Water supply and sanitation in Colombia
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Water supply and sanitation in Colombia have had significant increases in coverage in the past decades. Nevertheless, important challenges remain, such as insufficient service coverage, in particular in rural areas and inadequate quality of water and sanitation services. Compared to the water and sanitation sector in many other Latin American countries the sector in Colombia is characterized by relatively high levels of cost recovery as well as a strong and stable participation by the local private sector.
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[edit] Access
| Urban (77% of the population) | Rural (23% of the population) | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | Broad definition | 99% | 71% | 93% |
| House connections | 96% | 51% | 86% | |
| Sanitation | Broad definition | 96% | 54% | 86% |
| Sewerage | 90% | 20% | 74% |
WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program (2004) estimated, based on data from the 2000 Demographic and Health Survey and the 1997 Living Standards Measurement Survey
In 2004 93% of the population had access to safe water and 86% has access to adequate sanitation. The rural population, which accounts for about 23% of the national total, has the lowest coverage rates, with only 71% having access to safe water and 54% to adequate sanitation.[1][2] Coverage is lowest on the Atlantic Coast (Caribbean Region), in the Orinoquia, and Amazonia.
[edit] Service quality
In addition to issues of service coverage, Colombia’s water and sanitation sector faces serious delivery problems. Water rationing and intermittent supplies are common. According to a survey by the Ministry of Health the average duration of water supply in urban areas was 21.3 hours per day in 1998, with users in some municipalities being served only 13 hours per day.[3]
Slightly less than 50% of all drinking water is treated and inadequate pressure in the water delivery system adds to risks of bacterial contamination. Larger cities tend to have better service quality than small cities and rural areas.[4]
Sewage collection systems do not have sufficient hydraulic capacity to handle wastewater flows, especially in poor neighborhoods, which results in overflow problems. Only about 5% of the wastewater generated in the country undergoes any kind of treatment, while the rest is discharged without any treatment, contaminating a significant part of the natural water resources.[5]
[edit] Responsibility for water supply and sanitation
The responsibilities in the water and sanitation sector in Colombia are defined in the 1991 constitution, in the Law 142 of 1994 and in subsequent legislation.
[edit] Service provision
Responsibility for service provision is vested in the municipalities and, for rural areas and some marginal urban areas, in communal water boards. It is estimated that overall there are more than 12,000 service providers in the country. According to the country's Sistema Unica de Información on Public Services (see link under References), among the 735 larger service providers in 73% of the cases the municipal administrations provide services directly, while a significant share have delegated their functions to private (17%) or mixed (7%) companies.[6]
[edit] Policy and Regulation
The Vice-Ministry of Water and Sanitation, created in October 2006, in the Ministry of Environment, Housing and Territorial Development in charge of setting sector policy. Responsibility for regulating water services is vested in two separate institutions at the national level. The Comisión de Regulación de Agua Potable y Saneamiento Básico (CRA) or Potable Water and Basic Sanitation Regulatory Comission defines criteria for efficient service provision and sets the rules for tariff revision, but is not in charge of controlling the application of these rules. The latter is the responsibility of the Superintendencia de Servicios Públicos Domiciliarios (SSPD) or Superintendency for Residential Public Services, a multi-sector regulatory agency.[7]
The Government aims at improving the performance of the water and sanitation sector through (i) strengthening the regulatory framework; (ii) implementing technical assistance programs; (iii) providing financial support to promote modernization and efficient management as well as to subsidize the poor; and (iv) rationalizing the institutional framework at the national level to improve coordination in the sector. The government also supports private sector participation in the sector.
[edit] Strong public utilities and successful private sector participation
Colombia is home to one of Latin America's best permforming utilities, the Empresa Publica de Medellín (EPM), a municipally-owned multi-sector utility in charge of water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, electricity generation and distribution as well as local telecommunications in Medellín and its surrounding areas. Public utilities in other large cities, such as the Empresa de Agua y Alcantarillado de Bogotá (EAAB), are also performing well compared to utilities in many other Latin American countries.
Private sector participation in Colombia's water and sanitation sector has been stable and is considered by many a success, unlike in many other developing countries. In 2004 there were 125 private and 48 mixed public-private water companies in Colombia, including large, medium and small companies.[8] Private sector involvement in the Colombian water sector began in 1995 in Cartagena, with support from the World Bank. The most important examples are in Cartagena, Barranquilla, Santa Marta, Tunja, Montería, Palmira, Girardot, and Riohacha. Operators are to a large extent not foreign, but Colombian. Overall performance of utilities with private sector participation has improved, in some cases spectacularly, and some – such as Barranquilla - have had impressive successes in expanding coverage to the urban poor.[9]
[edit] Notes
- ^ WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program Water[1]
- ^ WHO/UNICEF [[Joint Monitoring Program Sanitation [2]
- ^ OPS Evaluación 2000, Section 4.2.4 [3]
- ^ OPS Evaluación 2000, Section 4.2.3.[4]
- ^ OPS Evaluación 2000, Section 4.2.5.[5]
- ^ Sistema Unica de Información, see under external links
- ^ OPS Evaluación 2000,[6]
- ^ SUI
- ^ Interamerican Development Bank [7]
[edit] Sources
- World Bank: Recent Economic Developments in Infrastructure (REDI) in Colombia, Chapter on Water Supply and Sanitation, 2004. Executive summary of full REDI at Recent Economic Developments in Infrastructure (REDI) in Colombia
- World Bank REDI water and sanitation report in Spanish REDI Water and Sanitation
- Organización Mundial de Salud (OMS): Evaluación de los Servicios de Agua Potable y Saneamiento 2000 en las Américas Colombia
[edit] External links
Regulators
- Public Services Information System of the Superintendencia de Servicios Públicos Domiciliarios (SSPD) Sistema Unica de Información (SUI)
- Water Regulatory Commission Comisión de Regulación de Agua Potable y Saneamiento Básico (CRA)
Service Providers
[edit] See also
Water supply
Water and sanitation in Latin America
[edit] Comments
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