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Los sistemas de abastecimiento de agua para las comunidades rurales en Colombia son diseñados desde una perspectiva urbana que no reconoce que en el campo el agua es usada para actividades domésticas y productivas de pequeña escala, que constituyen parte importante de los ingresos de las familias. Mientras los sistemas son usados para múltiples propósitos, las políticas, leyes y regulación para la planificación, diseño, administración, operación y mantenimiento están orientados hacia el propósito de proveer agua potable para consumo humano. Al desconocer estas múltiples demandas, los sistemas son diseñados con dotaciones menores a las requeridas, las necesidades de agua exceden la capacidad de la infraestructura instalada, lo que en ocasiones se traduce en falta continuidad, reducción de los niveles de servicio, conflictos entre usuarios, y entre usuarios y administradores de los sistemas.
Esta nota busca sensibilizar a quienes trabajan en la planificación y ejecución de sistemas de suministro de agua en comunidades rurales, sobre las múltiples necesidades del líquido de la gente del campo; desea ampliar el espectro de lo que se consideran alternativas para el abastecimiento a las poblaciones en términos de fuentes y tecnologías, y presentar estrategias para incorporar medidas de Producción Más Limpia en las actividades domésticas y productivas de pequeña escala de estas comunidades.
En los asentamientos rurales el agua de los sistemas de abastecimiento es utilizada en las viviendas para actividades domésticas y también para actividades productivas de pequeña escala. Sin embargo, en la planificación, diseño y administración de estos sistemas se desconoce esta situación, dando lugar a servicios que limitan el desarrollo de las actividades generadoras de ingresos de las comunidades y se pone en peligro la sostenibilidad de los servicios. Como puesta en práctica del concepto de Gestión Integrada de Recursos Hídricos (GIRH) a nivel local, se promueve el enfoque de usos múltiples del agua (MUS) que representa un cambio de paradigma en la planificación y gestión de los sistemas de suministro de agua, tanto los de consumo humano y doméstico como los de irrigación. Así, estos sistemas pueden funcionar acorde con las necesidades y realidades de los habitantes de las zonas rurales y permitir el acceso al recurso a través de soluciones más integrales y sostenibles.
Outside the major towns where private operators are involved in service delivery, rural domestic water supplies in Colombia are, in the main, operated and managed by community based organizations. Users pay water charges according to tariffs that aim to cover these ongoing costs. Most capital investment comes from the state, which has a responsibility to ensure delivery of efficient public services, and this is largely channeled via local government (departments and municipalities) according to a set formula to construct new systems and upgrade old ones. An element of these funds is ring-fenced for water and sanitation until certain coverage and service delivery targets are met. In Valle del Cauca there are also cross organizational programmes (notably the PAAR programme for rural water supply) that invest further in infrastructure development including some investment derived from private water and sanitation operators and environmental authorities.
In a few areas, there is support to assist community-based organizations in sustaining their water systems through training, sharing of experiences and information, and advice in various aspects of management such as legal and financial issues (e.g. Aquacol, Cinara). However, generally these support services are not adequately catered for by government and most investment is in physical infrastructure rather than capacity building. The state also has a regulatory role in water supply. There are set tariff models and water quality standards for example, that are monitored from time to time. Despite a high level of decentralisation in responsibility for the operation and maintenance of systems and a trend towards more community participation in project design, most programmes follow fairly rigid guidelines responding to nationally set norms and standards. These define for the example the volume and quality of water to be supplied. There is little difference in the way that schemes are designed from place to place, despite large differences in the nature and demand of different communities.
The rules of operation in the country for the domestic water sector, upon which this paper focuses, are set out in a large number of constitutions, laws and policies. In comparison there are relatively few organizations and instruments relating to the irrigation sector. There are also many different organizations involved in various aspects of domestic water supply. Each has clearly defined responsibilities which makes coordination and integrated approaches to development and management very difficult. At the national level key agencies include for example, the Ministry of Environment, Housing and Spatial Development, the Ministry of Social Security, the National Directorate of Planning, Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Key regulators are also located at this level including the Regulatory Commission of Water Supply and Sanitation, and the Superintendent of Household Public Services.
At the intermediate level, key organizations include departamentos, a main level of local government, autonomous regional corporations that are environmental authorities, and health secretaries involved in monitoring as well as investment in water and sanitation programmes. At the local level, municipalities have a main role in service delivery through investment in infrastructure and helping and supporting local community organizations to run systems. They also provide agricultural extension and health programmes amongst other activities, although municipalities are often constrained by a lack of funds and capacity. Empresas Prestadoras de Servicios Públicos cover a range of types of organization that provide water and sanitation services from private to community-based organizations. Associations of irrigators are community-based organizations that manage irrigation systems.
The domestic water sector in Colombia is, arguably, urban-focused and does not respond well to the needs of rural communities. Most rural communities require a water supply to meet their basic domestic needs that include small-scale productive uses of water at the household level, such as small plots of crops, raising livestock and processing products such as coffee. However these needs fall in the gaps between the sectorally - defined institutions and their policies. Domestic water supplies are not officially developed to satisfy small-scale productive uses. Basic or domestic needs are not clearly defined in regulations but are commonly understood to be restricted to human consumption meaning drinking, cooking, cleaning, washing and sanitation. Irrigation and livestock needs are other categories of water use, that are not supposed to be supplied from domestic systems. However, in practice, and facilitated by the relatively large volumes of water (100-150 lpcd) that are supplied, many domestic systems do support such productive uses. However, this happens in an unplanned and unregulated way because it is not recognized within the legal and policy framework. This leads to problems in many systems such as failure to supply tail-end households, a lack of continuity in supply and conflicts between users.
A unique feature of the water supply situation in the coffee growing regions of Colombia are the piped water supply systems that are developed by the comité de cafeteros (which has national, intermediate and local branches) partly to provide water that is needed for coffee processing several times a year, but also because of their social responsibility to improve rural infrastructure, services and standards of living. The comité de cafeteros also operate some of these systems, which are often the only system for domestic water supply. Officially, however, because of their partial use for coffee processing, these systems are classified as industrial systems and are not developed according to the guidelines for domestic water supplies. Through the PAAR programme in Valle de Cauca, a part of the comité de cafeteros are even expanding to support implementation of water and sanitation system development outside the coffee growing areas drawing upon their general experiences in developing rural services.
This paper concludes that the definition of domestic or basic needs in rural areas need to include an element to meet small-scale productive uses in order to be able to support better food security and the livelihoods of rural families. This requires changes in the approaches followed by several organizations at different levels, and such change is being promoted through a learning alliance that aims to develop cross-organization linkages and find practice ways to support delivery of multiple use water services.
You can find the full report (in Spanish) here
This case study aims to document the experiences of the Asociación de Usuarios de Agua Potable Challacaba located in the peri-urban District 9 of the Municipality of Cochabamba, Bolivia in developing a community managed water supply system that meets both domestic and productive needs.
The case study concentrates on explaining the key factors that enabled the community to create a users’ association and a sustainable water distribution scheme. There is an apparently self-reinforcing, virtuous-loop between a good low cost water service, productive uses to derive maximize benefits from the water service, improved willingness to pay for the water supply, and an ability to continually invest to maintain and improve the system.
The water distribution system in Challacaba consists of a deep borehole linked to a piped network serving the 435 inhabitants. It offers a high quality, dependable service at very low costs. Water is available 24 hours a day, compared to only 2 hours a day at the nearest point (2 kilometres away) served by the city water supply company SEMAPA. Although there are elevated manganese levels in the groundwater supply, there was no microbial contamination compared to the SEMAPA supply which is not potable. Water is supplied to the members of the system on a metered basis, at a cost of 0.19US$/m3 compared to 0.51US$/m3 for SEMAPAs supply. The study shows that the widespread belief (among professionals not communities) that centralized utilities offer economies of scale in providing water in peri-urban Cochabamba should be questioned.
The initial system was developed in 1980 at a time of drought. Then, 36 households contributed US$100 each to the cost of a borehole fitted with a manual pump. In the following years, the community contributed (US$150 each household) to raise sufficient money to install a piped water system. This was constructed using the services of PLASTIFORTE (a local pipe manufacturing enterprise to which Agua Tuya is linked). In 2005, the community again at their own initiative upgraded the system installing new pipelines and a hydro-tower. The hydro-tower, at a cost of US$2000, maintains adequate pressure in the system at a fracture of the cost of an overhead tank. The number of users has now increased to 60 households.
One of the consequences of a good service with appropriate quality and adequate quantity at low cost is that it is possible for households to use the supply for productive activities, especially raising animals and milk production. Such water-intensive activities generate income and help households to sustain their livelihoods. In total, 44% of the families keep animals and their consumption is 12.9 m3/month (86 lpcd) compared to 9.7 m3/month (65 lpcd) for families without animals. Most of the families with animals (69%) keep cows with an average of 7 each. Other livestock include pigs, sheep and poultry. Milk from dairy production is sold nearby at a price of 0.18US$/litre giving an average income of 269US$ year per cow. Water represents about 1% of the costs of milk production, compared to 15% where families have to buy water from tankers for their livestock.
Taking advantage of their strong community organization, and the well functioning water system, the community has been able to introduce a number of unique elements. Firstly, members are able to borrow money from the water supply committee who operate accounts that are in surplus despite the low water charges. Members can borrow up to US$300 which is then often used for investment in productive activities like dairy farming. Secondly, an additional small monthly fee on the water bill covers burial costs of members. Thirdly, all members receive a hamper at Christmas from the committee. For all these water, and financial services, members still pay considerably less than households connected to SEMAPAs supply.
Factors that reinforce a virtuous loop of sustainability in the service include the strong sense of ownership of the system with active participation in management and decision making, appropriate low cost technology such as the hydro-tower, and appropriate financial models. In this case, all the investment has been made by the system members. Uniquely, the water committee also provides financial services (small loans and burial insurance) to the members.
The community in Challacaba are now planning to drill a second borehole to increase the supply to the system, especially for further productive activities like small gardens ( huertas).
The full report and a presentation (both in Spanish) can be found here
The agricultural sector in Quindio includes coffee, bananas, livestock/ and diary farming as well as increasingly important diversification into tourism related activities. Coffee is not irrigated but requires large volumes of clean water for processing which is usually provided by piped water systems development and operated by coffee growing associations. These also serve domestic users. Technologies exist to reduce water consumption in processing from around 40 litres of water per kilo to coffee to around 1 litre, however these are expensive machines (USD3500). Livestock farming also requires a secure and clean water supply, and tourism increases the ‘domestic’ consumption of farms.
This study is focusing on three farms (coffee, diary, mixed with tourism activities) and the development of technical proposals to improve water use at the farm level. Different water sources are being assessed (quantity and quality) and different water uses (household, livestock, crops) analysed. Wastewater reuse options and solid waste disposal are also being considered. It is planned that the proposals will be implemented by the study farmers with the support of Cinara. At appropriate stages in the study, neighbouring farmers are being asked to comment on the proposals and to identify whether they can also apply some of the interventions.
Overall research question: How do different types of farms utilise water resources and dispose of wastewater, and what improved practices could be adopted to reduce demands and minimise pollution?
About agricultural and domestic use of water in the Quindio region, Colombia. Many aquaducts were built so that the water is available in rural areas.
The attached paper is in Spanish.
This document aims to provide a practical guide for planning, developing and manageing water supply systems that meet the multiple water needs of people that live in rural communities. They aim to broaden the perspective about the available options to provide water in terms of sources, technologies and to introduce strategies to incorporate Cleaner Production and efficient water use options for the different activities of rural communities. They also include a discussion on aspects related to management, costs and tariffs for mus systems.
These guidelines are the result of a process developed in a participatory way through Learning Alliances in Colombia. It is expected that these guidelines will contribute to incorporate innovative approaches to formulate policies and regulations for rural water supply systems in Colombia where 73% of the rural households are engaged in agricultural activities (DANE, 2005). They aspire to contribute to changing the sectoral approach that characterising the current planning processes related to water in Colombia, and that make it difficult to satisfy in an integrated way the needs of people