Global warming is drying up mountain lakes and wetlands in the Andes and threatening water supplies to major South American cities such as La Paz, Bogota and Quito, World Bank research shows. Walter Vergara, lead author of the World Bank research says Ecuador would have to spend US$100 million over the next two decades to cope with glacier retreat, by for instance drawing drinking water from the Amazon basin.

Glaciers act as a regulator, providing a water supply during dry periods, when they melt, and absorbing water during wet periods. The risk is especially great to an Andean wetland habitat called the paramo, which supplies 80 percent of the water to Bogota's 7 million people. The disappearance of the paramo would pose an even more serious problem than glacier retreat because more people depend on it for water, Vergara said.

Related news: Latin America: cities in peril as Andean glaciers melt, Source Weekly, 19 Sep 2006

Source: Gerard Wynn, Reuters / Alertnet, 20 Jul 2007

Tags: water resources management