Peruvian Amunas

Amunas, a word of Quechua origin from Peru meaning “to retain,” are a pre-Hispanic system of artificial recharging of aquifers through the sowing and harvesting of water, which is still implemented by some Andean peasant communities in the aforementioned country, between the Puna and Quechua zones. The operation of the system begins between the months of December and April with the “capture of rain” and snowmelt in the upper part of the basin, where there are no crops but rather slopes of stones and grass. These waters are conducted through a network of irrigation ditches and/or unlined channels, to fractured, porous and rocky surfaces, from which they infiltrate into the mountain aquifers. The work carried out in the upper part allows the gradual and uninterrupted feeding of the springs downstream and the availability of this resource during the months of August, September and October (dry season), just when sowing begins. In this way, rural families have access to more water than they would have through natural infiltration.