Lima, Peru - Water Rationing Begins As Record Drought Continues

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Peru has begun rationing water to its capital, Lima, following one of the worst droughts in a decade. Millions of people in the coastal city are being left without water supplies for twelve hours every night between 1700 and 0500.

The restrictions are likely to last through Peru's winter until December. Peru's state-run water company, Sedapal, was forced to restrict its supplies because of exceptionally low rainfall in the Andes.

Lima is on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, but the coastal strip is desert and the city's eight million people get their water from the mountains over 160km (100 miles) away.

Sedapal President Jorge Villacorta said water levels in the high altitude reservoirs had fallen to 165 million cubic metres, 120 million less than in a normal year."

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3697647.stm