Saving Water the Old-Fashioned Way

3 August 2016

 - The future of water security in Lima, Peru isn’t happening in the city. It’s happening 75 miles away and 12,000 feet up, in once-forgotten stone channels that pre-date the Incans.

The channels through the Humantanga district snake across steep slopes, collecting rainfall and water from highland streams during the rainy season, letting it seep into the mountain where it percolates naturally over months rather than running off through streams.

“When you see it, it’s amazing and beautiful,” says Leah Bremer, a researcher with The Natural Capital Project who spent years working with The Nature Conservancy and local organizations on a fund to improve water quantity and quality in the area. “Some are stone. Some are concrete. It’s a combination of the natural and the more modern.”