The Lempa River is the longest river in El Salvador and it is shared with Guatemala and Honduras. It crosses through 9 of the 14 provinces of El Salvador, representing 47% of the country's territorial extension. Only in the hydrographic region of Lempa located in the Salvadoran territory, there is a population of more than 3.5 million Salvadorans, of these, about 2.44 million are in urban areas and 1.06 million in the rural areas.
The Lempa River plays a fundamental role in the economy and well-being of communities and urbanisation inside and outside its basin. The main services include the supply of drinking water, power generation, irrigation and provision of agricultural land, and climate regulation.
The Lempa river basin has a great variety of ecosystems distributed in its more than 2,800 meters of altitude difference and almost 18,000 square kilometers of area distributed between Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. These ecosystems represent a large part of the Central American natural heritage, hosting thousands of species that need a common commitment to the conservation of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems to ensure their survival.
The Lempa River basin is in crisis due to the overexploitation of the services it provides and the degradation of its rivers, forests, and wetlands. The main sources of contamination are:
- Inadequate solid waste management
- Discharge of sewage, mainly from urban centres
- Inadequate handling of industrial and agro-industrial waste
- Deforestation in the basin
Among the results of the #RescatemosElLempa campaign is the declaration of March 14 National Day of the Lempa River, which allows for reflection on the importance of strengthening water management capacities linked to being able to provide information for conscious decision making.
To learn more about the initiative, visit the dedicated website www.riolempa.org. Follow the rest of the campaign with on social media, using the hashtag #RescatemosElLempa.