The La Cano slide, Vitor valley, Arequipa, Peru

We are at the confluence

of the irrigation canal

which comes from the Chili river.

To my left is the irrigation canal

which comes from

the La Joya irrigation project.

This channel is the La Cano canal.

On November 4th, 2010,

a hillslope slide occurred,

which destroyed

an upstream portion of this channel.

Therefore, this channel

is no longer operating.

As you can see,

it is now filled with backwater.

This canal has fresh waters,

with some pollution

from domestic sources.

The former channel,

which flowed this way

and which joined the other channel,

had waters originating

in agricultural wastewaters,

that is, agricultural drainage,

with high salinity content.

These two water sources,

or watercourses,

joined, or come together in this location

to produce the water

that goes to the La Cano irrigation,

San Isidro-La Cano,

which is located over there,

along the horizon.

We are on the upper plains,

next to the Vitor valley,

in the zone referred to

as San Isidro-La Cano.

Here we have a view

of the La Cano canal,

which failed on November 4, 2010,

and, as you can see,

at this time it does not contain

any water.

It is dry.

The slide caused

the fall of rock debris in this area,

and the upheaval

of a fairly extensive portion

of the Vitor valley.

My name is Juan Carlos Caceres

I am the owner of the La Cano farm

which was affected by the slide

of the hillslope adjacent

to the farm,

On November 4th

of last year [2010].

During that event,

the hillslope fell,

as shown before,

and part of the debris,

as it fell,

pushed this undeveloped hill

in front of us,

and has moved it

into the farmed area

about 80 meters.

In addition, another "hill" appeared,

if we could call it that,

another hill in the farmed area,

in the cultivated area,

as we can see,

to a height

of approximately 40 meters.

The area that has been destroyed

is around 80 acres.

To this date,

we have no way of

restoring it.

We note,

from day to day,

that apparently the crest,

or top of the hill,

continues to rise.

On a portion of the farmed area,

on the back side

of this little knoll,

a lagoon has appeared,

a small lagoon

which continues to increase in size.

From day to day,

it is becoming larger.

We will see it soon.

The lower lying areas

have been completely lost.

There were cotton fields,

there were potato fields,

with well established drip irrigation.

Everything has been lost.

Truthfully,

I do not know the causes,

There are theories,

which, sincerely,

I am not qualified to speak about.

But, the experts ca explain

what caused this slide.

Here we see how

the slide of the hillslope

below the canal

has produced the upheaval

of this farmed area,

of this cropland.

Onsite measurements show

that this hill is 38 meters high.

Before the slide,

that is, before November 9,

I mean, November 4,

this land that you see here,

totally broken up,

was at valley level.

This lagoon

has appeared as a result

of the upheaval of this soil.

It did not exist before.

At that level,

we can say, is the minimum

or initial elevation of the soil.

That is the level.

There you can see the road.

There is a pipe in there

which is part of

the drip irrigation system

that we are implementing.

That lagoon has appeared, and,

from day to day, is growing.

Every day there is more water coming out

and more moisture.

That land,

as I said before,

is higher in relation

to the adjacent land

behind the lagoon,

toward the river.

This lagoon is growing,

from day to day,

and we may assume that

it will continue to grow,

because it must be at the level

of the water table existing

below this soil,

which is the reason

why this hill was formed.

We are returning to the house

of Mr. Juan Carlos Cáceres.

We can see that we are

descending this trail,

which is about 5 m wide,

... which was about 5 m wide.

Now we are on an opposite slope,

that is, this trail used to go up,

but now it goes down,

after the slide.

110219