Water management is a key issue in the Andes. Glaciers are almost gone and are melting away at the most critical rate. It is feared that in a few years all glaciers in Peru will be gone. Glaciers provide water in the dry season so water management in the highlands also impacts the desert land. Only 2% of water gets to the desert land where 70% of people in Peru live. What is more, another side-effect of glacial melt in the case of Peru is that the run-off meltwater carries acid-heavy metal deposits into the rivers. Contaminants such as lead, arsenic, cadmium, manganese are released, impoverishing water and soil quality. Communities have been adapting to climate variability for thousands of years and they have adapted unique techniques and these ancient techniques are really inspiring. Now science is working with the communities to rehabilitate and revitalise these old ancestral solutions with the modern scientific approach.