Development statistics for Bolivia reflect considerable inequalities among people, for instance, poverty rates are much higher in rural agricultural communities, where living conditions depend to a great extent on access to water resources. Many policy interventions ignore the principle of equality, and in some cases even exacerbate differences. In this paper, we examine water access for irrigation in an Andean community, integrating a perspective of equality based on data disaggregation. By analyzing the available data, we identified that tenure of rights and distribution priority are the main criteria that control water access in the community. Based on these criteria, water demand was disaggregated into 28 groups and the system was simulated using the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) software, which allowed us to assess water demand coverage. Some groups receive less than 20% of their water demand, while others receive almost 100%. These inequalities are hidden in an aggregated model, which shows that the entire system never receives less than 60% of water demand. An evaluation of future climate change scenarios showed that water demand coverage could decline a further 15% in the dry season. The implementation of planned strategies, however, could counteract that decline by increasing supply and storage facilities; the model showed that implementing these strategies could raise water demand coverage up to 80% for some groups; however, others still face shortages. This study highlights methods and tools in planning that can strengthen existing equality approaches, and increase the efficiency in reducing poverty and inequality through water management.
Residencia: the annual inspection of households in an andean community