Louise Guénette

There is never enough time for writing. So I took a two-month break to work on my novel. Oh and I relocated to Cochabamba, Bolivia, where the novel is set. How's it going? I'll let you know once in a while.

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Water, a scarce resource in the Cochabamba valley

Because water is scarce in the region surrounding the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, people manage it carefully. In this large, semi-arid valley in the Andes, it hardly rains between April and October. To produce anything during these months, farmers need water from dams or wells.

My novel will focus on small farmers (or campesinos) defending their access to this precious element, so I wanted to see how well they managed it.

I went to Tiraque again, one hour east of Cochabamba city. Filiberto Barrios, of the Tiraque Water and Services Association, told me that each community has a committee for each of the three dams that serve the area. When a certain amount of dam water is released, each committee directs it to the farmers who have a right to it.

The water comes rushing by the farmers' fields. It's hard work to breach the dirt canal and direct the flow toward every square metre of soil that needs moisture. The farmers keep an eye on the clock as they work. When their alloted time is up, they seal the breach to let the water make its way to the next rights holder. Social peace in the community rests on their compliance.

With this kind of control over existing water sources, it's no wonder that campesinos are suspicious of any new water project in their region that doesn't involve them. Irrigation committees and associations such as these ones play an important role in my novel. Their opposition to the digging of new wells to supply water to the city of Cochabamba is the main conflict in my story. 

Two farmers in Millu Mayu, a Tiraque community, take a short break. They are working to direct water from the Pachaj Qhöcha dam to every corner of their fields. Together they have the right to two hours of water flow.

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The Vinto well conflict

I was looking for a water-related conflict for my protagonist to get involved in, and thanks to Marcelo Delgadillo I think I've found it.

Delgadillo, an architect and environmentalist, stands by a diagram that explains how rainwater runs down the mountains overlooking Cochabamba, Bolivia. This diagram, and the explanation that goes with it, played an important role in a 1995 conflict that pitted Vinto and Sipe Sipe irrigators against SEMAPA, Cochabamba's municipal water company.

The irrigators were immediately suspicious when SEMAPA announced the digging of super wells in their communities, west of the city. These wells would be deeper and more productive than any other in the region. At the request of the irrigators, Delgadillo joined an advisory committee made up of engineers, geologists, and other professionals. They reported that the deep wells would tap into fossil groundwater that had taken thousands of years to accumulate. What is more, this water sustained higher levels of the porous valley floor. The irrigators, who had already seen their well water levels go down and parts of their land sink because of other recent wells, didn't waste any time blocking roads.

I won't go into more detail, so as not to give away too much of my story line. 

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Water does indeed unite and divide Cochabambinos

My conversation with Sarah Hines — a University of California, Berkeley doctoral student living in the outskirts of Cochabamba — confirmed my choice of water as a central theme for my novel.  Sarah is writing a dissertation on the history of urban water provision in the city.

Access to water is the first priority for any new neighbourhood. Even the better-off settlers in the northern foothills organized in committees to buy water rights from small farmers and to access other services. The campesinos had held the rights to the area's water since the 1953 Agrarian Reform. During the 80s and 90s, the neighbourhoods transfered their rights to the municipal water company when it offered to integrate them into its distribution network. 

The southern part of the city is much dryer. This is where the poor started to settle in greater numbers after privatizations and economic difficulty in the 80s. Their struggle for water is ongoing.

Sarah also told me about the well wars in the neighbouring towns of Vinto and El Paso. The conflict erupted in the mid 1990s when Cochabamba's water company wanted to drill deep wells in these towns to supply the city. The campesinos, who had already seen their water levels decline, blocked roads to prevent the building of the wells. Complete with a standoff with the national police, this situation seems perfect for my novel.

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Irrigators association in Tiraque

I travelled to Tiraque, about 45 minutes east of Cochabamba, to sit in on an irrigators association meeting. At 3,295 metres high, Tiraque is colder than the city and more arid. Yet it is part of an important agricultural area.

Every second Monday the Asociación de Riego y Servicios de Tiraque meets to coordinate the release of dam water, report on the state of the canals, air out conflicts, and discuss other business.

There were close to 40 representatives of irrigating groups. I saw many weathered faces, coca-filled cheeks, and teeth blackened by the sweet lye that activates the leaf's minute traces of alkaloids. Women in flared skirts, leggings, shawls, and wide-brimmed, white hats were also reps — their participation being a new custom instituted at the request of President Evo Morales. The meeting proceeded almost entirely in Quechua except for a smattering of Spanish words.

Nobody really paid much attention to me. But near the end of the two-hour meeting some representatives asked the Asociación's directors to let me state my business. I explained in Spanish that I was writing a book on water rights and wanted to see how irrigators' meetings were held. 

Macario Cossio, the association secretary, was kind enough to interpret some of the discussions after the meeting ended. He is standing in front of last meeting's share-out for the biggest dam in their system, the Totora Khocha.

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Los Tiempos archives

This is the Los Tiempos building, a landmark I remember well from my first stay in Cochabamba in 1992 and 1993.

I consider Los Tiempos to be the daily of record for Cochabamba, so I wanted to look at some of its issues from the early 90s. They weren't easy to access. The newspaper doesn't have a public library and its digital record doesn't go back that far. I had to write a letter explaining my objectives and get approval from both the newspaper's director and general manager. 

I was able to access the old issues a few weeks ago and, along with the smell of old ink and a fair amount of dust, I've been absorbing the spirit of Cochabamba 20 years ago.

The hardline economic adjustments, that began in 1985, were still keeping salaries low, privatizing state companies, and raising value-added tax. There were a lot of strikes and demonstrations. Evo Morales (who is now the country's President) was already quoted in the newspaper as the General Secretary of the Special Federation of Chapare Small Producers (Campesinos). Water issues made the news regularly: drought in the Cochabamba valley, campesinos demanding irrigation projects, and migrant neighbourhoods calling for water services.

Carlos Arce Moreno, who is the newspaper's copyeditor by night and librarian by day, has been very helpful.

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Alfredo Duran, coordinator of Centro AGUA, explains to students on the Cliza field trip what they need to measure. Their reports on water levels and volume flow rates were due the next day. 

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Well water in Cliza

 University students measure the volume flow rate of one of the Cliza wells.

These wells may be relatively new but Andean knowledge of agriculture and water management is more than 1,000 years old.

 Students and members of the Flores Rancho Irrigators' Association measure a well's water level.

What I find the most interesting about water management in this region is the strength of the organizations that make sure each member gets their share of water. They are open to progress but don't mess with their access to water or they'll be quick to defend their rights.

  Weeding the old-fashioned way.

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There is a wealth of information on water rights and organizations at Centro AGUA. I contacted the Coordinator Alfredo Durán, who gave me good background information and a long list of resources that could help me understand the issues.

One of the librarians, Nelma Chavez, seen in this picture, helped me to sort through the many books, reports, and theses related to water. 

Centro AGUA was created in 1991 to study water management and use. It's part of the Universidad Mayor de San Simón in Cochabamba. 

Some of the issues Alfredo Durán mentioned are

A complex water sector with more than 600 water committees in the region, as well as numerous municipal and private water companies.

The many misunderstandings that have pitted hydraulic engineers against small-scale farmers who had their own way of managing water.  

Conflicting urban and rural water needs.

Durán has also given me many more contacts that will help me continue my research. I hope to accompany him and his team when they visit water installations in the Cochabamba region.

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Settling into the writing life

Some of my new neighbours haven't quite accepted my being here on Runasimi street. Morning's are cold indoors; I can't read for long at 15 degrees Celsius. So I've started sitting on my sunny terrace as I reread the 13 chapters I've written over the years. These two fellows in the yard next door, however, bark up a storm whenever they see me.

They're not the only problem. Some of the nonsense I've written is also cause for concern. I like some of it but my main character can get a bit too melodramatic about the difficulties of cross-cultural adaptation. She is bored too and I have to convey tedium without boring my future readers. There are also some choppy transitions, discrepancies, and inaccuracies.  All par for the course I suppose.

I'm making new contacts and soon my research on water rights will begin. Stay tuned.

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The goal was simple: relocate to Cochabamba to carry out research for my novel and rewrite the parts I've already written.

But every step of the way took longer than planned for. It took me four days to travel from Ottawa to Cochabamba. I even had to detour to Buenos Aires! Then I needed two days to find a place where I would be comfortable enough to live and write. And then I had to set up house and sign up for internet and a phone. But here I am finally.

Set in Cochabamba, my story is about a young idealist international volunteer who finds it hard to contribute anything worthwhile to this country. She slowly discovers what development is all about when she stumbles on the issue of water rights, how indigenous small-scale farmers manage them, and what they have to do to defend them. 

This picture shows the side view from a small terrace off my apartment. Good for inspiration. I left home on June 26 and finally started working on July 3.