The non-governmental Latin American Water Tribunal issued a dramatic warning about future water shortages in the region. The amount of available water per capita in Central America has dropped by 60% since 1950, said officials, and is expected to be only 21% of the 1950 figure by 2050. People have caused the problem.

In El Salvador, for example, most of the rivers now dry up in the summer due to the excessive cutting of trees altering the hydrological cycle, reported coordinator Mauricio Cermeno of the Salvadorean Ecological Union.

In Guatemala, 90% of the surface waters are choked with rubbish or polluted by sewage, admitted the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, and 75% of El Peten – the second biggest wetland in Latin America – is in danger of turning into desert because of drought, deforestation, population growth, and land clearance for farming.

Related news:

• Nicaragua, Lake Managua: for 82 years the world’s biggest toilet, Source Weekly, 03 Apr 2009
• El Salvador: Green Network on corporate environmental responsibility launched, Source Weekly, 30 Sep 2008

Contact: Latin American Water Tribunal, Costa Rica, tragua@racsa.co.cr, http://www.tragua.com

Source: Louise Shaler, Global Water News Watch [English summary of: Jose Melendez, El Universal Online (in Spanish), 28 Sep 2009]

Tags: latin america & caribbean, water resources management