In mountains of Peru, water project led by Gibraltarian offers lessons in climate resilience

Gibraltarian archaeologist Dr Kevin Lane was back in the mountains of Peru this summer as he continued work on a project to rehabilitate ancient dams to address water scarcity caused by climate change.

Dr Lane, who has been studying ancient water systems for over two decades, said the project aims to use heritage to address modern challenges in a sustainable and effective manner.

Working alongside local communities, he and his team study how things were done in the past and how the same techniques can be repurposed for present needs using modern materials.

Working in remote highland areas of the Peruvian Andes, Dr Lane and his team in recent years studied and restored the 600-year-old Ricococha and Weetacocha dams near the remote community of Pamparomás in Peru’s Cordillera Negra, adapting Inca hydraulic engineering using suitable modern materials.

The project is a response to water scarcity in an area of high seismic activity where modern dams built with concrete rarely last more than 20 or 30 years, if that.

The restored Inca dams now guarantee water supply for the 600 inhabitants of Pamparomás, allowing them to bring long abandoned pre-Hispanic farm terraces back to life.

The plan is to expand this work further, first by mapping and studying other Inca dams in the area, then rehabilitating that ancient water infrastructure where possible for use by present rural communities in the Andes.

“We have been expanding our database on ancient dams in the North-central highlands of Peru,” Dr Lane, who is based in Buenos Aires, said of his summer work during a recent visit to Gibraltar.

“We have now identified over 600 of them, of which some 260 can be rehabilitated.”

“We’re working in the highest areas of the Pacific-facing Cordillera, above 4,000m which is where the vast majority of these ancient dam systems are, but we are now expanding this database to the central Andes too.”

The ancient dams are flexible constructions built by the Incas and other pre-Hispanic peoples and are highly resistant to earthquakes.

While abandoned and forgotten for centuries, they still often serve their original function of harnessing and channelling natural water flows.

The dams are repurposed by teams of archaeologists and local communities working with modern membrane materials while respecting traditional construction methods, creating a hybrid of ancient and modern construction that resolves problems water challenges.

“Community buy-in on the project is critical,” Dr Lane said.

“We might have a great dam to rehabilitate but if the people are not there in the landscape or the community would rather a cement dam, then there is not much we can do.”

“So, the fact that we have potentially 260 dams that can be rehabilitated does not mean we will do all of them, many will not be viable.”

“We have worked on community relationships in certain areas for more than 20 years, in others we work closely with NGO’s that have worked in these other areas.”

According to UNESCO’s World Water Assessment Programme, Peru is among the countries facing the toughest challenges in ensuring access to clean water and sanitation.

The country has lost 54% of its glacier cover in the past 50 years as a result of climate change and its main water sources for coastal river valleys, including those supplying Lima, are under increasing pressure.

The OECD has called for Peru to adopt sustainable water management strategies that respect both ecological systems and cultural heritage, including by using combining traditional and modern hydraulic systems to improve future water security.

Last year Dr Lane, a senior researcher of the Argentine National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and University of Gibraltar senior research associate, won the prestigious Culture and Nature Prize awarded by UNESCO’s International Council on Monuments and Sites [ICOMOS].

ICOMOS is a non-governmental body that provides scientific and professional expertise to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

The highly competitive award acknowledged his work exploring the interconnections between cultural and natural heritage and rethinking how these can be protected working with local communities.

Dr Lane was also appointed vice president at UNESCO’s International Council on Monuments and Sites (Water and Heritage) for the Latin America and Caribbean regions.

In that role, he now has a chance to influence international decision-making in this area at a time when water scarcity is becoming a serious challenge for many countries around the world.

Dr Lane and his team are now focused on restoring three more dams in the next 18 months, at Shuklloc in Huaraz Province; Chakras 1 and 2 in Aija province; and Yanacancha 6 in Nor-Yauyos province.

Funding for these projects comes from various sources and the project current has five major donors including the Gerda Henkel Foundation in Germany; the Harte Family Fund in the US; Peru’s Instituto Montaña; the McKnight Foundation in the US; and the World Monument Fund, also in the US.

“We are in negotiation with a number of other potential donors,” Dr Lane said.

“The idea is to upscale this to three or four dams per year and eventually create a UNESCO institute into the recovery of ancient hydraulic technology, initially in Latin America, but potentially being able to roll it out elsewhere.”

“There is a lot of interest worldwide into making ancient water technology work in the modern world, given climate change and accompanying water stress, especially in tropical areas there is a need to harness all potential sources of water available.”

“Many of these older systems are low-cost, low-maintenance and low-pollution, so, very much a win-win.”