Yesterday morning, the technical roundtables of the Madre Vieja (Old Mother) and Achiguate Rivers gathered at the Departmental Governorship, to become familiar with the current situation of water in Escuintla, and with the actions for rational water management that are promoted in San Jeronimo, Baja Verapaz.
For the first topic, the director of the Private Institute for Climate Change Research -ICC- Alex Guerra, PhD, shared a presentation with details about water availability in Guatemala (country) and Escuintla, and the current situation of the watersheds that influence in the area. During his presentation, Guerra highlighted the importance of the rational and integral use of water and the factors that affect this resource including social, economic, and climate change.
For the second topic, the current Mayor of San Jeronimo, Baja Verapaz, Moises Roman Canahui shared his experience about the rational management of the water resource of the San Jeronimo sub watershed that has been managed for, at least, 13 years and which is used for six purposes: tourism, electricity generation, agricultural, domestic use, fish production and livestock.
Also, the governor of Escuintla, Aura Palala, encouraged the roundtables’ participants to keep on working for a rational use of water for the good of the Department.
Several organizations that are part of the roundtables of the rivers stated above were represented in the event, including banana enterprises, sugar enterprises, livestock producers, COPREDEH, Ministry of Environment, PDH, CONRED, the Town Halls of Port of San Jose and Tiquisate (Escuintla), and San Jeronimo (Baja Verapaz), the COCODES of Port of San Jose and Tiquisate, Civil Society, Ministry of Governorship, Departmental Governorship, Catholic Church and the Health Direction of Escuintla.
