Environmental Flows elements to support water legislation:
policy implications and institutional arrangements in the
Water Legislation of Peru
MSc.Marielena Lucen
INTRODUCTION:E-flows
The E-Flows is the amount of water to:
• Achieve fair water distribution between people and environment
• Guarantee the continuity of goods and services provided by the river for present and
future generations
• Protect the environment against degradation
The E-flows implementation process is challenging because:
• Their operationalization in daily management is difficult to achieve
• Time frame between 10-15 years
• Key elements beyond physical
conditions are required
Iquitos-Peru
INTRODUCTION
Reason to shift into a
management approach were :
•Inequity in water distribution
sustainable
Atlantic Basin
Total Users :31%
Water Avb:97%
Uses: Fishing,
Transport,
Ecosystem,
Hydropower
Peru water legislation was enforced in 2010
and
establishes
that
a
E-flows
implementation is expected by 2020
Lessons learnt from South Africa Water Act
(1998) and its implementation process as well
as other countries experience regarding Eflows were used.
Titicaca Basin
Total Users :3%
Water Avb:1%
Uses: Transport,
Mining, Agriculture
Pacific Basin
Total Users :66%.
Water Avb:2%
Uses: Agriculture, Mining,
Industry, Hydropower
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the principles, instruments and institutional arrangements that the new
water legislation of Peru provides to support the environmental flows implementation.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
What are the legal provision in countries with
experience
in
environmental
flow
implementation?
Which are the lessons learnt from South Africa
Water Act and other countries experience?
What are the instruments and institutional
arrangements for E-flows in Peru's water legislation?
How the Peruvian water legislation support the
environmental flows implementation?
What can be recommended to improve the feasibility of Eflows implementation in Peru?
DESIGN OF RESEARCH
Literature Review
Conceptual Framework
SA Water Act of 1998
Principl
PE National Water
legislation of 20092010
Other countries
experience in E-flows
Env-Flows
in Water
Legislation
Analyze
the
principles,
instruments and set
ups propose in the
Peru
water
legislation
to
implement
environmental flows.
Inst.
Arrang
Instr.
Identification of the
lessons learnt from
the SA and the
World Bank report
and other literature
Summary
Draw up of the conclusions and recommendations regarding the effectiveness
of the principles, instruments and institutional arrangement to enforce the
environmental flows according to the Peru water legislation
PERU WATER LEGISLATION
PRINCIPLES
Peru water legislation is based on 4 principles that support the E-flows:
Principle of sustainability, principle of efficient water use, principle of protection
of the water resources
Environmental Flow Definition in the legislation
The environmental flows are defined: “As the volume of
water that have to be maintain in water course to protect
or conserve water ecosystems, landscape aesthetics and
other aspects of scientific and cultural interest”.
Gocta - Peru
INSTRUMENTS
•Water Uses
3 types of Uses: Primary (priority over any other use and first in use in scarcity period),
Domestic and Productive (Agriculture, Hydropower, Industry, Health, Mining, Tourist,
Transport)
•Considerations for issue licenses
Requirement of a hydrological study to demonstrate :
“Enough water availability to guaranty the environmental flows, the conditions to assure
storage capacity and transport conditions, according to its hydrological cycle”.
•Protection of water resources by means of ecosystem
conservation :E-flows
The environmental flows must remain permanently in
the water course
Actions to control water quality are mentioned but there
is no definition about monitoring programs or how to
arrange them
Cerro de Pasco-Peru
Institutions involved in the
Environmental flows
Ministry of
Environment
Ministry of
Agriculture
National Water
Authority
Environmental Flows
•Water Charges
Generally define as a requirement to a obligation to contribute to achieve
sustainability.
•Water Management and Planning strategy:
•The National Policy and Strategy of Water Resources includes:
Activities, guidelines and principles
Time Frame of 10 years (2010-2020) divided in 3 phases (2009-2010; 20112016; 2016-2020)
•The National Water Resources Plan
INSTITUTIONAL ARREGEMENT
Ministry of Agriculture
National Water
Authority (ANA) (1)
National Water
Resources Management
System
accountability
Board of Directors
Headship
accountability
Water Management Authority
(AAA) (14)
Accountability, participation
platform
Basin Council (BC)
accountability
Local Water Authority (73)
Water Users Organization (WUO)
Participation and
representation
FINDINGS
LITERATURE
SOUTH AFRICA
PERU
IWRM Principles
Sustainability
Reserve
Equity
Sustainability
Efficiency
Legal provisions that operationalize
the E-flows such as: control of water
uses, monitoring process and
financial mechanism.
Prioritization: Reserve, international
and the rest.
Water Uses 11 different types
Reserve
Quality objectives
Classification System
Water charges
National Monitoring and Information
System
Prioritization: primary, domestic and
productive.
Water Uses 3 different types
Protection of the environment by
means of ecosystem conservation
Water charges
An implementation plan
National Water Resources Strategy
Catchment Management Strategy
Strategic
plan
to
facilitate
implementation
(Pilot
implementation)
National Water Resources Policy and
Strategy implementation work plan
(Pilot implementation)
National Water Resources Plan
Principles
Instruments
Selection of the environmental flow
assessment
according to
the Assessment selection and developing Assessment Methodology according
particular circumstance.
by external consultants
to Ministry of Environment and
An
oversight
authority
is
Agriculture
recommended to achieve fairness
FINDINGS
LITERATURE
Instrumentos
Arreglos
Institucionales
SOUTH AFRICA
PERU
Legal provision of stakeholder's Participation
process
regarding Public participation only in
participation regarding awareness of management strategies, institutional conformation of the Basin Council
the benefits from environmental flow arrangement and Reserve
Legal recognition of institutional
arrangement
to
support
enforcement of the environmental
flows.
Ministry of Water and Environment
Affairs (preexisting)
Department of Water Affair DWA
(preexisting)
Catchment Management Agencies
CMA (19 new)
Water User Association WUA (new)
the
National Water Resources Management
System (1 new)
National Water Authority (1 new)
Water Management Authority (14 new)
Local Management Authority (73 new)
Basin Councils
Water User Association
Lessons learnt from the literature and South Africa Water Act
The principles of efficiency and sustainability are seems to be a worldwide
consensus to include them in the water legislation
Environment as a legitimate user and minimum level of ecosystem health
The National Monitoring and Information System / Monitoring Provisions
Pilot basin implementation
Include different actors in the environmental flows assessment
Promotion of the environmental flows benefits in the participation process
Institutional Arrangement for the environmental flows
Amazon-Peru
CONCLUSIONS
Peruvian water legislation link the E-flows to the aquatic requirements without link
them with the people welfare.
The Peru water legislation does not provide enough details on how E-flows should
be assessed and monitored in practice
The Peruvian institutional setup for the water management and consequently the Eflow implementation will be managed by Ministry of Agriculture which can hinder
the implementation of the environmental flows in the future due to the confluence
of political interest.
The new water management setup requires establishment of many new administrative
body, however their roles and responsibilities are not clearly defined, and it is not
clear how the coordination among them will be organized.
Political and economic interest in the selection of the Eflows assessment.
Amazon River-Peru
CONCLUSIONS
The Peru water legislation provides a time frame of 10 years to achieve
enforcement of the environmental flows which is reasonable given the complexity
of the process.
The Peru water legislation proposes a pilot basin to learn by doing although the basin
chosen are already over-allocated and overused; this can hinder the application of Eflows.
The Peru water legislation does not envisage a participation procedure that brings to
the spotlight the benefits provided by environmental flows enforcement.
The E-flows implementation show mixed results in
different context. The implementation process is a long
term effort that depends on the existing capacities and
need to be carefully design to clearly link the E-flows
benefits with people welfare.
Amazon River-Peru
RECOMENDATIONS
•Link the E-flows with human requirements not only
aquatic requirements
•Design of environmental flows monitoring programs
•Clear division of roles and responsibilities of all the
organizations involved
•Include an oversight authority in the selection of the
environmental flows methodology
•The pilot basins should range between non-over
allocated and over allocated basins
•Inclusion of participation procedures to promote Eflows
Cuzco-Peru