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THE third-largest city in Bolivia is spread across the flat floor of a fertile Andean valley which produces much of the country's grain, poultry, fruit and vegetables. But a swiftly expanding population and a drier climate have turned Cochabamba's once lush valley into an increasingly parched and dusty place. The water table is falling swiftly. Some areas of the city now receive water for only a few hours every two or three days, and farmers have had to shift to crops requiring less irrigation.

How to end the water shortage has become a controversial political issue. The solution championed by Manfred Reyes, Cochabamba's mayor, and backed by Bolivia's current government, is a $450m scheme to pipe water from a group of rivers (one of which, the Misicuni, gives the project its name) high in the mountains surrounding the city. It requires boring a 19km (12-mile) tunnel through the mountains, at depths of up to 1km.

Work on the project has started, stopped and started again since 1998. Some of the finance is coming from the World Bank and other donors. But some of the rest is supposed to come from raising the charges levied by Aguas del Tunari, the city's recently privatised water company. In December, water bills went up by 35% on average and some by twice that.

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Residents were enraged. “They want us to pay now for improved water supplies and services which won't even begin for another two years,” says Oscar Coca, a regional councillor. In January, protesters blocked roads out of Cochabamba for several days. Last weekend, more than 100 protesters and 30 police needed hospital treatment after two days of clashes. The city's narrow colonial streets were clouded by tear-gas and smoke from protesters' fires. President Hugo Banzer's government attributed the mayhem to coca farmers and leftist agitators. Civic leaders blamed aggressive policing.

Even before this, the Cochabamba water row had overflowed into national politics. Mr Reyes's small populist party has backed Mr Banzer's government, partly in return for its support of the Misicuni project. But on February 3rd Mr Banzer kicked Mr Reyes's people out of the governing coalition, seemingly because of disagreements over the water issue (though the two had also been at odds over other matters).

Mr Reyes, a former army captain, has been a popular and energetic mayor. But his detractors claim he has been less than crystalline on the water question. They note that during his successful campaign last year for a second term he failed to make it plain that he had been party to an agreement with Aguas del Tunari which included the tariff rise.

The protests have forced both Mr Reyes and the government to retreat. In talks mediated by Cochabamba's Catholic archbishop, they agreed to freeze water charges at their level of last October, pending further negotiations. That was greeted by popular celebration, but may delay still further the slaking of Cochabamba's thirst.

This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition