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The Coronavirus Crisis in Peru: A Driving Force for Change in Water Management

  • The Coronavirus Crisis in Peru: Driving Force for Change in Water Management
    Renzo Toledo, Country Manager Idrica for Peru

About the entity

Idrica
Experts in digital transformation for the water industry. We provide services and Xylem Vue Powered by GoAigua’s technological solution for the water cycle management.

Peru has a high potential for business generation, but also many challenges to be solved. To this end, both the public and private sectors work together to provide welfare to communities. Renzo Toledo, Country Manager Idrica for Peru, details the impact of the pandemic on the population, and how technology can help them come out of the crisis stronger.

Idrica is positioned in Peru as the leading company in Technology, Solutions, and Operation and Maintenance, at the service of public and private organizations that require innovative responses to water management. The company puts technology at the service of people.

Question: How is the current crisis affecting people in Peru?

Answer: The COVID-19 crisis has hit the growth rate that the country had in recent years, and public and private projects have been paused.

However, this has provided a clearer vision of the tasks to be done. It has also made it possible for authorities to focus on new ways of accelerating the pace of investment and execution for projects with an impact on people’s health. Water and sanitation initiatives are at the core of this portfolio.

Q.- What actions are being developed, and what is their impact?

A.- The government has published several plans and regulations for organizations to establish prevention measures against the virus, and Peru partially restarted activities in a safer and more health-conscious manner. Suspended projects have been resumed, and measures have been taken to achieve a sustained pace of implementation.

Authorities are keen on implementing successful solutions for the implementation of technology in projects. The application of BIM modeling in construction projects for the State has been recently regulated.

"The COVID-19 crisis has hit the growth rate that the country had in recent years, and public and private projects have been paused"

An important group of initiatives correspond to the projects of the Authority for Reconstruction, with a total budget of S/. 25,000 million (6,500 million euros) in order to execute the Comprehensive Plan for Reconstruction in the 13 regions affected by the El Niño Coastal Phenomenon in 2017. This includes major infrastructure works for watershed management, irrigation, water, sanitation and housing. Measures are aimed at mitigating the impact of a similar event in the future.

Lastly, new forms of public procurement are being promoted. Government-to-Government agreements, Strategic Project Offices and Collaborative Contracts are taking an increasing role in the government's alternatives for a more effective project management.

Q.- Can technology transform the water sector in Peru?

A.- The GoAigua technological solutions, by Idrica, will play a significant role by measuring and controlling the processes of the entire water cycle. The solutions reduce the exposure of people to the virus and provide organizations with the necessary information for decision-making.

A substantial contribution could be to replicate the measurement of wastewater to detect the presence of COVID-19, in the same way as it has been done in Spain via the GoAigua SARS-Analytics solution.

Q.- How do you see the future after the pandemic?

A.- Water management in Peru was already a top priority, both in public organizations and private companies. The monitoring of water resources, the water cycle and the environment are major tasks of the government, and companies are highly committed to compliance.

The future will lead us to the automation of both management and auditing processes, and the use of information for decision-making. Similarly, the implementation of solutions associated with Digital Twins will allow organizations to simulate critical situations - such as the coronavirus - and be prepared to face the challenges of the future.

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