Water supply and sanitation in Bolivia
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Bolivia’s water and sanitation coverage has greatly improved since 1990 due to a considerable increase in sectoral investment. However, the country continues to suffer from what happens to be the continent’s lowest coverage levels as well as from low quality of services. Political and institutional instability have contributed to the weakening of the sector’s institions at the national and local levels. Two concessions to foreign private companies in two of the three largest cities - Cochabamba and La Paz/El Alto – were prematurely ended in 2000 and 2006 respectively. The country’s second largest city, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, relatively successfully manages its own water and sanitation system by way of cooperatives. The new government of Evo Morales intends to strengthen citizen participation within the sector. Increasing coverage requires a substantial increase of investment financing, which has recently declined.
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[edit] Access
Coverage of potable water in 2004 was estimated at:
- 95% in urban areas
- 68% in rural areas
Sanitation coverage in 2004 was estimated at:
- 60% in urban areas
- 22% in rural areas
The lowest levels of coverage are found in the departments of Pando, Potosí, and Oruro.
[edit] Quality of Service
The quality of service in the majority of the country’s water and sanitation systems is low. In 2000, according to the WHO, in only 26% of the urban systems water was disinfected [3] and only 25% of the collected wastewater was treated.[4]
[edit] Responsibilities for water and sanitation
The sector’s institutional framework is the Law #2029 of 1999, or Water and Sanitation Services Law, revised in 2000 as Law #2066. As mentioned below in “Recent Developments”, the Morales Government is contemplating a new water and sanitation services law, named “Water for Life”.
[edit] Provision of Services
In urban areas, municipal governments (either directly or through decentralized companies) as well as cooperatives are in charge of service provision as well as the development of plans and program for service expansion in areas under their jurisdiction, in coordination with departmental governments. The country has 9 departments and 327 municipalities. It also has 14 water and sanitation providers [Empresas Prestadores de Servicios de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado (EPSA)] in the largest cities. In 1982 the EPSAs have formed the National Association of Water and Sewage Companies (ANESAPA).
In rural areas Juntas or Water Committees are in charge of operating and maintaining the systems.
[edit] Policies
President Evo Morales created the Ministry of Water in January 2006, which unified responsibilities of three different Ministries:
- Water and sanitation were under the responsibility of the Vice-Minister of Basic Sanitation [Vice-Ministerio de Saneamiento Básico (VSB)] of the now defunct Ministry of Housing and Basic Services [Ministerio de Vivienda y Servicios Básicos].
- Irrigation was under the Ministry of Rural Affairs [Ministerio de Asuntos Campesinos];
- The Ministry of the Environmental managed water resources.
These functions were attributed to three Vice-Ministries in the new Ministry of Water:
- Vice-Ministry of Basic Services
- Vice-Ministry of River Basins and Hydraulic Resources
- Vice-Ministry of Irrigation
[edit] Regulation
Regulation of urban water companies is undertaken by the Agency for the Supervision of Basic Sanitation – SISAB – which grants concessions and licenses and establishes the principles to set prices, tariffs, taxes, and quotas. [6] Other Latin American regulatory agencies normally do not grant service concessions, which are usually granted by municipalities. The Morales Government plans to dissolve the SISAB.
[edit] External Support
- Basic Sanitation to Small Municipalities Program – IDB (US$40m).
- Support to service providers in small- and medium-sized municipalities – GTZ
- Others
[edit] Recent Developments
[edit] The 1990s: Privatization and Regulation
In 1999, during the second mandate of Hugo Banzer (1997-2001), the sectoral institutional framework law (Law 2029) established the legal framework for the sector that is in force today. It allows for private sector participation and formalized SISAB as a regulator (SISAB replaced the former Superintendencia de Agua created in 1997). During that period two major concessions for water and sanitation were granted to the private sector: One in La Paz/El Alto to the Aguas de Illimani S.A. (AISA), a subsidiary of the French SUEZ (formerly Lyonnaise des Eaux) in 1997; and a second one in Cochabamba to Aguas de Tunari, a subsidiary of the multinationals Biwater and Bechtel in 1999.
Following two popular uprisings against water privatization, the first in Cochabamba in April 2000 and the second in El Alto in January 2005, the two concessions were terminated.
Outside of these two cities, EPSAs and Juntas continue to provide services to the majority of the country’s population.
In 2001, the Government defined the National Plan for Basic Sanitation Services 2001-2010 to increase the water and sanitation access to improve the quality of service and promote their sustainability.[7]
[edit] Evo Morales Government: Popular Participation
In 2006 the MAS won the elections and Evo Morales became President of the Republic. "Water cannot be a private business because it converts it into a merchandise and thus violates human rights. Water is a resource and should be a public service," emphasized the President elect Evo Morales. [8] The new president created the Water Ministry (see above) and nominated a leader of the protests in El Alto against Aguas de Illimani as the country's first Water Minister. He nominated Luis Sánchez-Gómez Cuquerella, who was formerly an activist of the struggle against the privatization in Cochabamba, as Vice-Minister of Basic Services.
The Govenment of Evo Morales considers passing a new water and sanitation services law called “Water for Life.” According to Vice-Minister Rene Orellana, this new legal framework would eliminate the SISAB and introduce a decentralized regulator in its place. Regulatory taxes would be eliminated along with the legal concept of the concession. A preferential electricity tariff would be introduced for EPSAs and community water rights would be strengthened.[9]
[edit] Investment
In the 1980s investment in the sector was below US$20 million per year. Starting in 1990, this average increased to approximately US$40 million. Between 1996 and 2000 the average was US$90 million, or 1% of GDP, or US$ 17 per capita in 2000.
After 2000 investments dropped back to their 1996 levels:
- 2000 = 91.2 million US$
- 2001 = 74.5 million US$
- 2002 = 45.5 million US$
- 2003 = 33.6 million US$
- 2004 = 47.5 million US$ [10]
[edit] Financing
Between 1992-2000, 58% of investments were externally financed (mainly from the IDB, World Bank, Japanese JICA and the German KfW), 17% by municipal governments, 8% by the private sector and 17% by departmental governments. [11]
In 2004 the Government of President Carlos Mesa defined a new Sectoral Financial Politics. The EPSA would receive credits and transfers for investments for participating in a Plan for Institutional Modernization (PMI) and establishing a Integral Development Plan (PID). Resources are assigned to each EPSA with priority to those with larger poverty levels and lower levels of coverage, according to a mathematic formula called Asignador Financiero Sectoral (AFS). The subsidies are higher and the conditions of loans less onerous to the EPSA with lower coverage and higher levels of coverage.[12] The National Fund for Regional Development (FNDR) is the Government’s instrument for the targeting of loans destined for water and sanitation investments.
The Foundation for the Support to Sustainable Basic Sanitation (FUNDASAB) channels technical assistance to services in order to promote their sustainability.
[edit] Norms
The Bolivian Norm NB 688, an important technical norm for the design and construction of sewage and sanitation, was revised in 2001.[13] The revised norm permits the installation of more efficient and of lower cost condominial sewage systems and helps to increase sanitation coverage with limited funds.
[edit] References
- ^ WHO/UNICEF Water
- ^ WHO/UNICEF Sanitation
- ^ OMS/OPS 2000
- ^ Plan Nacional de Saneamiento 2001, p. 33 [1]
- ^ VSB
- ^ Law #2029 VSB
- ^ Plan Nacional de Saneamiento 2001 [2]
- ^ Adital [3]
- ^ Agua Bolivia1 and Agua Bolivia2
- ^ WSP
- ^ Plan Nacional de Saneamiento 2001, p. 24-25 [4]
- ^ Política Financiera del Sector 2004 [5]
- ^ PAS Nota de Campo [6]
[edit] External links
[edit] See also
Water supply
Water and sanitation in Latin America
Water supply and sanitation in Brazil
Water supply and sanitation in Chile
Water supply and sanitation in Peru
[edit] Comments
Please feel free to post comments on this article on its discussion page (by clicking on "discussion" above to the left of the "article" tab) or send them to Manuel Schiffler at mschiffler@verizon.net.
