Title: Programme for Sustainable Water and Sanitation Services in Peri-urban Areas
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Bolivia
Lead executing agency: Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Agua; Viceministerio de Agua Potable y Saneamiento Básico
Overall term: 2013 to 2016
Context
Bolivia was one of the first countries to enshrine the human right to water and sanitation (HRWS) in its constitution (2009). However, with a territory of more than one million square kilometres and a population of 10 million people (2012 census), the allocated budget is much too low to guarantee sustainable service provision in keeping with the HRWS. A similar situation exists for the sustainable financing of water supply and sanitation by collecting fees. The unrestrained growth of large towns and cities, resource scarcity caused by climate change and uncontrolled management of wastewater and waste have made the situation even worse in recent years.
The situation has not improved much despite investments: in 2012 about 2.2 million people (more than one fifth of the total population) did not have access to drinking water and about half of the population did not have access to basic sanitation services. Consequently, Bolivia is not expected to achieve the Millennium Development Goal for sanitation. Continuity of supply, drinking water quality and hygiene standards are not fully guaranteed, especially in peri-rural and peri-urban areas. A large proportion of wastewater is discharged untreated into surface waters. Only about 12 per cent of wastewater treatment plants achieve satisfactory treatment results.
Sector institutions have neither sufficient skills nor the institutional and financial capacity to ensure that the mandate to supply public water and sanitation services is fulfilled. They are also unable to safeguard drinking water quality, appropriate wastewater treatment and the sustainable management of water resources. There are shortcomings in access to and quality of drinking water and sanitation services, especially in economically vulnerable peri-urban areas. These inadequacies are compounded by pollution and the effects of climate change on water resources.
Objective
Bolivian sector institutions and selected utilities increasingly fulfil their mandates so that more people – especially those living in economically vulnerable peri-urban areas – have better access to safe drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. The institutions and utilities also successfully implement measures to protect water resources while taking into account the effects of climate change.
Approach
The programme focuses strategically and conceptually on meeting the human right to water and sanitation, which is enshrined in the Bolivian constitution. The programme's measures aim to overcome shortcomings in the sector:
Improving sector institutions' capacities through advisory services and tackling technical issues together, for instance relating to drinking water and wastewater quality
Sustainable technical and financial improvements to the operation of drinking water and sanitation infrastructure: elaborating strategies to increase the number of connections to the wastewater treatment network and reduce technical water losses
Strengthening the expertise of governmental and civil society stakeholders to protect water resources, water resources management plans, a reduction in drinking water consumption and waste management
The target group is poor people in the peri-urban areas of Santa Cruz and Tarija who live in the service territory of selected water utilities. The entire population benefits from national measures to improve the capacity of sector institutions.
When connecting households to a wastewater treatment facility, hygiene campaigns are geared mainly towards women due to their traditional responsibility for health care, looking after the elderly and raising children.
Continuing education for specialists and managers at sector institutions and utilities and their associations encourages them to fulfil their mandates.