction supports highly productive Peruvian asparagus production. Peruvian asparagus yields are the highest per hectare in the world. This is the result of “favorable climatic conditions that allows almost year-round production and up to three harvests every two years” (FAO 2007). Year-round asparagus production requires a substantial amount of water. The growth of the agro-industry is draining the Ica-Villacurí Aquifer. It is “the most exploited aquifer in Peru, representing 35% of total national groundwater exploitation”(OECD) (ANA, 2013).

Consequences of Unchecked Agriculture Growth

Aquifer Collapse

Large-scale farms have flourished on top of the Villacurí Aquifer, and unregulated access to the aquifer has led to the expansion of the agro-export sector. Based on a temporal analysis, the irrigated area in the Ica Valley dedicated to large-scale farming has increased from 7,820 ha in 1990 to 30,720 ha in 2017 (Salmoral, 2020).

Out of this growing water demand for irrigation, 68% of the annual groundwater footprint exceeds the natural groundwater recharge ability of the region. Due to large-scale farming that is responsible for 83% of the groundwater footprint, both the Ica Valley and the Pampa Villacurí aquifers are at risk of land subsidence and saltwater intrusion.

 

Adopting a New Strategy

Addition to the Inter-Basin Canal

Solar power development over canals is an increasingly studied and successful application to decrease water loss to evapotranspiration (McKuin et al., 2021). Previous proposals, such as covering the LA aqueduct which would require 675 km of solar panels, determined that the financial benefits from shading the canals outweigh the added costs to the development of utility-scale solar spanning a water canal.

 

Within the Choclococha Diversion Project, 42km of the canal is exposed and vulnerable to water loss. Covering this section of the canal with solar panels could save 1.68 million m³ of water per year, or about 2% of the water flowing through the canal annually (McKuin et al., 2021; OECD). A similar project in India was proposed to cover 40 km of a canal with solar panels and resulted  in a $14 million USD price tag. Considering the immense value of each drop of water in the Ica Valley, this investment would provide additional surface water that will ultimately recharge the region’s critical aquifers.

Traditional Surface Water Management

Traditional irrigation practices in the region, which include spate and annual flood-irrigation are preferable in the region over drip irrigation. In Ica, around 18% of total aquifer recharge is caused from small-scale irrigated farming that relies on small diversion spates that flood the fields when the Ica River is swollen from seasonal rains (Salmoral et al., 2020). The annual flood can sustain the crops as the moisture will remain in the permeable, porous soil (James, 2016).

Implementing traditional, small-scale farming irrigation practices can supplement infiltration ponds and recharge the Ica-Villacurí Aquifers. Despite drip irrigation being potentially more efficient, the reduction of deep drainage threatens the lifespan of the aquifer and long-term viability of farming in the region.

 

Agriculture Reform: Monitor Groundwater and Enforce Permits

A majority of the pumping in both aquifers are unregulated. Even pumping that is permitted is rarely monitored as the elite agro-export companies have established political power in the region and physical barriers like walls and armed security guards to prevent state monitors to enter the sites. We propose to enforce permitting for wells and monitoring them. Agro-export companies should be required to recharge the aquifer when possible. As of now, industrial agriculture is currently subsidized by the government and growers contributing to the global market only pay half of the national average for export profit taxes. We believe that by developing education programs and social awareness campaigns revealing the blatant discard for the law by the local agroindustry, social and political will can eventually address corruption and lack of groundwater monitoring.

There a very small number of agricultural producers abstracting groundwater. In 2012, 30 individuals owned farms between 80 and 2,000 (Cardenas Panduro 2012). This group of large scale producers almost exclusively abstract groundwater for irrigation needs and represent a mere 0.1% of the total population of irrigators (Cardenas Panduro 2012). These groundwater irrigators accumulate nevertheless 23 mm^3 of water per year, the highest of all groups of irrigators (Ore et al. 2012). Unpermitted and under-monitored wells are a problem of a small elite.

These elite producers have access to greater resources and lines of credit than smaller producers due to the scale at which they operate. The large majority of farmers in the Ica Valley have less than three acres (Scamarone 2008). They represent 68% of total farmers but control only 12.3% of the land (Scamarone 2008). Whereas large farmers with 50 hectares or more represent 0.5 percent of the farmers but own 14 percent of the land) (Scamarone 2008). The problem of unpermitted and unmonitored wells is also tied to control of land. Smaller operations do not abstract groundwater.

The charts below of permitted and unpermitted wells in the basins are based on a table in Aldoradin 2015.

Agriculture Reform: Replacing Crops and Promoting Small-Scale Agriculture Upstream

Agriculture uses 90% of the total water resources in the Ica River Integrated Basin (OECD). Reducing agricultural water use is central in solving Ica’s groundwater extraction crisis. Agriculture reform is necessary in the types of crops planted, the location of agriculture, and the scale in which it operates.

We recommend replacing water-intensive crops with drought tolerant crops like native sweet potato and quinoa. There are numerous other crops that require less water than asparagus, grapes, avocado and citrus. Replacing one of the 1.5-2 yearly asparagus harvests with a drought-tolerant crop would greatly reduce water demand, particularly if those crops are planted around the drier months of the year.

There are major differences in water usage between upstream and downstream agricultural users. Mountain agriculture is currently fairly limited, but has an historical precedent and has seasonal potential. 

We have visualized NDVI – a vegetation index – over this last year. There is potential for seasonal agriculture during “wetter” months. In some mountain areas, greenness is more persistent than the groundwater-fed agriculture in the Villacuri basin. We envision agricultural land shifting from the Villacuri basin to the mountains. Agriculture could expand within the proposed extent upstream of Ica. There are parts of this extent where green vegetation persists over the entire year. 

Although these areas are mountainous and more remote, roads such as highway route 1-south connect them to Ica and the region. These areas therefore have market access.

Some crops produced in arid Ica may be successful in the mountain highland. These would include grapes and some grain crops. Access to technical and financial assistance would increase yields and viability of mountainous agriculture.

Conclusion

The abstraction of the Ica-Villacuri aquifer is the most major water challenge facing Ica. The drawdown of its aquifers is unsustainable and will result in eventual collapse of the agro-economic system. The agro-export industry as it currently operates will not be able to persist; there is simply not enough groundwater. The aquifer contains 40% of Peru’s groundwater resources (Oré, 2005) (Salmoral et al. 2020). This vast holding of water may disappear in the next decade. Given the incredibly low rainfall, the aquifer is essentially a non-renewable resource. It should therefore be used judiciously. 

The solutions we have put forward for surface water, water reuse and the interbasin transfer canal are supplemental. Alone they cannot solve Ica’s water crisis. Ica must change its agricultural export economy. Groundwater abstraction rates need to be monitored. Permits for new wells should be reduced. The valley should shift to high value crops that can tolerate drought. Ica should hold companies accountable for recharging the aquifer whenever possible. Agriculture can expand in the wetter, mountainous areas and must reduce in the areas of the Valley that are most dependent on groundwater. Small-scale agriculture that depends on surface water should be prioritized. Indigenous infrastructure and knowledge may play a key role in adapting these water-intensive agricultural systems. Many coastal Peruvian cities that practice large-scale agriculture must manage their groundwater sources carefully and consider how their agro-economies must be reformed to be consistent within the limits of the water cycle.

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