Latin America; in English (pdf) - Transboundary Freshwater Dispute ...

Verrettes waterfall, Haiti. Photo credit: Sharon Nichols, Rochester Community & Technical College.
environmental interdependency. Nevertheless,
there has been a marked increase in the
exploitation of aquifers, many of which are
located beneath the most important cities of
the region. In El Salvador, for example, aquifers
in metropolitan areas are being overexploited:
76% of the water supply now comes from underground
resources, with only 24% from the Lempa
River (PROCEDAMO 2002). Belize and Nicaragua
are becoming more dependent on the extraction
of underground water resources as well. It is
therefore necessary to begin to work toward the
management of Central American aquifers,
especially those of volcanic origin, since they
constitute a significant source of drinking water
and irrigation water in the region.
2.4 WATER DEPENDENCY AND
INTERDEPENDENCY
The water dependency and interdependency of
each country in the region varies according to the
number of countries in the basin and their locations
(i.e., upper or lower basin or slope). Guatemala
has the largest number of shared international
basins in the region. Its surface waters flow into
Mexico, El Salvador, Belize, and Honduras
(Aragón, Roday, and Hurtado 2002). Furthermore,
42% of the land area of Guatemala falls into one
international river basin, the Usumancita
(Hamann and Ankersen 1996). With some
exceptions, Guatemala is primarily an upperbasin
riparian and its neighbors are greatly
dependent on its water resources. To date,
however, Guatemala does not yet have institutions
in place for protecting water quality, including
regulating and controlling polluting agents used
in agriculture (FAO 2002a).
In the rest of Central America and on
Hispaniola Island, the water dependency situation
within international river basins is as follows
(Map 6a):
In Honduras, it is estimated that 27,780.3 km 2
of national land corresponds to international
basins. These basins represent 23.4% of shared
waters providing 20 km 3 of water per year.
The Motagua and Chamelecón Rivers send
53.36 km 3 to Guatemala; the Lempa and
Goascorán Rivers send 5.07 km 3 to El Salvador;
and Negro and Segovia Rivers provide 6.9 km 3
to Nicaragua (FAO 2002f).
Chapter 2. Hydropolitical Vulnerability in Central America and the West Indies — 27