The sun beats down on Cieneguillo, a valley famed for its lemon and mango plantations near Peru’s northern coast. Farmer Yhon Silupú Córdova – thin, slow-moving and tanned – walks silently across his plot until he stops and points: “I lost these two hectares to the drought. I haven’t recovered them.”
In economic terms, the loss represented about 33,000 soles (about USD 10,000) for Silupú. His story reflects a phenomenon being repeated across the world: extreme weather and uneven water management are strangling production systems. In Cieneguillo, one of the worst droughts in decades sparked a water crisis in 2024. Silupú and other local agricultural leaders say it affected some 6,000 farmers in their area.
According to estimates by Piura’s chamber of commerce, the drought caused economic losses of up to 1.3 billion soles and put nearly 60,000 jobs at risk. Key export crops – rice, mangoes, lemons and grapes – were among the most affected.
In urban areas, families waited with buckets for the arrival of water tankers. In the countryside, farmers fought over access to the resource; the army was deployed at the drainage system that supplies water to Piura to ward off potential thieves.
Reduced rainfall played a role in the crisis but many also point to weaknesses in the water system. For example, according to the local government’s Piura Region Water Plan, 63% of the more than 725,000 hectares with productive potential do not have an irrigation system.
The water crisis has also revealed deep asymmetries in access to the resource. Research published in 2024 found that, despite growing water scarcity, large-scale agricultural export companies had received 93% of the water licences granted in Piura since 2010.
Families, too, are going thirsty. According to the Piura Sanitation Services Company, drinking water demand in the region reaches 2,400 litres per second, but actual production barely reaches 1,500. Water production takes place at the Curumuy treatment plant, which receives water from the main reservoir of northern Peru, called Poechos, as well as approximately 30 underground wells. This production gap forces thousands of families to live without continuous access to water – or to dig holes in search of it.
China and northern Peru
In December 2025, the Peruvian government announced China had won an international tender to deliver initial studies for two water megaprojects in the region: Alto Piura and the reinvigoration of Poechos. Both are aimed at securing water access but have been delayed for decades.
Mario Montero, a professor at the National University of Piura (UNP) and a specialist in water management, tells Dialogue Earth the main obstacle has not been technical but political: “Every year, a budget is announced to move them forward, but they don’t.”
China’s interest in Piura goes further than water projects, however. The region is one of Peru’s main agro-export hubs, shipping mangoes, lemons, avocados and grapes to the US, Europe and, increasingly, Asia. Last year, for example, a Piura-based company exported frozen avocados to China for the first time. In 2025, the Chinese market was the second largest destination for exports from Piura, after the US.
This relationship is also reflected in Chinese investments in other strategically important sectors. China’s Zijin mining group is the majority shareholder of the Río Blanco copper mine in the Piura Highlands.
Poechos: On the road to recovery?
Poechos celebrates its 50th anniversary in June. Designed to store up to a billion cubic metres of water, the reservoir’s effective capacity has been reduced to less than half. Even so, it remains a key asset: it supplies water to nearly a million people and irrigates more than 100,000 hectares of agricultural land.
“It is the largest reservoir in Peru, ensuring the local and export food chain,” says Antonio Valdiviezo, Piura’s regional director of agriculture. “Its recovery will depend on the coordinated work of all Peruvian authorities.”
A project to update the reservoir is under consideration, perhaps by expansion, dredging or building smaller, satellite reservoirs. This would require huge investment.
The economist Miguel Zapata, a member of the Regional Institute for Water Resource Management Support (Irager), says the success of Poechos’ consolidation will depend upon political and institutional factors. Zapata explains that defining the final proposal will take much of this year, and the government will want to ensure it is protected, legally and financially: “A rigorous administrative roadmap is needed. It is essential to have a solid contract that covers hidden defects and force majeure, to prevent the project from ending up in international arbitration, which the Peruvian state usually loses.”
Zapata also points out that similar projects have stalled in the past because of financing issues, so funding must be secured from the outset to avoid construction pauses.
Peru is currently in the middle of a presidential election, its second round of voting scheduled for 7 June. Montero points out this could also impact the project: “Sometimes, due to a change of government, the works come to a standstill.”
Alto Piura: Water and energy
The second megaproject is the Alto Piura Special Irrigation and Hydroelectric Project (Peihap). It includes the construction of a dam, a 33 km trans-Andean water pipeline and two hydroelectric power stations. Peihap will upgrade existing agricultural irrigation infrastructure, but also build out more across another 19,000 hectares. All in all, the project will secure irrigation for at least 50,000 hectares and have a total installed capacity of 300 megawatts. This makes Peihap one of northern Peru’s most significant and anticipated hydro projects.
We must take advantage of all of China’s experience in water solutionsPaul Viñas, water management specialist, National University of Piura (UNP)
However, Peihap has already gone through two international contractors and arbitration. China could face quite a challenge in taking on this project.
Zapata says the intra-governmental agreement is “already a step forward” but “a roadmap for the project must be established.” No contract is likely to be awarded until 2027, he adds.
Paul Viñas, a UNP biologist specialising in water management, emphasises the importance of incorporating nature into the project: “We must take advantage of all of China’s experience in water solutions. But engineering must go hand-in-hand with nature-based solutions. For example, we must restore the forests in the upper Piura Basin, which serve as rain regulators.”
The National Water Authority (ANA) told Dialogue Earth it would not comment on water management in northern Peru. Unsuccessful attempts were also made to interview representatives from the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MDAR).
Far away from talk of technical studies and governmental deal-making and announcements, Yhon Silupú walks around his plot in Cieneguillo. The soil is still dry, and the lemon trees have not sprouted again. For him, the promises of dams and tunnels remain remote. “Water is urgent for us,” he warns.
