The aquifers that provide water to around two million people in the Guatemalan capital are running dry, say assessors from Empagua, the municipal water agency. ''Forty years ago we found water at 600 feet underground, but now we have to dig to 1,700 feet to develop the Empagua wells,'' Carlos Quezada, the city's water advisor, told Tierramérica.

''In addition to that problem is climate variability. In recent years we have seen extended summers and winters in which it has rained a great deal but over short periods, and only in certain places, which does not recharge the aquifers,'' he said.

Julio Escoto, director of Empagua's project execution unit, said in a Tierramérica interview that ''in the valley of the capital the areas of rainwater filtration (into the aquifers) have been reduced while exploitation of water has increased.''

''In the city there is an upper and a lower aquifer. The first has already been exhausted, and we are now using the second,'' Escoto said.