The Development of an Integrated Water Management Plan for the Tomine

Catchment, Colombia.

Master Thesis by Chris Holtslag

MASTER'S PROGRAMME IN INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY

Delft University of Technology & Leiden University

August 2011

Supervisors:

Maarten Siebel, UNESCO-IHE

Gijsbert Korevaar, Delft University of Technology

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag ii

Preface My interest in developing countries and thinking about elemental problems, has led me to seek a

graduation topic that could take me abroad and let me put Industrial Ecology to practice. I found this

in Delft where UNESCO-IHE deals with all the sustainability aspects regarding water. One the projects

of UNESCO-IHE is called SWITCH – ‘Managing Water for the City of the Future’, an action research

program with partners in more than 15 countries. One of the cities involved is Bogotá, the capital of

Colombia. I was able to take part in the research team based at the National University of Colombia

(UNAL), in the Institute of Environmental Studies (IDEA) making this water project the subject of my

master thesis.

The master program Industrial Ecology looks at the current problems the world is facing and tries to

tackle unsustainability with a system’s perspective and a multi-disciplinary approach. Many of the

worlds current problems be it energy, poverty, development or climate change, are related to water.

During my study I became more and more convinced that sustainable water management is a basic

condition for sustainable development.

The UNESCO-IHE is an institute that attracts people from all countries that want to learn more about

solving water-related problems. I wanted to do my Msc thesis on the subject but first wanted a more

hands-on experience in an institute with this special focus. I was able to do an internship at UNESCO-

IHE with professor Maarten Siebel, and learned about a project in Colombia. This SWITCH project

focused on the Bogotá River and looked at ways to reduce its pollution from effluents of tanneries

that were dumped in the river upstream. A second project was initiated focusing on a region

upstream of Bogotá, the Tominé catchment. The idea was to make an analysis of the problems in the

current water management system which could be used to further develop an integrated water

management plan. In Colombia I was part of the research team that made this analysis, and at the

same time could use this experience as the subject of this MSc thesis.

I want to thank: Maarten Siebel, Gijsbert Korevaar, Mónica Sanz, Tania Santos, Claudia Casallas,

Leonardo Guayara, Hernán Yanguatín, Ricardo Castro, Carolina Tobón, Eduardo Molina, Claudia

Romero, Edwin Moreno, Laura Osorio and Luis Carlos Bohorquez for making my trip to Colombia

possible and unforgettable.

My parents Henk and Gerda and my sister Sita for their unconditional support and last but not least

my loving girlfriend Astrid for letting me go to Colombia for 4 months and being so patient.

iii

Abstract The Bogotá River Basin faces multiple water-related difficulties such as floods, droughts,

contamination of drinking water. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is a framework

that allows decision makers to handle such problems. In Colombia however, local and practical

implementation is limited despite political will on a national and regional level. The SWITCH

(Sustainable Water Improves Tomorrow’s Cities Health) project was done in two subcatchments of

the Bogotá River Basin, one of them being Tominé Catchment with its thee municipalities located

around a reservoir originally constructed for hydropower generation. The catchment faces many

problems related to water security and quality, for which IWRM has been put forward as a fitting

management approach.

To find out how water management in the Tominé catchment can be improved, a rapid water

resources assessment and an initial stakeholder analysis were performed. This was done by gathering

secondary data on water resources, infrastructure demand and access and organizing them in a

format that can become the future information base. Key stakeholders that are needed for the

success of a future IWRM plan for the region were identified and their interrelations analyzed.

This analysis was followed by an evaluation of the direction the Tominé IWRM project took. Lastly, a

number of recommendations were put forward concerning priorities for future IWRM planning.

The study shows that there are urgent water-related problems in the catchment. Raw sewage,

agrochemicals and sediments enter the Tominé Reservoir. Poor rural communities have no or

insufficient water supply, water storage or sanitation infrastructure. The security of supply is, in a

number of places, severely reduced in dry periods. Despite efforts by regional and local stakeholders

to address these problems, much work remains to be done. Progress is limited, partly due to poor

communication, both vertical; between the local and regional level, and horizontal; between

stakeholders within the local level.

These barriers prevent a sustainable supply of clean water to the population of the Tominé

catchment. Bringing stakeholders together in a learning alliance could help them to manage their

water resources and use the IWRM framework to take matters into their own hands and plan actions

to target root causes of the mentioned problems.

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag iv

Table of Contents

Preface ..................................................................................................................................................ii

Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... iii

List of figures ....................................................................................................................................... vi

List of tables ....................................................................................................................................... vii

Glossary ............................................................................................................................................. viii

List of acronyms................................................................................................................................... ix

1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Integrated Water Resources Management ............................................................................. 1

1.2 Improving water governance in Colombia .............................................................................. 2

1.3 Aim and Research Question .................................................................................................... 3

2 Background........................................................................................................................... 4

2.1 Overview of the Tominé Catchment ....................................................................................... 4

2.2 Overview of the water and sanitation sector .......................................................................... 7

2.3 Planning IWRM ...................................................................................................................... 12

3 Methods ............................................................................................................................. 16

3.1 RIDA ....................................................................................................................................... 16

3.2 RAAKS stakeholder identification .......................................................................................... 16

3.3 Evaluation of the role of the facilitation team ...................................................................... 17

4 Results ................................................................................................................................ 18

4.1 Water Resources Assessment ............................................................................................... 18

4.2 Stakeholder Identification ..................................................................................................... 34

4.3 Evaluation of the project ....................................................................................................... 40

5 Discussion ........................................................................................................................... 42

5.1 Technical ................................................................................................................................ 42

5.2 Stakeholders .......................................................................................................................... 44

5.3 Process ................................................................................................................................... 45

6 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................... 47

6.1 Technical ................................................................................................................................ 47

6.2 Stakeholder ........................................................................................................................... 47

6.3 Process ................................................................................................................................... 47

7 Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 48

8 References .......................................................................................................................... 50

8.1 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 50

v

8.2 Websites ................................................................................................................................ 53

9 Appendices ......................................................................................................................... 54

9.1 Rural Water board Data. ....................................................................................................... 54

9.2 Initial economic assessment of urban water supply systems. .............................................. 58

9.3 Impressions of field work. ..................................................................................................... 59

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag vi

List of figures Figure 2.1. Map of Colombia, Bogotá and area of study. ........................................................................ 4

Figure 2.2 The Bogotá River Basin and the Tominé subcatchment. ....................................................... 5

Figure 2.3 Topography of the Tominé catchment. .................................................................................. 6

Figure 2.4 Land Cover of the Tominé Catchment (Source CAR 2011) ..................................................... 6

Figure 2.5 Jurisdiction of CAR Cundinamarca and CORPOGUAVIO in the study area. ............................ 8

Figure 2.6 Typical stakeholders in water governance. The process facilitation team enhances

communication and dialogue within and between stakeholders platforms at different institutional

levels (adapted from EMPOWERS 2007). .............................................................................................. 15

Figure 4.1 Average annual rainfall at the Guatavita station 1968-2008 (IDEAM 2010) ........................ 18

Figure 4.2 Average monthly precipitation and evapotranspiration in the Tominé catchment (IDEAM

2010) ...................................................................................................................................................... 18

Figure 4.3 Water volume in the Tominé Reservoir 1991 - 2010 in millions of m3 (CAR 2010) ............. 19

Figure 4.4 Water system scheme of the Tominé Catchment ................................................................ 19

Figure 4.5 Aquatic plant growth in the southern part of the Tominé reservoir. (Source: Daphnia 2010)

............................................................................................................................................................... 21

Figure 4.6 Town square of Sesquilé (photo by author) ......................................................................... 21

Figure 4.7 Water infrastructure in Sesquilé .......................................................................................... 22

Figure 4.8 Water system scheme of the urban area of Sesquilé .......................................................... 22

Figure 4.9 Water intake from the Achury Canal for the WTP of Sesquilé. ............................................ 24

Figure 4.10 Street of Guatavita (photo by author) ................................................................................ 25

Figure 4.11 Water infrastructure in Guatavita ...................................................................................... 26

Figure 4.12 Water system scheme of the urban area of Guatavita ...................................................... 26

Figure 4.13 Water tanks on houses in Guasca. (photo by author) ........................................................ 30

Figure 4.14 Unfinished WWTP of Guasca December 2010. (photo by author) .................................... 30

Figure 4.15 Water Infrastructure of Guasca. ......................................................................................... 31

Figure 4.16 Water system scheme of the urban area of Guasca ......................................................... 31

Figure 4.17 Relevant stakeholders on the National (outer), Regional (middle) and Local (center) level.

............................................................................................................................................................... 35

Figure 4.18 Institutional stakeholders ................................................................................................... 35

Figure 4.19 Information flows between stakeholders on the local, regional and national level. ......... 39

vii

List of tablesTable 2.1 Current and expected population of Sesquilé, Guatavita and Guasca. (Adapted from DANE

2010) ........................................................................................................................................................ 6

Table 2.2 IWRM Planning approaches. ................................................................................................. 13

Table 2.3 Different types of Water Resources Assessments (adapted from EMPOWERS 2006). ......... 14

Table 3.1 The RIDA Framework and assessment methods. .................................................................. 16

Table 4.1 Average monthly temperature, precipitation and evaporation data of the Tominé

catchment from 1982 to 2009 (IDEAM 2010) ....................................................................................... 18

Table 4.2 Water information summary sheet of the Tominé Catchment ............................................. 20

Table 4.3 Water information summary sheet of Sesquilé .................................................................... 23

Table 4.4 Water information summary sheet of Guatavita .................................................................. 27

Table 4.5 Water information summary sheet of Guasca ...................................................................... 32

Table 4.6 Summary of water use in the three municipalities ............................................................... 34

Table 4.7 Key actors among stakeholders ............................................................................................. 35

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag viii

Glossary

Action research

Action research is a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with

others in teams or as part of a "community of practice" to improve the way they address issues and

solve problems.1

Catchment / Drainage Basin

A catchment or drainage basin is an area of land and water defined by a boundary such that all

surface drainage within the boundary converges to a single point. This point of convergence is usually

the exit point, where the collected waters leave the watershed. There are, however, watersheds out

of which no water flows (DCR 2011).

Complex system

A system composed of interconnected parts that as a whole exhibit one or more properties (behavior

among the possible properties) not obvious from the properties of the individual parts (Joslyn et

al.2000).

Learning Alliance

A learning alliance is a series of connected multi-stakeholder platforms at different institutional levels

(national, district, community, etc.), involved in innovation in an area of common interest. (IRC 2007)

Multidisciplinarity

Multidisciplinarity is a non-integrative mixture of disciplines in that each discipline retains its

methodologies and assumptions without change or development from other disciplines within the

multidisciplinary relationship.2

Páramo

Páramo is an ecosystem found in the higher regions of the Andes Mountain range in South America,

between the highest tree line at about 3500 meters above sea level, until the snowline at about 5000

meters above sea level. The ecosystem consists of high plains with lakes, bog and grassland and a

growth of bushes and small shrubs. The Páramo is also called the sponge of the Andes.3

SWITCH Program

SWITCH (Sustainable Water Improves Tomorrow’s Cities Health) was a research program that ran

from 2006 - 2011 funded by the EU FP6 program. It was aimed at achieving more sustainable

integrated urban water management in the 'City of the Future', 30-50 years (SWITCH 2011).

Water board

A water board is a rural, community-based organization established to manage the water resources

and charging and financing of water.4

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_research, 22/08/2011

2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multidisciplinarity, 11/08/2011

3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A1ramo, 11/08/2011

4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_board, 11/08/2011

ix

List of acronyms CAR Corporación Autónoma Regional – Regional Autonomous Corporation

CORPOGUAVIO Corporación Autónoma Regional del Guavio – CAR of the Guavio

IDEA Instituto de Estudios Ambientales – Institute of Environmental Studies

IE Industrial Ecology

EMPOWERS Euro-Med Participatory Water Resources Scenarios

EU European Union

GWP Global Water Partnership

IWRM Integrated Water Resources Management

MDG Millennium Development Goal

SDCA Stakeholder Dialogue and Concerted Action

SWITCH Sustainable Water Improves Tomorrow’s Cities Health

UNAL Universidad Nacional de Colombia – National University of Colombia

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

WRA Water Resources Assessment

WTP Water Treatment Plant, a facility that performs water purification

WWTP Wastewater Treatment Plant, a facility that treats and disposes of sewage

1 Introduction

1 Introduction Access to safe drinking water is a basic requirement for human survival and health. Water for food

production, energy and other productive uses is essential for economic development. However,

nearly 80% of the world’s population is exposed to high levels of threat to water security

(Vorosmarty et al., 2010). About 2.6 billion people do not use improved sanitation and nearly 900

million people do not use improved sources of drinking-water. Additionally, population growth in

combination with the effects of climate change, more variable rainfall, more frequent and intense

floods and droughts, will increase pressures on the hydrological cycle and increase the problems

(GWP, 2011). In the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg, South

Africa in 2002, it was already emphasized that water should be managed in a basin-wide context and

should be under the principles of good governance and public participation (Rahaman & Varis, 2005).

1.1 Integrated Water Resources Management The issues mentioned above show there are many problems and solutions are urgently needed.

Many stakeholders work at different levels and scales for these solutions and need to consider social,

economic and political forces. There is a need to integrate these aspects into a common way of

thinking, across sectors and different groups in society. The field of study that does this is called

Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). The most used definition of IWRM is given by the

Global Water Partnership (GWP 2000):

IWRM is defined as a process that promotes the coordinated development and management

of water, land and related resources, in order to maximize the resultant economic and social

welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems.

The most important aspect of IWRM is to let the water managers consider the wider implications of

their actions and work together more effectively. IWRM must also be seen as a long term process in

which key concepts are; sustainability, conflicting demands of stakeholders, and planning. IWRM

strategies are based on the Dublin Principles presented at the World Summit in Rio de Janeiro in

1992 (ICWE 1992).

1. Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain life, development and the

environment.

2. Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach,

involving users, planners and policy-makers at all levels.

3. Women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of water.

4. Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognized as an

economic good.

Moriarty et al. (2010) mention two different approaches that IWRM can adopt:

1. Full IWRM: a top down reform of policy, institutions and legal frameworks.

2. Light IWRM: bottom up improvements in how water users and water professionals work

together and communicate with each other

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 2

Both these approaches are required to provide sustainable solutions which are not only supported by

institutional actors but also by the end users and other local actors.

1.2 Improving water governance in Colombia Compared to the rest of Latin America, Colombia is doing reasonably well in providing access to

improved drinking water in urban areas, but shows insufficient progress in rural areas in meeting de

MDG target of halving the proportion of people without access to improved drinking-water and basic

sanitation (WHO/UNICEF, 2010).

The Tominé (sub-)catchment is interesting because the reservoir joins the three different

municipalities. It receives most (waste)water from two municipalities, and the third depending on it

for potable water production. The three urban areas have a different water supply and treatment

structure than the rural areas surrounding them. The main problem the region faces is water scarcity

in the dry period which can last up to three months. It is most urgent in the two northernmost

municipalities; Sesquilé and Guatavita, and will become worse with the projected population

growth. Although drinking water for the urban areas is treated, a lot of urban areas drink water

that comes straight from streams. This can create water quality problems as agro economic

activities which use pesticides and animal husbandry next to streams contaminate these same

streams. On top of this sewage isn’t always treated and also flows in the water streams, ending up in

the Tominé reservoir, where there are signs of eutrophication (PDM Sesquilé 2008, PUEAA Guatavita

2008, PUEAA Guasca 2010). Thus the main challenges the stakeholders in the area face are:

Securing water supply

Improving drinking water quality

Improving urban and rural sewage management and sanitation infrastructure

Improving water quality in the reservoir

The municipalities don’t have flexible and adaptive water management that is able to or respond to

variability and change in social, environmental, political and economic pressures and they need the

support regional and national stakeholders.

The government of Colombia has accepted IWRM as a way to organize the water policy and the

approach is finding its way in development plans (MAVDT 2003). It has developed policies for the

management of river basins at the national level (MAVDT 2003). Also a Bogotá River Basin

management plan exists, the Plan de Ordenación y Manejo de la Cuenca Bogotá – POMCA, which

states the problems per sub-catchment (CAR 2006), but the translation to the local level is missing.

Therefore, adopting a “Light” IWRM approach at the sub-catchment level can help coordinate efforts

addressing the water related problems of the region.

Due to success of a project funded by the SWITCH (Sustainable Water Improves Tomorrow’s Cities

Health) program, at the birth of the Bogota River, in Villapinzón, the governorate of Cundinamarca

requested another project: to make a catchment-wide implementation plan for the Tominé

catchment that included integrated water management strategies and pilot projects demonstrating

their feasibility. This project was formulated by researchers of the Institute of Environmental Studies

or Instituto de Estudios Ambientales – IDEA of the National University of Colombia (UNAL), in

accordance with the three majors of the municipalities Sesquilé, Guatavita and Guasca that make up

3 Introduction

the territory of the Tominé catchment. The project financing allowed for a deadline of the report in

January 2011. A team was assembled in September 2010 led by researchers from the IDEA and

consisting of a social scientist, an ecological economist a civil engineer and the author. Within the

research team, the author was responsible for the water resource assessment and the stakeholder

identification parts, the results of which make up this thesis. Finally the course of the Tominé project

is evaluated to extract lessons for future work on a Tominé IWRM plan. This research could be

considered an expansion of the POMCA, zooming in on the Tominé catchment, and the results could

serve as a basis for a more comprehensive Basin management plan.

1.3 Aim and Research Question The issues mentioned above lead to the following research question:

How can water governance be improved in the Tominé Catchment?

This research has been structured as follows: Every chapter starts with a subchapter highlighting

mainly the technical or technological aspects, for instance water quantities, quality and

infrastructure. Each second subchapter is about stakeholders, how they interact and are affected by

and affect decisions concerning water use and disposal. Each third subchapter is about the process

by which the research team of the IDEA performed its action research in the period of September –

December 2010. The sub questions that have been formulated to answer the main research question

are:

Technical Why isn’t present infrastructure sufficiently able to deal with the water problems in

the catchment and what is needed to deal with the challenges the stakeholders are

facing?

Stakeholder What are stakeholders currently doing to address water problems in the catchment?

Process Why was it not possible to develop an IWRM plan for the Tominé catchment in the

given conditions of time, advance knowledge & capacity of the IDEA research team?

Hypotheses

Technical Some key basin-wide hydrological aspects are not fully understood.

Stakeholder:

Local actors are not heard by the regional institutions and decision makers

Institutions outsource diagnostic studies but don’t share this information with other

institutions.

There is no acceptance & compliance by stakeholders of water rights.

Process The stakeholders did not communicate with each other and the IDEA on a regular

basis.

Objectives

Technical To map water availability and usage so as to determine points of water abundance

and stress

Stakeholder To show aspects of current water governance that can be improved.

Process To reflect on the course of the project and to show where progress can be made for a

future IWRM approach in the Tominé catchment.

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 4

2 Background

2.1 Overview of the Tominé Catchment

Physiography The Tominé Catchment lies in Colombia, around 60 km north of the capital; Bogota, a metropolis

with over 7 million inhabitants (SDP 2011). The catchment is part of three municipalities: Sesquilé,

Guatavita and Guasca which in turn are part of the department of Cundinamarca (Figure 2.1).

Figure 2.1. Map of Colombia, Bogotá and area of study.

The Tominé Catchment is a sub-catchment of the Bogotá River Basin, and covers a large part of the

territory of Cundinamarca including Bogotá (Figure 2.2). The Bogotá River is an important tributary to

the Magdalena River which is the principal river of Colombia, flowing northward through the western

half of the country.

5 Background

Figure 2.2. The Bogotá River Basin and the Tominé subcatchment.

The main feature of the Tominé catchment is the Tominé Reservoir, a large artificial lake which was

created by damming the Tominé River. It is connected to the Bogotá River through the Achury Canal

(Figure 2.3). The reservoir has an area of around 30 km2 and a capacity of 690.000.000 m3 of water

(FAO 2011).

Land Cover Most of the area of the catchment is covered with pastures (Figure 2.4) which are used for cattle

grazing and other agricultural activities like cultivation of potatoes, yuca, strawberries and flowers.

There are some areas of erosion, mostly around the south end of the reservoir. Natural and planted

forest is scarce in the catchment an is limited to the higher regions. Above around 3000 meters of

altitude, a natural and protected vegetation native to the Andes mountainrange, the Páramo, is

found. It is known for its large and sustained base flow of water (Buytaert et al., 2006) and is the

reason most of the water for the catchment can be captured with small and installations without the

need for big storage tanks. The Páramo vegetation is found mainly in Guasca and the higher regions

of Guatavita.

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 6

Figure 2.3. Topography of the Tominé catchment. Figure 2.4. Land Cover of the Tominé Catchment (Source CAR

2011)

Demography The total population of the three municipalities is about 32 000 and is increasing at a rate of about

700 inhabitants/year. Official statistics show that the population is expected to continue growing for

the next 10-year period to a total of about 40 000 inhabitants (Table 2.1). About 70 % of the

population lives in rural areas, but almost all live within the catchment boundaries. Of the three

municipalities, Sesquilé has the highest growth rate and is expected to double its urban population in

10 years (DANE, 2010).

Table 2.1 Current and expected population of Sesquilé, Guatavita and Guasca. (Adapted from DANE 2010)

2010 2020

Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total

Sesquilé 2884 8846 11730 4.118 12.366 16.484

Guatavita 1866 4923 6789 2.025 4.957 6.982

Guasca 4623 8943 13566 5.747 10.220 15.967

Total 9373 22712 32085 11.890 27.543 39 433

Historical Developments The Tominé Reservoir was created in the beginning of the 1960s by the Bogotá Energy Company

(EEB) by damming the Tominé River, of which now only a short part remains at the southern tip of

7 Background

the reservoir. The reservoir was built to generate electricity for Bogotá (EEB 2000), in a time when an

integrated national grid wasn’t conceived. However, since the 1960s Colombia has delevoped a lot of

much bigger hydroelectric power plants and when the grid got connected, the Tominé reservoir

stopped generating electricity in 1985 (Uribe 2005). The reservoir still has several other functions; In

times of heavy rainfall it is possible to pump water from the Bogotá River into the Tomine reservoir,

thus helping to avoid floods in the capital. This is unique for any reservoir connected to the Bogotá

River. In times of drought it is also possible to bring additional water into the Bogotá River as the

Tibitóc WTP, which supplies 30% of the potable water to Bogotá, requires a minimal amount of water

to be able to function optimally. Water contribution to the Bogotá River in times of low water levels.

Despite the fact that electricity is no longer generated, the reservoir still has the potential to

generate electricity. Next to its technical functions, the reservoir is used for water-related

recreational activities like sailing (MAVDT 2008).

2.2 Overview of the water and sanitation sector In Colombia, municipalities are responsible for ensuring that service of potable water and sanitation

is provided for their citizens by public service companies. Town councils can, by exception, provide

the service directly through an office of public services (Law 142 of 1994). In the study area, all three

town councils provide this service to the urban area and sometimes rural areas close by. Each

municipality is further divided in regions called veredas most of which have one or more water board

or acueducto veredal. These acueductos veredales are responsible for the maintenance, operation

and administration of their potable water supply system. However, community members don’t

always have the ability, skills or experience to manage the system. A great variability exists between

the ability of different acueductos veredales to meet the water demand. This chapter will describe

the different institutions that are part of the water and sanitation sector and will be a part of or

influence IWRM developments in the Tominé catchment.

Ministerio del Medio Ambiente, Vivienda y Desarrollo Territorial (MAVDT)

The ministry of environment, housing and spatial planning contributes to and promotes actions to

achieve sustainable development through the formulation, adoption and technical implementation

of policies and regulations, under the principles of participation and integrity of governance.5 It

contains two bodies that are concerned with water issues, the Viceministerio de Agua y Saneamiento

and the Unidad Administrativa Especial del Sistema de Parques Nacionales Naturales or (UAESPNN).

Viceministerio de Agua y Saneamiento

The vice ministry of water and sanitation was created in 2006 as part of the MAVDT and is in charge

of creating policies for the water sector. These policies are defined within the framework of the

national policies of the Deparatamento Nacional de Planeación (DNP) – the National Department of

Planning.

5 http://www.minambiente.gov.co

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 8

Unidad Administrativa Especial del Sistema Nacional de Parques Nacionales Naturales

(UAESPNN)

The Special Administrative Unit of National Natural Parks is responsible for the management of the

National parks and also the implementation of national environmental policies. This is executed on a

regional level by the Corporaciones Autónomas Regionales.6

Corporaciones Autónomas Regionales (CAR)

The regional autonomous corporations execute governmental policies on environmental matters,

and plan and execute projects on preservation, decontamination. They regulate the exploitation of

natural resources with a focus on sustainable development. The Tominé catchment falls under the

jurisdiction of two CARs: the municipalities of Sesquilé and Guatavita fall under CAR Cundinamarca7

and Guasca falls under CORPOGUAVIO8. As Figure 2.5 shows, CAR Cundinamarca has much more

municipalities within its jurisdiction than CORPOGUAVIO and a much larger territory to manage.

Figure 2.5 Jurisdiction of CAR Cundinamarca and CORPOGUAVIO in the study area.

Departamento Nacional de Planeación (DNP)

The National Department of Planning is a technical advisor to the government. The DNP leads and

guides the formulation of the National Development Plan and plans and monitors investments for

the achievement of the medium and long term objectives.9

Comisión de Regulación de Agua Potable y Saneamiento Básico (CRA)

The commission on regulating potable water and basic sanitation regulates the rates and services of

potable water and sanitation by fixing tariffs & giving management indicators, promoting

competition and guaranteeing quality and accessibility to water services. It defines the criteria for

the efficient delivery of services and establishes rules for tariff revision.10

Superintendencia de Servicios Públicos (SSPD)

The Public Administrative Office of Domestic Public Services controls, inspects and guards the public

service providers by monitoring the application of the rules defined by the CRA.11

6 http://www.parquesnacionales.gov.co

7 http://www.car.gov.co/

8 http://www.corpoguavio.gov.co

9 http://www.dnp.gov.co/

10 http://cra.gov.co

11 http://www.superservicios.gov.co

9 Background

Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales (IDEAM)

The Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies provides information and

awareness to facilitate decision making regarding sustainable resource use, by forecasting and

alerting about environmental and hydro meteorological conditions that could lead to disasters.12

Governorate of Cundinamarca

The municipalities in the study area are part the department of Cundinamarca. The governorate is

the regional government and is chaired by an elected governor. It provides planning, financial,

technical and administrative assistance to municipalities and public service companies. The

governorate has more authority than a single municipality.

Local Stakeholders

Town Councils of Sesquilé, Guatavita & Guasca

The Town council of each municipality is the democratically elected local government of the

municipality. In Colombia each municipality has one urban center, which is the name bearer of the

municipality and also the capital. Each town council has a mayor that is in office for four years, who

can choose his civil servants. Each town council has a mayor and a number of offices to govern the

municipality. The ones relevant to water management are the offices of: Public Services, Planning &

Social Development.

Office of Public Services

The office of public services manages the water treatment, supply and sewage infrastructure of the

urban area. They administer the costs and billing of the system and are the direct contact for the

local population regarding the utility services.

Office of Planning

The office of planning is responsible for the spatial development in the municipality. If a new

treatment plant is to be made, this office is responsible for the project from the planning to the

design and execution stage.

Office of Social Development

Each administration sets up a development plan with goals it wants to achieve in the four years. The

office of Social Development has the task to communicate with the citizens and can organize

education or awareness campaigns for instance.

Rural Water Boards

The Spanish name for rural water boards in Colombia is acueductos veredales. They are responsible

for the water supply of the citizens within a defined area within the municipality called a vereda.

Rural water boards function in a similar way to the office of public services but do not manage waste

water. Generally the people are responsible for their own wastewater treatment. There are

regulations that state a septic tank is required, but often people have no money to buy one and as a

result they construct it themselves.

12

http://institucional.ideam.gov.co

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 10

Community Based Organizations

Community based organizations represent a certain vereda, and function similar to the office of

social development. Often these organizations work together with the office of social development if

it concerns a municipal wide project.

Farmers

The main agricultural activities in the Tominé catchment are cultivation of potatoes, corn, peas,

raspberries, strawberries. Also animal husbandry is practiced, for milk and meat production. Farmers

are large water consumers, needing water for irrigation and feeding animals.

Private Sector

EEB

EEB stands for Empresa de Energía de Bogotá or Bogotá Energy Company.13 It is a largely government

owned company and created the Tominé Reservoir in the 1960s. It grew into one of the largest

energy suppliers in South America. To date it still owns the Tominé Reservoir. In 1997 the

hydroelectricity part of EEB was privatized and Emgesa was created.

Emgesa

Emgesa is an electricity generation company which operates various large hydroelectric plants in

Colombia and is also responsible for the management of the Tominé reservoir, even though the

latter does not generate electricity anymore.14

EAAB

EAAB stands for Empresa de Acueducto y Alcantarrillado de Bogotá and is the capitals state-owned

and publicly traded water and sewerage utility company. It provides services to nearly 700,000 users

across the capital Bogotá and 11 neighboring municipalities.15 It manages the Tibitóc WTP which

treats water from the Bogotá River and provides 30% of the total urban water supply. EAAB has a lot

of expertise in water treatment and also does national and international consultancy.

Academic stakeholders

IDEA / UNAL

As part of the National University of Colombia or Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNAL), the

Institute of Environmental Studies or Instituto de Estudios Ambientales (IDEA), focuses on issues like

climate change, ecological agriculture, etc. For the IDEA, IWRM is relatively new: the involvement of

IDEA and UNAL in started in 2006 with a project in a region where the source of the Bogotá River lies,

working on cleaner production with micro-tanneries. This project was part of the EU-funded SWITCH

program16 hosted by the UNESCO-IHE and ended in 2011. As a follow-up there a second project was

initiated, the Tominé Catchment IWRM project, the subject of this thesis. The IDEA took up the role

of research and facilitation team, in which the author took part, performing an initial assessment of

the catchment and exploring the possibilities for an IWRM approach in the area.

13

http://www.eeb.com.co/ 14

http://www.emgesa.com.co 15

http://www.acueducto.com.co 16

http://www.switchurbanwater.eu

11 Background

UNESCO-IHE

UNESCO-IHE is a research and water education institute based in Delft, the Netherlands hosting

academics from all around the world.17 As a center with for water education it has a lot of experience

with IWRM and working in developing countries.

Regional Economic, Social And Environmental Objectives With the creation of the vice ministry of water and sanitation in 2006, new programs have been

initiated. Two of them have implications for the development of IWRM in the study area:

1. Planes Departamentales de Agua y Saneamiento (PDA) –Departmental Water and Sanitation

Plans.

2. Programa de Saneamiento y Manejo de Vertimientos (PSMV) – Sanitation and Waste

Management Program.

3. Programa de Uso Eficiente y Ahorro de Agua (PUEAA) - Water Savings and Efficiency Plan

PDA

The PDAs intend to plan and coordinate resources to improve water services in each department,

aligning local water objectives with the national and regional development policy (MAVDT 2011). The

PDA of Cundinamarca has set objectives to be achieved in 2011:

Reduce by 50% the deficit in sewerage coverage in urban areas.

Reduce by 75% the deficit in potable water supply coverage in urban areas.

Reduce by 50% the deficit of basic sanitation solutions in rural areas.

Reduce by 50% the deficit of potable water supply coverage in rural areas

Have a working wastewater treatment plant in each urban area.

Guarantee that 50% of the legally constituted rural water boards have potable water

treatment plants.

Let municipalities, coordinated by the CARs, meet legal requirements for water concessions,

environmental licenses & discharge permits.

Coordination between Town Councils, the Department and the CARs for the investment of

1% of the territorial revenue for the purchase of land guaranteeing the sustainability of the

water resource.

PSMV

The PSMV (Plan de Saneamiento y Manejo de Vertimientos) or sanitation and wastewater

management plan is a plan each municipality had to make and which aims to reduce the proportion

of untreated wastewater and improve its management so as to reduce environmental impacts.

PUEAA

Each municipality is required by law to write a PUEAA (Plan de Uso Eficiente y Ahorro de Agua) or

efficient water use plan in order to show they are doing everything within their power to provide

potable water and to use the resource efficiently. Specific goals the plan contains are:

Promoting the education of the end users concerning the rational use of water and

maintaining the ecological balance of the region.

Propose strategies of water savings and efficient use.

17

http://www.unesco-ihe.org

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 12

Create opportunities for the local community to participate in nature conservation projects.

POMCA

Beside governmental and municipal plans, CAR Cundinamarca has also produced a River Basin

Management Plan called the Plan de Ordenamiento y Manejo de la Cuenca Hidrografica del Rio

Bogotá (POMCA) or Land and Watershed Management Plan of the Bogotá River Basin (POMCA 2006).

It is the only existing report that speaks of the “Tominé catchment” as a management unit. According

to this report the main problems in the Tominé catchment are:

A lack of water treatment facilities in some areas.

Rural areas and have no or low quality waste water treatment. The urban area of Guasca has

no WWTP.

Deforestation in combination with steep landscapes is leading to erosion and sedimentation

of streams.

Contamination of water streams with pesticides and animal excrement caused by expanding

agricultural activities (also above the legal 3000m mark) and husbandry next to rivers.

Signs of eutrophication and contamination of the reservoir by wastewater and

agrochemicals.

Within this River Basin Management Plan CAR Cundinamarca has outsourced a more detailed study

of all individual municipalities in the basin. This multiannual study started in 2009 and is called Plan

Maestro de Acueducto y Alcantarrillado (PMAA) or Master Plan for Potable Water and Sewage

Systems.

PMAA

The PMAAs are made for each municipality within the Bogota River Basin. It makes a detailed

analysis of the state of the water related infrastructure. It also contains a plan for improvements or

expansion proposal with detailed design, based on population projections.

The plans mentioned above (PDA, PSMV, PUEAA, POMCA & PMAA) overlap in many areas but are not

linked, with the exception of the POMCA and the PMAA. The PDA and POMCA are regional, and the

others are local, applying to each municipality.

2.3 Planning IWRM IWRM is a way of thinking and a process to improve water governance and therefore not a method

or goal per se. Planning IWRM can manifest itself in numerous approaches (Table 2.2). For example

in its IWRM Guidelines at River Basin Level part 2-1, the International Hydrological Programme of

UNESCO speaks of the “IWRM Spiral” (UNESCO IHP 2009). The SWITCH program has developed its

own method which is called SWITCH approach to strategic planning (SWITCH 2006). Another

approach is based on practical experiences of the Euro-Med Participatory Water Resources Scenarios

(EMPOWERS) project in Egypt, Jordan and the West Bank/Gaza from 2003-2007, and known as the

EMPOWERS approach to water governance (EMPOWERS 2007).

13 Background

Table 2.2 IWRM Planning approaches.

The IWRM Spiral SWITCH Approach to Strategic Planning for (IUWM)

EMPOWERS Management Cycle

1. Recognizing & Identifying 2. Conceptualizing 3. Coordinating & planning 4. Implementing & Evaluating

1. Building joint Vision 2. Development of strategy 3. Detailed Action Planning 4. Implementation 5. Evaluation

1. Visioning 2. Assessing 3. Strategizing 4. Planning 5. Implementing 6. Reflecting

What all these methods mention in one way or another is the cyclical movement through the phases,

one or multiple times. The SWITCH and EMPOWERS approach both start with creating a vision of the

future whereas the UNESCO IHP stars with identifying problems. Further similarities are the

strategizing, planning, implementing and evaluating of actions towards improved water

management. Both the SWITCH and the EMPOWERS approach mention assessment, the EMPOWERS

approach puts it as the second phase in the planning cycle, whereas the SWITCH approach puts it in

constant relation with each phase. The UNESCO IHP approach just mentions “Recognizing &

Identifying” as a way to map problems, but gives no hands-on tools to do this.

There was limited time for the Tomine project, and there was no single document available with an

overview of the resources and stakeholders involved in the catchment. There was also no joint vision

of all stakeholders or overview of problems. Therefore a hybrid mix of the SWITCH approach and the

EMPOWERS approach was done, using the EMPOWERS assessment phase tools, but providing the

research & assessment as an input for the first stage of the SWITCH approach. The result is a sort of

pre-assessment that could help the stakeholders start with creating a vision and start planning

IWRM.

Water Resources Assessment In the EMPOWERS approach, the assessing phase takes the form of a Water Resources Assessment

(WRA). This type of assessment is also part of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) Toolbox18. A WRA

aims to identify causes of water related problems and options for solving them. It is a study to

systematically gather information on the current status of water (and sanitation) services, resources,

the accessibility of and demand for both, of future trends in water resources and their demand

(EMPOWERS 2006). It is applicable at any scale; (sub)catchment, city or village.

18

Global Water Partnership Toolbox: C1.02 Water resources assessment. http://www.gwptoolbox.org/index.php?option=com_tool&id=24

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 14

There are three different types of WRA (Table 2.3). Creating an IWRM plan for the catchment has

never been done before and work on this is still in an early stage. Not all problems have been

identified by all stakeholders and there was no complete assessment of data on catchment level

before the Tominé project. The Rapid WRA was chosen because it most suited the needs for the

stakeholders and can serve as the basis for further problem-focused or comprehensive assessments

in the future.

Table 2.3. Different types of Water Resources Assessments (adapted from EMPOWERS 2006).

Rapid Problem-focused Comprehensive

Initial identification of priority problems

Focused on an individual problem or a group of problems. Usually follows on from a light water resource assessment.

Aimed at developing a comprehensive water-related information base that covers all water related issues with a given area of interest.

Initial assessment of relatively easily accessible quality-controlled secondary data. Primary data collection restricted to gap filling.

Detailed assessment of quality controlled secondary data with additional primary data collected if necessary.

Comprehensive consolidation, quality control and assessment of secondary data. Primary data to fill gaps and, in some cases, as part of a long-term M&E program.

Secondary data, and rapid appraisal techniques for collecting societal information.

Targeted rapid or participatory appraisal techniques for collecting information that is specific to problems.

Participatory appraisal techniques for collecting societal information, and detailed measurement of physical.

Initial assessment of causes of problems.

Detailed assessment of root causes of individual problems

Detailed assessment of root causes of problems, linkages between problems and externalities that influence water availability and use.

The objectives of the Rapid WRA are (Table 2.3); identifying priority problems, collecting and

assessing data about water resources and societal issues, and get an initial assessment of the causes

of problems. The most useful tools to organize this data are (EMPOWERS 2007):

1. For the water resources; the Resources, Infrastructure, Demand & Access (RIDA) framework.

2. For the societal information; the Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Knowledge Systems or

RAAKS Methodology (Engel et al. 1997).

The outputs of the RIDA framework and the RAAKS Methodology are (GIS) maps with important

infrastructure related to water, water information sheets with numbers on water like demand and

access, and insights in the needs and views of the local population, their views of the problems they

face and a list of key stakeholders whose involvement is indispensible for the success of any IWRM

project. This way of organizing and presenting data can lead to new insights as to identifying priority

problems and their causes.

Stakeholder Dialogue and Concerted Action “Well informed stakeholders who communicate effectively with each other on a regular basis will

find locally appropriate solutions to pressing water related problems.”, (EMPOWERS 2007).

Stakeholder Dialogue and Concerted Action or SDCA assumes that if the stakeholders are known,

they can be brought together and discuss their problems and views. Usually a facilitation team is

needed to help improve the dialogue between levels, especially from the local level to the

intermediate level. The poor are often in need of assistance in voicing their needs. The dialogue

between levels helps to coordinate actions of the stakeholders and allows them to solve problems

more effectively than if they were to address them alone. The stakeholder platform is sometimes

also referred to as a ‘Learning Alliance’ (SWITCH 2006).

15 Background

The role of the facilitation team is envisioned as follows (EMPOWERS 2007): In the initial phase,

when the stakeholders are new to the approach, they require intensive facilitation, which can last up

to 12 months or until the planning phase has been completed. In the second phase, the team gives

lower level support in cases problems arise, and makes sure the stakeholders are on track with the

process of IWRM.

Figure 2.6. Typical stakeholders in water governance. The process facilitation team enhances communication and dialogue within and between stakeholders platforms at different institutional levels (adapted from EMPOWERS 2007).

In the process of SDCA, as shown in Figure 2.6, stakeholders from different levels are guided by a

facilitation team. One of the most important first steps in increasing the dialogue between the

stakeholders and coordination their actions is the creation of a stakeholder platform or the learning

alliance which can consist of multiple platforms for the different levels of stakeholders. Establishing

this calls for effort from both the stakeholders and the facilitation team. The objective of creating

this platform is improved communication between stakeholders and is continuous.

Ideally, a team consists of experts with topic expertise of different scientific fields and at least one

person with skills like project management, facilitation and participatory approaches. The team

should be impartial and try to gain the trust of the stakeholders and know about the problems and

issues that play.

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 16

3 Methods

3.1 RIDA The RIDA framework was used to structure the Rapid Water Resources Assessment of the Tominé

Catchment. Table 3.1 shows the questions that were asked for each part of t the data gathering

methods are presented in (EMPOWERS 2006).

Table 3.1. The RIDA Framework and assessment methods.

Resources Infrastructure Demand & Access

What is the quantity/quality of water available?

What is the design supply capacity of the network?

How much water do people get every day? How much water would people LIKE to get/ be willing to pay for?

Are there issues with variability?

How much water is supplied /put into the system?

How reliable is the supply? Is the quality acceptable?

What is the licensed/permitted limit to abstraction?

What is the quantity/proportion of unaccounted for water?

Are there major differences in the access of different user groups?

Who are the main actors/institutions involved in water resource management?

What are the key institutions involved in managing water supply?

What are the key institutions involved in managing access to the supply?

Gathering Information from:

Hydrological data Expert opinion Reports, etc. Key informant interviews

Interviews with plumbers Plans Reports, etc. Meter readings (from treatment works) Records & Estimates

Water meter reading; Water use diary Social mapping; Household water use surveys Focus group discussions Household discussions Water quality testing Social mapping

Water Balance Estimation The first thing that was done was a Water Balance Estimation. It gives insight in the available

resources, especially rainwater. Water resources are given in the hydrological unit of this study, the

Tominé catchment. The estimation is based on the fact that water does not disappear, but either

flows out of the catchment or evaporates (changing state). It uses a simple equation like:

P = Q + E ± ΔS

Where P is the precipitation, Q is the runoff, E is the evaporation and ΔS is the difference in

groundwater recharge. The estimation was performed on the entire catchment.

Data Collection Process The data was gathered from the available literature and verified in interviews with public service

officers and local plumbers. The data availability was influenced by the incompleteness or absence of

some documents, the willingness to cooperate or difficulties in getting in touch with local water

board presidents.

3.2 RAAKS stakeholder identification Guiding questions from the RAAKS (Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Knowledge Systems) Methodology

(Engel et al. 1997) were used:

What actors (organizations, groups, and individuals) are relevant in the water sector of the

specific geographical area of the case study?

What are the interests/objectives of these actors? Is there a shared objective?

17 Methods

What are the main problems you think each of these actors perceives?

Who can be seen as the key actors and who should not?

What are actual information flows among actors? What relevant information/knowledge

networks do the actors already utilize? In what areas?

The result of answering these questions is a list of key actors and a better view of which stakeholders

could work together effectively. This initial analysis will give a first impression of who the relevant

stakeholders are and how they stand in relation to the other stakeholders. An initial assessment of

the information flows between stakeholders was done, using information from interviews with civil

servants, urban and rural citizens of the three municipalities and an employee of CORPOGUAVIO. The

information presented in the results chapter needs to be verified in workshops with the stakeholders

and all should agree that the relationships are properly illustrated.

A more elaborate analysis should be done if the project goes into the planning phase, where it is

important for all stakeholders to know their tasks, roles and responsibility in the project.

3.3 Evaluation of the role of the facilitation team The evaluation of the performance of the facilitation/research team for this thesis was done by

comparing the actual performance of the team and execution of the research of the author in

Colombia to the ideal performance, role and outputs according to the above stated EMPOWERS

guidelines. The outputs of this comparison are lessons learned which a future facilitation/research

team can use to be more effective in their tasks.

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 18

4 Results The results have been organized as follows: First the rapid water resources assessment is presented

starting with the entire catchment and then zooming in on each municipality, both the urban and

rural data are presented, highlighting priority problems. Next the stakeholder analysis is shown,

identifying key stakeholders and possible cooperation connections. Finally, a view on the way the

initial assessment project was run in Colombia and the role the research team played, is presented.

4.1 Water Resources Assessment

Water resources of the Tominé catchment The precipitation shows a bi-modal pattern with peaks around May and October. The average yearly

precipitation is around 907 mm (IDEAM 2010). The inter-annual variability of the precipitation is

shown by Figure 4.1, the Guatavita weather station, a central point in the catchment. Figure 4.2

shows the average monthly precipitation and evapotranspiration. The evapotranspiration data

however was only available from the Guatavita weather station.

Figure 4.1 Average annual rainfall at the Guatavita station 1968-2008 (IDEAM 2010)

Figure 4.2 Average monthly precipitation and evapotranspiration in the Tominé catchment (IDEAM 2010)

Table 4.1 Average monthly temperature, precipitation and evaporation data of the Tominé catchment from 1982 to 2009 (IDEAM 2010)

Month jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug sep oct nov dec Total

Av. Temperature (°C)

14.4 13.6 13.3 13.4 13.3 12.5 12.2 12.4 12.7 12.9 12.7 12.9 -

Av. Precipitation (mm)

35 47 70 86 111 86 102 83 66 95 82 43 907

Evaporation* (mm)

88 80 82 78 83 73 86 89 83 87 79 83 992

*Based on data from the weather station Guatavita

Daily measurements by CAR Cundinamarca indicate the water volume varied between 50 and 550

million cubic meters in June 1992 and August 2006 (Figure 4.3). The total catchment area is 368

square kilometers, which is about half of the total area of the three municipalities (POMCA, 2006).

19 Results

Figure 4.3 Water volume in the Tominé Reservoir 1991 - 2010 in millions of m3 (CAR 2010)

Water Balance Estimation The water system of the catchment is shown in Figure 4.4, and shows the water inflows, throughputs

and outflows of the Tominé catchment. The total urban population in the catchment is around

10.000 whereas the rural population is around 25.000. The main input in the system is the

precipitation, and a small input is water taken from the San Francisco Stream (Quebrada San

Francisco) from outside the catchment, for the urban area of Guatavita. Some water is treated in

water treatment plants (WTPs) and is consumed untreated, and some sewage is treated in

wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and some sewage enters the reservoir untreated. Table 4.2

shows the data that was gathered for the water balance estimation. The blank boxes show the data

that is missing.

Figure 4.4 Water system scheme of the Tominé Catchment

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 20

Table 4.2 Water information summary sheet of the Tominé Catchment

WISS Tominé Catchment

Unit Value Source / Notes

Infl

ow

s

Rainfall Average annual rainfall mm 907

Total rainfall in catchment m3/yr 333.780.000

External Q. San Francisco m3/yr 290.000 Based on a discharge of 12 L/s and a production from 6 AM to 6 PM.

Total inputs catchment m3/yr 334.070.000

Thro

ugh

pu

ts

Potable water Total water to WTPs m3/yr

Total water to urban m3/yr

Total water to rural m3/yr

Total losses m3/yr

Blackwater Total water to WWTPs m3/yr

Total water to Septic tanks m3/yr

Total untreated blackwater m3/yr

Total storm water to WWTPs m3/yr

Ou

tflo

ws

Evapotranspiration

Average annual ETP mm 467 JICA 2003

Total ETP in catchment m3/yr 333.780.000

Groundwater Infiltration m3/yr 52.910.000 JICA 2009

m3/yr 9.319.000 Ingeominas 1990

Surface water Average annual runoff mm 297 JICA - 2003

Achury Canal m3/yr 109.300.000

Total outflows catchment m3/yr 495.990.000

Priority Problems

San Francisco Stream

The urban area of Guatavita, the rural water boards Carbonera Alta & Baja and some rural areas in

Sesquilé depend on the San Francisco Stream for their drinking water. However, according to the

digital elevation maps and other available cartography, the stream is not part of the catchment. This

makes it an external inflow source coming from another catchment (Figure 4.4). The exact amount of

water entering the catchment from this inflow is unknown. The data shown in Table 4.2 is an

estimation based on the production of water for the urban area of Guatavita only, which were only

available in L/s, and does not include the other levels of extraction. It has been reported that in dry

periods the discharge of the stream is severely reduced.

Untreated black water

An unknown amount of untreated black water is entering the reservoir, coming from around 2000

households. The main source is the urban area of Guasca, which has no WWTP and discharges its

black water in the Siecha River, which enters the southern part of the reservoir. This could be a

threat to the water supply of the urban area of Sesquilé because a large part of its water resources

comes from the Achury Canal, through which water leaves Tominé Reservoir into the Bogotá River.

Groundwater

The two available studies that mention groundwater levels of the catchment listed in Table 4.2 (JICA

2009 & Ingeominas 1990), present very different values. The groundwater value affects the water

21 Results

balance estimation significantly, but it does not affect the water resources available to the

inhabitants of the municipalities as groundwater extraction barely takes place.

Water quality issues

The water quality of the reservoir is being monitored by Emgesa by order of the MAVDT (MAVDT

2008). Several studies have shown that the levels of phosphorous and BOD values are very high in

the southern end of the reservoir entering through the Siecha River (CIIA 2007 & Daphnia 2010). The

factors that could be contributing to these water quality issues are: raw sewage, agrochemicals like

fertilizers and pesticides and erosion causing excessive sediments to enter the reservoir. Figure 4.5

shows the aquatic plant growth in the south end of the reservoir, believed to be the West Indian

spongeplant or Limnobium laevigatum. It is being removed by Emgesa, by order of the ministry of

environment (MAVDT 2008).

Figure 4.5 Aquatic plant growth in the southern part of the Tominé reservoir. (Source: Daphnia 2010)

Sesquilé

Figure 4.6 Town square of Sesquilé (photo by author)

Sesquilé is the northernmost municipality of the catchment and lies downstream of the others.

Figure 4.7 is a map of Sesquilé showing the water intakes, treatment plants and roads in the

municipality, as well as the urban area and surrounding rural veredas. Figure 4.8 shows a schematic

of the urban water system. Two of the sources are streams which feed the WTPs by gravity; Q. Olvido

and Q. Santafereña, and the remainder of the water demand is met by pumping water out of the

Achury Canal, which connects the Tominé Reservoir with the Bogota River. The urban water supply

grid also supplies water to neighboring rural area of Boitá, but this area does not have a sewer

system or wastewater treatment infrastructure.

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 22

Figure 4.7 Water infrastructure in Sesquilé

Figure 4.8 Water system scheme of the urban area of Sesquilé

Table 4.3 shows the data that was gathered from the urban area of Sesquilé in the RIDA format,

starting with demand & access, the infrastructure and finally resources. The data was obtained from

records of the office of public services and plans concerning the municipality.

23 Results

Table 4.3 Water information summary sheet of Sesquilé

WISS Sesquilé

Unit 2010 2020 Source/Notes

De

man

d &

Acc

ess

Domestic Population # 2884 4.118 DANE 2010

Domestic water demand l/c/d 120 120

Domestic water demand m3/yr 126.678 180.368

Average Actual use l/c/d 120 120 Actual use total /365/population*1000

Actual use total m3/yr 126.678 180.368 meter records 2010

Range of actual water use l/c/d

households on network % 100 100 The municipality has recently taken over a rural water board. This might influence this number.

households unserved % 0 0

Satisfaction % ? ?

Commercial Actual use total m3/yr 8004 meter records 2010

Agroindustrial Actual use total m3/yr 3012 meter records 2010

Special Actual use total m3/yr 1392 meter records 2010

Official Actual use total m3/yr 13374 meter records 2010

Total water use m3/yr 152.460

Total Water demand m3/yr 152.460

Infr

astr

uct

ure

Domestic Planned per capita supply l/c/d ? ?

supply capacity before losses

m3/yr 186.624 PMAA 2009 Sesquilé

Average losses % 26

actual supply after losses m3/yr 137.820 PMAA 2009 Sesquilé

Total capacity after losses m3/yr

Total capacity before losses m3/yr

wastewater treatment

Type WWTP Capacity of 6 LPS (PMAA 2009)

access or coverage % 77 818 households WWTP; 400 hh no sewer connection

Re

sou

rce

Rainfall Average annual rainfall mm 713 713

rainfall over Sesquilé area m3/yr

Springs Average annual yield m3/yr -

acceptable water quality %

Groundwater average sustainable yield m3/yr -

acceptable water quality %

Surface water Average annual availability m3/yr ? Availability more than halves if the canal sluices close.

acceptable water quality % 50 Water from the Achury Canal is not treatable by the WTP if the sluices are closed.

Rainwater harvesting

Average annual availability m3/yr 71442 102030 based on households with an average roof size of 100 m2 (1002 in 2010; 1431 in 2020)

Total m3/yr

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 24

Water resources

Sesquilé has the least amount of water intakes and streams of the catchment, as it lies downstream

of the other two municipalities. Sesquilé pumps water from the Achury Canal (Figure 4.9) to a WTP

that produces potable water for the urban area and a few surrounding rural areas. During times of

drought the extraction of the canal is increased. Rural areas have more trouble in times of drought as

they do not have pumping equipment and are dependent on small streams or sometimes even

springs. These have been reported to dry out sometimes.

Figure 4.9 Water intake from the Achury Canal for the WTP of Sesquilé.

The main actors and institutions involved in the water resource management are the Energy

Company of Bogotá (EEB) which controls the Achury Canal and operates the sluices and the CAR

Cundinamarca which provides technical and financial support for the infrastructure and gives out

water extraction licenses & limits for both the urban water sources as well as the rural water intakes.

However there is a lack of transparency regarding the distribution of water extraction licenses. Some

rural water board presidents feel deforestation is affecting the water resources negatively in

Sesquilé.

Urban water supply

The current supply capacity will not be able to supply the future demand of the urban area, as

demographic projections show a 40% increase in population in ten years’ time. The supply capacity of

Sesquilé is currently just enough to provide water for the urban area and a few connected rural areas

under normal circumstances. It is estimated the losses of the supply system are around 26%. During

normal conditions the daily use is around 120 l/c/d (Table 4.3) , but when water is rationed, people

have to make do with less, which has proven not always to be easy. In the urban area, 400

households have no sewer connection, and this wastewater is entering the Achury Canal directly. The

access to a water and sewer connection in the urban area is managed by the office of public services,

and in the rural area the rural water boards have this responsibility.

The current infrastructure cannot cope well with periods of drought and the closing of the Achury

Canal sluices. The WTP of Sesquilé is not designed to treat still standing water, which happens if the

sluices are closed. The water quality of the canal is influenced negatively by both wastewater from

the other municipalities and Sesquilés own wastewater from 400 households as their wastewater is

not connected to the WWTP. In December 2010 and January 2011 the sluices had to be closed and

the water quality in the canal was not acceptable, as the WTP could not guarantee that the water

would be potable. In addition, the combined sewer is not able to deal with periods of increased

25 Results

precipitation, as the amount of water often exceeds the treatment capacity. The main actor

responsible for the supply management of water in the urban area is the office of public services of

the town council as they maintain the infrastructure and do the administration around the network,

including metering, billing, etc.. For the rural areas these are the acueductos veredales, the rural

water boards. They usually have one president to do the administration and a local plumber to do

the maintenance of the water system.

Rural water supply

Poor rural communities like El Hato or Espigas (see Table 4.3) have no or bad water supply and

storage infrastructure. If the springs dry up, they have no alternative, and since no or little water is

stored, they depend on the help of the town council to supply them water. The Other rural water

boards are better organized and do have WTPs and storage tanks. Information like meter records

about water supply, demand, use or storage capacity is scarce. 76.5% of the 13 water boards in

Sesquilé have no WTP and drink untreated water (PDM Sesquilé 2008).

Demand & Access

Rural areas have even more trouble as some don’t have a reliable water source and no money to buy

infrastructure like storage tanks. If the dry period lasts very long the town council sends water trucks

to the affected areas, however this is costly. It is obvious that the poorer communities have more

trouble in times of drought than other rural areas.

Guatavita Guatavita lies between Sesquilé and Guasca and has the poorest population of the three

municipalities. The urban areas main water source is the San Francisco Stream (Figure 4.12), the

water intake of which lies outside the catchment boundary (Figure 4.11). This intake was constructed

in the 1960s when the new Guatavita was built. At that time the San Francisco Stream had a very

large discharge. Now, due to water scarcity in dry months, a new water intake in the Corales stream

has been constructed and is used to meet the water demand for the urban area.

Figure 4.10 Street of Guatavita (photo by author)

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 26

Figure 4.11 Water infrastructure in Guatavita

Figure 4.12 Water system scheme of the urban area of Guatavita

27 Results

Table 4.4 Water information summary sheet of Guatavita

WISS Guatavita: Urban Area

Unit 2010 2020 Source/Notes

De

man

d &

Acc

ess

Domestic Population # 1866 2.025 DANE 2010

Domestic water demand l/c/d 150 150 Target set by Town council

Domestic water demand m3/yr 102.164 110.869

Average actual use l/c/d 563 ? Actual use total m3/yr 383.250 ?

Range of actual water use l/c/d

-

There is as of yet no water metering at the household level. The goal is to implement this in 2011.

households on network % 100 100

households unserved % 0 0

satisfaction % ? ?

Total water use m3/yr 383.250 - Actual supply after losses

Total water demand m3/yr 102.164 110.869

Infr

astr

uct

ure

Domestic Planned per capita supply l/c/d

supply capacity before losses

m3/yr 547500 avg. production of 1500 m3 potable water/day ( "PTAP - Guatavita, Diagnostico y propuesta de optimización")

Average losses % 30 "PTAP - Guatavita, Diagnostico y propuesta de optimización"

actual supply after losses m3/yr 383.250

Total capacity after losses

m3/yr ?

Total capacity before losses

m3/yr ?

wastewater treatment

type WWTP & septic tanks

access or coverage % 97 536 households WWTP; 15 hh septic tanks; 20 hh no treatment

Re

sou

rce

Rainfall Average annual rainfall mm 893 893

rainfall over Sesquilé area m3/yr

Springs Average annual yield m3/yr -

acceptable water quality %

Groundwater average sustainable yield m3/yr -

acceptable water quality %

Surface water

Average annual availability

m3/yr ? Availability is drastically reduced during dry periods

acceptable water quality % 75 100 Some water quality issues have occurred with sediments.

Rainwater harvesting

Average annual availability

m3/yr 111714 121269 based on households with an average roof size of 100 m2 (1251 in 2010; 1358 in 2020)

Total m3/yr

Resource

Although Guatavita is less affected than Sesquilé, it too faces water shortages in the dry months. The

municipality draws on the San Francisco stream which, while in the wet periods has ample water,

nearly dries up in the dry months. When the new Guatavita was designed, also the potable water

system had to be redesigned. The San Francisco stream was chosen as the main water capture,

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 28

because in that time it was an abundant stream. The office of public services has resorted to an

alternative stream, the Corales Stream, but the initially built piping infrastructure is not sufficient to

meet the demand. It is however not seen as a priority by the mayor who can decide to invest in a

new pipeline.

The drying up of the San Francisco stream is not only a problem for the urban area of Guatavita, but

also for the users downstream of the intake in Sesquilé. The rural areas are also affected by the dry

months. Water quality is also an issue in this municipality; A lot of sedimentation and agrochemicals

have been reported to be present in the water. To counter this, WTP managers see the need to add

excess amount of flocculants and chemicals to the water, not always yielding good results.

There are two main actors involved in water resource management. The first is CAR Cundinamarca,

which gives out licenses for water extraction to the urban area and the rural water boards. The

second is the town council and the mayor, for he can ultimately decide in what areas investments

should be made regarding water infrastructure. In Guatavita it the service utilities have become a

political issue.

The urban area of Guatavita is extracting more water from their source than they have a license for

and a lot of illegal connections have been made by farmers. Some of these happened when the

connection was being made and if the water pipes crossed the land of some farmer, he demanded a

free connection. Unfortunately, CAR Cundinamarca is not very active in the region concerning

reinforcement of the rules resulting in a lack of coordinated management of the water resources in

the whole municipality.

Infrastructure

The rural water boards of Guatavita have less infrastructure, meters and records of all sorts than in

the neighboring municipalities. Table 4.4 shows that none of the rural water boards have (working)

potable water treatment (interviews & PUEAA Guatavita 2008). In the downstream areas agricultural

pesticides in the water are regarded as the biggest problem and in the other areas the main

problems are sediments.

It is suspected that the water losses of the urban water supply system are very high. It has been

reported there are a number of (semi)illegal connections, mostly farmers. They do not pay for their

water and their use is not monitored so it is unknown how much they really use. Secondly, although

micro-meters in the urban households have been installed, they are not being used. This means the

office of public services doesn’t know how much people are using, as they only pay a fixed tariff. It

has been estimated by different sources that the water supply losses are between 30 – 60%

(Guatavita 2009).

The sewer system is a combined system and also receives rainwater. In times of heavy rainfall, the

WTP cannot handle all the water and discharges it untreated to the Tominé reservoir.

The office of public services is responsible for the management of urban water supply. They

administer the money and a plumber maintains the treatment plants. For the rural areas the

acueductos veredales are responsible for the maintenance and operation of the water infrastructure.

29 Results

Demand & Access

The initial assessment indicates that the actual use of the citizens is quite low. It is unknown how

much citizens are able or willing to pay. It is a poorer community than the other two municipalities. It

is certain that the costs are not evenly distributed and that not everyone is paying what they should.

Within the rural areas there are big differences in access to clean water; generally the more

downstream veredas have the lowest quality water, often untreated.

In the urban area 20 households have no connection to the WWTP due to the geography of the area.

They do have a sewer system but this leads directly to the Tominé reservoir. Most rural citizens have

septic tanks, these are either self-built or pre-fabricated.

The CAR Cundinamarca is the institution that gives out the water extraction licenses and so also

determines who has access in the rural areas. The execution in the urban area is again the office of

public services and in the rural areas the rural water boards. They can connect new people to water

supply network. However there are an unknown number of illegal connections. They manage their

own access, often affecting the demand of other citizens downstream.

Priority Problems

Water quality issues, sedimentation and (agro)chemicals in the potable water.

Lack of coordination in relation to water resources, a lot of illegal water intakes.

Large water losses in the entire system of water supply.

No metering at the household level and appropriate payment for use.

Over extraction and unregulated intakes in the San Francisco stream is fueling a conflict

between Guatavita and Sesquilé.

Opportunities

Rainwater harvesting has the potential to meet 100% of the current and future urban water

demand.

Capacitation of the population about water use, costs and general awareness raising can

speed up the process of change.

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 30

Guasca Guasca is the southernmost municipality of the Tominé catchment, and has the largest area. It

contains the largest tributaries to the reservoir, the Siecha and Aves River. It has an abundant

amount of streams from which water can be extracted. The main water intake for the urban area is

in the Chipatá River (Figure 4.16). Rural water boards have several WTPs (Figure 4.15), but there is

still no working WWTP (Figure 4.14).

Figure 4.13 Water tanks on houses in Guasca. (photo by author)

Figure 4.14 Unfinished WWTP of Guasca December 2010. (photo by author)

31 Results

Figure 4.15 Water Infrastructure of Guasca.

Figure 4.16 Water system scheme of the urban area of Guasca

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 32

Table 4.5 Water information summary sheet of Guasca

WISS Guasca

Unit 2010 2020 Source/Notes

De

man

d &

Acc

ess

Domestic Population # 4623 5.747 DANE 2010

Domestic water demand l/c/d 125 125 CAR uses 125 l/c/d for calculating water concessions

Domestic water demand m3/yr 210924 262207

Average Actual use l/c/d 161 Actual supply /365/population*1000

Actual use total m3/yr 271858 Actual supply

Range of actual water use l/c/d

households on network % 100 100

households unserved % - -

satisfaction % ? ?

Industrial /Public Services

Actual use m3/yr ? Currently counted as losses in the water system

Total water use m3/yr Domestic Actual use + industrial/public service actual use

Total Water demand m3/yr

Infr

astr

uct

ure

Domestic Planned per capita supply l/c/d

supply capacity before losses m3/yr 438.480 Macro meter records

Average losses % 38

actual supply after losses m3/yr 298166 Supply Cap. - losses

Total capacity after losses m3/yr

Total capacity before losses m3/yr

wastewater treatment

type None

access or coverage % 0 100 The construction of a WWTP has begun, but has stagnated due to legal & financial issues.

Re

sou

rce

Rainfall Average annual rainfall mm 786 786

rainfall over Sesquilé area m3/yr

Springs Average annual yield m3/yr -

acceptable water quality %

Groundwater average sustainable yield m3/yr -

acceptable water quality %

Surface water Average annual availability m3/yr ? Guasca uses only surface water for its potable water supply

acceptable water quality % 100 Generally acceptable

Rainwater harvesting

Average annual availability m3/yr 56356 70033 based on households with an average roof size of 100 m2 (717 in 2010; 891 in 2020)

Total m3/yr

Resources

Guasca is least affected by the variability of the precipitation, as it has the most rainfall of the

catchment. It also has the highest territory of the catchment and thus also the most páramo

vegetation. They do have an alternate water source for the urban water supply which they use in the

dry periods, but are not as seriously affected in these times as the other two municipalities. The rural

areas, especially the lower areas, are experiencing water quality problems with sediments. Also

contamination with pesticides has been reported. The institution responsible for licensing of the

water extraction and water quality monitoring is the regional environmental authority,

33 Results

CORPOGUAVIO. The office of public services has applied for a larger extraction limit, as their water

demand has increased.

Infrastructure

The urban water supply infrastructure in operated well and losses are estimated at around 26%.

However water for public buildings like 2 schools, a clinic and the town council is not metered and

counted as water losses. This means the actual system losses are lower but there is no way of

knowing if they can be further improved. There is great variability in rural water supply; some water

boards have a well-functioning WTP, while others don’t treat their water at all and have water that

contains a lot of sediments. Infrastructure like storage tanks is needed in some rural areas, to deal

with seasonal variation.

On wastewater treatment, the situation is less organized: the construction of a WWTP for the urban

area was started, but has come to a standstill. All of the wastewater of the town is led through the

sewage network and enters the Siecha River, which enters the southern end of the Tominé

catchment.

The key institution in managing the urban water supply is the town council, the office of public

services. They are the most reliable of the three municipalities and deliver the best service to the

citizens. The rural water boards are responsible for managing their own supply, but do get technical

assistance from CORPOGUAVIO and the town council.

Demand & Access

The demand and access in the urban area are generally satisfied and good, but in rural areas the

availability is not always up to standards. Guasca has some quite large rural water boards which are

quite well organized. The smaller ones do have trouble finding resources to improve their water

systems. This can be financial: to pay for a WTP, or human: where expertise is required to assist in

the design of a WTP and storage tanks. There exists a poor population in downstream areas who still

do not have treated drinking water. The responsible actors and institutions for the access of water

are the office of public services of the town council for the urban area and the rural water boards for

the other areas.

Priority Problems

Water for public building like 2 schools, a clinic and the town council is not metered and

counted as water losses.

The WWTP is not ready although construction has started. In the meantime raw sewage is

entering the ecosystem and Tominé catchment.

Rural water boards are in need of assistance in order to improve the water quality or

treatment infrastructure.

Opportunities

A separate storm water drainage system exists in the urban area and because the WWTP is

not yet finalized, the sewer and storm water streams could be separated at little extra cost.

Rainwater harvesting has the potential to meet 25% of the current and future water

demand.

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 34

Data Gaps The data previously presented in the water information sheets give a view of the main issues in the

catchment and how each municipality has its own problems. The sheets also show the gaps in the

available information. Therefore these sheets must be seen as the beginning of an ever-growing

information base that can be used by local and regional policymakers to aid in strategic decisions

about the water system.

Summarizing Table 2.1 shows that Guatavita, although having the smallest population, consumes the

most water, both per person and in absolute numbers.

Table 4.6 Summary of water use in the three municipalities

Unit 2010 2020 2020

Sesquilé Population # 2.884 4.118 4.118

Domestic water demand l/c/d 134 134 120

Total water supply m3/yr 126.678 201.411 180.368

Average Actual use l/c/d 120 120

supply before losses m3/yr 186.624 ?

Average losses % 26

Guatavita Population # 1.866 2.025 2.025

Average actual use l/c/d 563 563 150

Total water supply m3/yr 383.250 415.906 110.869

supply before losses m3/yr 547.500 ?

Average system losses % 30

Guasca Population # 4.623 5.747 5.747

Average use l/c/d 178 178 125

Total water supply m3/yr 298.166 370.660 262.207

supply before losses m3/yr 438.480 ?

Average system losses % 38

4.2 Stakeholder Identification

Relevant Actors In the background chapter the official roles of the relevant actors in the Tominé catchment were

presented, Figure 4.17 shows a map of the relevant stakeholders and the level on which each one

operates, the outer layer being the national level, the middle layer the regional and the inner layer

the local level.

35 Results

Figure 4.17 Relevant stakeholders on the National (outer), Regional (middle) and Local (center) level.

Institutional stakeholders The municipalities in the catchment get support from the regional autonomous corporations (CARs)

and the departmental governments, in this case the Governorate of Cundinamarca. The public

service companies have a regional union called Empresa Cundinamarquesa de Servicios Públicos

Domiciliarios (ESP) which provides technical and organizational assistance to all public service

companies in Cundinamarca. Figure 4.18 shows the different organizations and agencies that are part

of the water sector for the study area.

Figure 4.18 Institutional stakeholders

Table 4.7 shows in what way the stakeholders are involved in the water management of the region

and if they are key actors in improving the water management of their area and the catchment.

(Note: Town Councils include the offices of public services, planning and social development)

Table 4.7. Key actors among stakeholders

Stakeholder In what way Key Actor

MAVDT Policies & laws

CAR Cundinamarca Manage water resources in Sesquilé & Guatavita ●

CORPOGUAVIO Manage water resources in Guasca. ●

DNP Plans national objectives

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 36

CRA Creates water regulations, norms & tariffs

SSPD Checks CRA

IDEAM Hydrological data

Governorate of Cundinamarca Authority body, funding and institutional support

Town Council of Sesquilé Management of the water infrastructure, supply and access of Sesquilé. ●

Town Council of Guatavita Management of urban water infrastructure, supply and access of Guatavita. ●

Town Council of Guasca Management of rural the infrastructure, supply and access of Guasca. ●

Rural Water Boards Management of the water resources, infrastructure, supply and access in their area.

●

Community Based Organizations Access to communities

Citizens of the municipalities End users, local representation

Farmers Large water consumers

EAAB Expertise on water treatment

EMGESA / EEB Management of reservoir & funding

IDEA / UNAL Facilitation team & Researchers

UNESCO-IHE Expertise in IWRM

The key actors manage the water resources, infrastructure, supply and access to water within the

catchment. They are responsible for the functioning of the system and they fall out, this means the

water system will stop functioning. They need to be involved in the creation of an IWRM plan for it to

be successful. The other stakeholders are important but have contributing role and in in different

specific situations different actors may become key actors, but this only becomes relevant when an

implementation plan has been made, and tasks have to be divided.

Interests, Objectives & Problems

MAVDT

The ministry is interested in the sustainable use of natural resources and the maintaining the

ecosystems of Colombia healthy. To this end they have a number of environmental policies in place

to protect the environment and the people living in it. Their objective is that the environmental

policies are met and enforces them. The problem they face is that the only power they have is setting

emission limits and fining polluters, meaning they often are mostly doing damage control.

CAR Cundinamarca & CORPOGUAVIO

Because they are the same type of institution, and only have a different jurisdiction, the interests and

objectives of the two CARs are similar. They need to ensure the laws and legislation are being met

and implemented and that norms regarding environmental aspects are met. Their goal is to ensure

that the communities and the ecosystems have enough water. As an extension of the ministry of

environment, they also stimulate reducing environmental impacts with sustainable practices in mind

by for example organizing water conservation campaigns or stimulating the reduction of pesticide

use agricultural workshops.

The municipalities of Sesquilé and Guatavita fall under the jurisdiction of CAR Cundinamarca and

Guasca falls under CORPOGUAVIO. In the POMCA, CAR Cundinamarca makes a diagnosis of problems

for the Tominé catchment but does not list them for Guasca. This shows a lack of communication

between the two CARs, where it is in both their interest to share the available information about the

catchment with each other and work on solutions.

37 Results

Governorate of Cundinamarca

The governorate has more authority than a single municipality, and is interested in meeting national

goals for its department. The main objectives regarding water, are to meet the targets set in the PDA

(Departmental Water Plan, see background). It has financial resources to spend on large projects to

improve the situation of its citizens. The problem of the governorate is that it is often not aware of

the specific needs and other issues on the local level. The governorate is a useful stakeholder that

can give implementation of new plans a boost, but they should not be seen as leading.

Town Councils

It is in the interest of both the town councils and the CARs that the citizens have a potable and

reliable water supply and a working wastewater treatment system. The main objective of the town

councils is providing and managing these services.

The main problem town councils face is the lack of human resources. The workload a single person

has to do is often just enough to keep up with the administration of the system, but leaves little time

for planning improvements. Additionally, thinking on the catchment level is not something they are

used to. Another thing is that they are not a company and are not interested in making profit. The

water supply administrations are operating at losses19, but they receive subsidies so there is little

incentive to raise the tariffs. Consequently, water losses or inefficiencies in the system do not directly

affect the town councils. Although they have to make a water efficiency plan (the PUEAA), this does

play a large role in day to day work.

They are aware of water problems or conflicts within the municipality but if it does not concern the

urban area, they are powerless to solve them. They lack support from institutions like the CARs or

sometimes even the mayor who does not see the need to invest in new infrastructure. The town

council has trouble communicating with regional actors; it is often absent or slowed by strict

procedures.

Rural Water boards

As with the town councils, rural water boards want to supply potable water to the citizens, but they

do not provide wastewater treatment. A centralized wastewater treatment system doesn’t make

much sense in an environment where people do not live in close vicinity to each other. Not all water

boards have treatment infrastructure and it depends if they have the skills and financial resources to

invest in improving the service. In some cases the water board is so high up that the untreated water

they drink does not cause problems, but in more downstream areas the results of pesticides and

erosion are clear. The problem with rural water boards is that they have very little power or authority

generally within their community and often for example cannot convince farmers not to cut down

the trees on their land. The only way the rural water boards can exert power is through the water

bill, which in some places has good results and in other places is more complicated: if the water

board does not manage any treatment infrastructure, the citizens do not feel the need to pay as they

think the water board does not do anything.

EAAB

The EAAB treats water from the Bogotá River and is therefore interested in the water quality of the

river. A polluted river makes water treatment more difficult and thus costly. They are interested in

19

See Appendix 9.2: Initial economic assessment of Urban Water Supply systems.

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 38

preventing pollution entering the Bogotá River, especially upstream of the capital. By being involved

in the development of an IWRM plan for Tominé catchment they hope their expertise can be of good

use, and if it works the plan could serve as a model for the other upstream catchments. The only

problem the EAAB has is that they are a private company who has no authority or business in the

actual catchment, and the only role they can fulfill is a contributing one, but not a leading one.

EEB / Emgesa

As owner of the reservoir, EEB is responsible for its maintenance. There are many reservoirs in

Colombia and problems with eutrophication are not uncommon. Under pressure of the MAVDT, EEB

runs a number of projects to control environmental impacts in and around the reservoir (EEB 2007

capitulo 6), these include:

Removing of trees in the floodable areas of the reservoir.

Removing the aquatic plant growth present in the southern part of the reservoir.

Perform studies on water quality of the reservoir.

Corporate Social Responsibility programs including job generation for local citizens and

education programs.

The EEB is a largely public enterprise and it is in its best interest to comply with regulations, and it

likes to be seen as a responsible company that cares for the people and the environment. As the

operator of the reservoir, Emgesa is closely related to EEB. Starting in 2006 in concordance with CAR

Cundinamarca, EEB, Emgesa and EAAB financed study monitoring the water quality of the Tominé

Reservoir (Daphnia 2010).

IDEA / UNAL

The IDEA is interested in applying concepts like IWRM in Colombia. Through action research it

intends to disseminate the knowledge it acquires in this project within Colombia and contribute to

the academic field as well as helping to develop the area. As part of the public education system it

has institution limited financial resources, just about enough to pay its staff.

UNESCO-IHE

The UNESCO-IHE is interested in transferring knowledge about water management to places in the

world where it is needed. It can provide expertise, and facilitate funding applications for EU or UN

funds but has no own financial resources.

Information Flows Among Actors This short information flows assessment is only an initial attempt to illustrate the relations between

stakeholders. It should be constantly updated if new situations arise. The links presented here are

made with the limited information available to the author.

39 Results

Figure 4.19. Information flows between stakeholders on the local, regional and national level.

The arrow direction in Figure 4.19 represents the direction information flows. The dotted arrows

represent a weak relationship and the red arrows represent a relationship of control. Taking the local

level as a starting point; town councils are in good and regular contact with the citizens, this is not

strange as the public servants are citizens themselves. The urban plumbers have a good knowledge

of the state of the systems they manage every day. They also know about some problems rural water

boards face, but not all. Interviews with public service offices in the three municipalities showed that

they know little of the water problems of their neighbors except maybe some general issues.

The rural water board presidents have less knowledge about what goes on in the urban area and

often only know the neighboring water boards, and even then they sometimes do not know what

problems they face.

All actors on the local level see the CARs as a necessary evil that comes and denies them things like

cutting trees or putting limits on the amounts of water they can take from the streams. Some rural

water board presidents also feel that permits are given without proper knowledge of the real

hydrologic situation, effectively giving more permits than there is water. A key issue here is that the

permits are given out in liters per second and seem to ignore the inter-annual variability of the

resource.

A final concern of the presidents was that they suspected wealthy farmer getting concessions for

large quantities of water even though the surrounding area was facing drought. Of the two CARs,

CAR Cundinamarca was generally seen as more difficult to deal with, as a bigger organization and less

connected with this particular region. (An interesting fact was that during the whole project and the

numerous invitations that were sent to CAR Cundinamarca by the research team, it was impossible to

arrange a meeting or speak to a representative.)

Figure 4.19 shows that on the regional level there is very limited communication between actors. It

seems each actor has their mandate and is not concerned with other institutions that could have

shared objectives. The information flows between the regional and national levels are not very fast,

but they do have established official communication systems. The information flows between the

regional and local level tend to be very one-sided: The authorities and institutions do not know the

problems of the stakeholders at the local level, but do impose regulations or conduct specific

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 40

projects in the area without involving the local stakeholders in the decision-making process.

Decisions on the regional level seem to be hardly affected by the needs of the local stakeholders.

Lack of emergency planning

In the period of october – december 2010, Bogotá and a lot of other parts in Colombia suffered from floodings due to severe rainfall. The dikes of the Bogotá River overflowed in many places and many suburbs were flooded. The potable water supply of one of the project towns, Sesquilé, was also impacted. The sluices of the canal of Achury were closed by Emgesa because they did not want the levels of the Bogotá River to rise even more, but the consequence was that, the water that is pumped from this canal and treated for the urban area’s water supply no longer met the required quality levels for the treatment plant. For safety reasons they couldn’t treat the water anymore and where left without drinking water or had to ration the little they could get from another stream. An emergency plan was thought up to take water from a new source, a stream that was close by. This is illegal however, until the Environmental agency CAR approves of it, but since they are a large organization it takes a lot of time to give that sort of permission. This story illustrates the lack of emergency planning and the institutional inability to react quickly when this is urgently needed.

4.3 Evaluation of the project Although the research was led by a researcher and a professor from the IDEA, there was no leader of

the research team for the entire duration of the project. The research team had experience with

some elements which come into play in IWRM; none of the members had done a specific IWRM

project or experience with the methodology. At the start of the research the facilitation team was

not familiar with the concept of IWRM and there was no formal meeting, workshop or training to

learn about it.

No clear methodology & goals Within the research team there was no agreed upon methodology as to how to approach the specific

parts of the project. There was a general idea of the things that needed to be done so the process of

collecting information started sure enough, but in an uncoordinated fashion and with few moments

of reflection and internal communication. The action plan that had been developed was insufficiently

explicit about the specific objectives and it wasn’t used by all members of the team to measure

progress. The SWITCH methodology was only available in separate briefing notes which were not

available in Spanish. It was only until late in the project that a comprehensive document concerning

the whole process of IWRM was discovered, the EMPOWERS Guidelines. By the time this was

brought forward as a useful guide, it was not seen as an option to start over.

No learning alliance The research team had never set the objective to create the learning alliance. At the start of the

project, only the team leader had met the different stakeholders personally. It was late in the project

that workshops were being organized and that the research team made contact with the different

stakeholders. The public service officers were the only stakeholders that the research team had more

intensive contact with. The number of meetings was too few to be able to forge a learning alliance or

speak of stakeholder platforms. Only one meeting with the institutional stakeholders was organized

and the mayors that were ate the first meeting did not attend, so it was not a follow-up. There was

no agenda of regular progress meetings that could give the stakeholders to anticipate and plan the

workshops and each meeting was organized separately. All experts where put to research things of

their expertise related to the Tominé catchment. The result was that the research team was in a

41 Results

position where it needed to look for all the information itself, going to the field and interview

plumbers, citizens and public officers about water related issues. Scaling the objectives down was not

considered an option.

Not enough time Although the foregoing suggests time was not used as efficiently as could have been done. The goal

of writing an IWRM plan in four months in any case is very short, as the methodology suggests that

working with stakeholders and winning their trust takes times, up to a year for the first phase. The

fact that there was no team member with experience in facilitation, using the methodology of IWRM

meant that learning about IWRM and the methods and tools involved took more time. The gathered

data had to be organized but there was no preconceived format for this and dealing with this

happened through trial and error.

Other barriers Besides being inexperienced, short time and lacking a clear and agreed upon methodology other

factors influenced the end result of the project and the amount of work that was able to be done.

The research team held office in the IDEA on the UNAL Campus in Bogotá and was not residing in the

study area, some 3 hours by car away. This distance meant that any visit to the study area had to be

planned in advance and well prepared. On the day-trips that were organized only a limited number

of useful hours were available in the study area to find and interview stakeholders. Contact with the

local stakeholders was also hampered by the distance as they were not always reachable by

telephone, and personal visits were not always possible.

The expert where contracted for a set period, as is customary in Colombia, in this case 6 months, and

had very specific task descriptions in their contract. The completion of these tasks was top priority

for the experts, and only secondary to that was the success of the project. On top of this, personal

circumstances of the project leaders and team members meant that they were not able to focus their

attention exclusively to the project and participate full-time.

In general the information gathering was slow. Many institutions did not cooperate with the research

team, with the exception of the town councils, and the procedures in getting documentation were

bureaucratic. Not only was the available literature difficult to come by, in many cases it contained

outdated or conflicting data. An additional problem was the lack of information in digital format.

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 42

5 Discussion

5.1 Technical The study shows that there are urgent water-related problems in the catchment. Raw sewage,

agrochemicals and sediments enter the reservoir, poor rural communities have no or bad water

supply, storage and sanitation infrastructure and the security of supply is in some places severely

reduced in dry periods. Most of these problems do not have single or clear causes, and their exact

effects are often unknown. By looking at the problems in more detail we can find out what

implications they have.

Eutrophication of the Tominé Reservoir

Raw sewage and agrochemicals are known to cause eutrophication (Schindler et al. 2004) and is

probably the reason there is an increasing amount of aquatic plant growth in the southern end of the

reservoir. Agrochemicals and sediments in water sources are also causing problems for rural

populations that drink this water. The likely causes are a combination of the absence of a WWTP in

Guasca, deforestation and agricultural practices involving (excessive) pesticide use and animal

husbandry close to open water streams, all known to be happening in the catchment. The EEB is

removing the plants from the reservoir but this is an end-of-pipe type solution, and the cause(s) of

the excessive plant growth are investigated or dealt with. The first direction the EEB could look to

find the source of their problems, is unfinished WWTP of Guasca.

Poor rural water supply, storage and sanitation infrastructure

The lack of storage infrastructure means that rural communities are very vulnerable to dry periods

and the associated diminishing of water resources (streams and springs), and depend more heavily

on the support from the town councils. In the higher regions, closer to the source of the water,

untreated drinking water does not cause many problems, but further downstream improving

drinking water quality gets more urgent.

Although it is obligatory for rural citizens to have septic tanks for their sewage treatment, they have

often been built by the end user with no formal training or guidelines. The result is a very diverse but

not always well-functioning number of septic tanks. Citizens with more money are able to afford

well-designed septic tanks and have them installed professionally.

Bad water quality leads to increased health costs and slows economic development. The lack of

financial and human resources in rural areas prevents the creation and proper maintenance of water

treatment infrastructure and leads to a lock in situation which is not easy to overcome without help.

Unsecure water supply

Security of supply has two components: Supply and demand. The supply is insecure when the

demand for water is higher than the supply. If we look at factors that could be reducing supply, there

are a few possibilities.

1. In the dry period the discharge of many streams is reduced, also affecting the water

resources for the urban and rural areas.

2. Deforestation and the removing of the protected páramo vegetation above 3000m, which

acts like a natural sponge (Buytaert et al 2006), can increase runoff rates and so reduce the

43 Discussion

water levels in the streams in dry periods. It has been reported that the expansion of

agricultural activities is happening, but where exactly is as of yet unknown.

3. Climate change may be increasing the duration of the dry periods, but it is very uncertain and

impossible for the actors to base any action upon. On the other hand, the climate of the

region has always had months with little or no precipitation, so this should not be surprising

for them.

Considering the possibility of an increase in water demand, the following factors are relevant:

1. First and foremost is the increased and increasing population. More people increase the

demand for clean drinking water. The area has also seen an influx of residents which do not

live there permanently but only come by on occasion for instance in weekends for

recreational purposes. The currently installed potable water treatment supply capacity for

the urban areas is operating at maximum capacity to meet current demand, but it will not be

able to meet the future demand for potable water.

2. The increase of population has also meant an increase in agro industrial activities, which

increases the water demand for livestock and irrigation of crops. Not all farmers in the region

have an equal access to water, some have springs on their land, and others do not. Some

farmers are rich and influential and can get water rights from the environmental agency,

while others resort to tapping water from nearby streams illegally.

The result of this is not only an increase in demand for water but also a lack of knowledge about the

exact differences between supply and demand for water. This makes it more difficult for policy

makers to deal with security of supply issues, as the problems are in many ways connected.

Opportunities

Population growth will increase the pressure on Sesquilés urban and rural water supply. Because

Sesquilé is the driest of the three municipalities, conventional solutions of creating more water

extraction points will not be enough to meet future demand. Rainwater harvesting can possibly play

a large role in the freshwater supply of Sesquilé, with the potential to meet 50% of current and

future water demand. Creating water storage infrastructure for the rural areas can help in bridging

times of drought. Options are among others: water-saving appliances, rainwater harvesting,

increased water storage capacity and increased treatment capacity.

High water demand, losses in the urban water supply system of Guatavita are contributing to the

conflict over the San Francisco stream. If reducing water demand is not enough to secure the water

supply, Guatavita can expand its Corales pipeline. The benefits of this would be twofold, enough

water for the urban area Guatavita, and a first step in resolving the San Francisco Stream conflict as

there are signs that this stream is currently being overexploited. This would leave enough water for

the people of Sesquilé who do not have another option.

The fact that some rural water boards have a relatively well organized system could be a nice

opportunity for other water boards to get in contact and learn from their neighbors what and how to

deal with the issues they face. On the other hand in some cases specific technical assistance is

required, this is where the governorate and CORPOGUAVIO could play a role.

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 44

5.2 Stakeholders

Regional Starting with Full IWRM, on the one hand we see a large body of institutions related to water which

can contribute to the improvement of water management in the region. They develop plans and a lot

of legislation that is intended to improve the lives of the citizens. However, every institution stays

within their mandate or ‘comfort zone’ and when complex problems present themselves that need

integrated solutions, the institutions are unable or unwilling to think and act beyond their direct

work sphere. Examples are; the removing of plants from the reservoir by the EEB on order of the

MAVDT, the Bogotá River Basin plan from the CAR Cundinamarca which, although it is part of the

basin, doesn’t mention the problems for Guasca because it is not their jurisdiction and the closing of

the sluices of the Achury Canal by Emgesa without having considered the fact this leaves Sesquilé

without a potable water source.

The stakeholder analysis is not yet complete as a key stakeholder, CAR Cundinamarca, was not

interviewed and thus their view on problems was not documented. The general impression,

however, gathered from interviews etc., was not always a positive one. The general attitude of CAR

Cundinamarca seems to be a controlling one, of an institution that know best what the people want

and need and that will provide the solutions, but does not accept resistance. This may be a

somewhat exaggerated image, but the fact that they did not respond to the invitations and were

generally uncooperative does not speak for them either. The distribution method of extraction limits

is also not transparent or clear for the local stakeholders, who have the feeling their neighbours have

disproportional large concession.

Communication and coordination between institutions can be improved. CAR Cundinamarca needs

to be willing to listen to what local stakeholders have to say and involve them more in decisions that

affect them. Sharing knowledge and experiences can improve awareness of decision makers i.e.

Local plumbers have a lot of knowledge that should be used by environmental agencies and

municipal planning projects to improve the water grids.

Local The concept of ‘Light IWRM’ is about local users coming up with improvements for their own

situation. To some extent this is already happening in the study area, for example the rural water

boards that have a well-functioning treatment system and manage to save money from their

revenues and to do new investments. Most rural water boards however have no idea of what their

neighbors are doing. Town councils are not always aware of the situation rural water boards face but

have the potential to provide assistance and expertise. The town councils within the catchment

rarely communicate and know very little about each other’s (often similar) problems, but the fact

they are part of the same hydrological system, could enable them to tackle the bigger problems more

effectively. A stakeholder platform at the local level can provide a common information base and

also be a more effective way of communicating with institutions.

Conflicts over water At the same time Illegal water intakes and a lack of transparency about extraction licenses for the

distribution of water resources has led to conflicts and over extraction.

45 Discussion

Rural water boards are in need of assistance in order to improve the water quality or treatment

infrastructure. Rural communities depend on springs or the help of the town councils.

Stakeholders should take an integral part in the creation and development of solutions to their water

problems. They should feel they have a platform where they can voice their opinions, and have

discussion supported by high quality data with decision makers who take their opinions seriously.

Need for an Overview Plan As mentioned in the background, there is no overview plan that unites the different local and

regional plans that concern water. The organization of the plans make sense from a political point of

view, each municipality must take care of their own water problems. However the three

municipalities of the study area are linked through their geographical setting, the catchment.

Although the POMCA would seem like the document that could include catchment-wide policies and

objectives, it makes no mention of the local plans contained in the PSMVs, PUEAAs and PMAAs of

each municipality. The PDA just focuses on the entire department of Cundinamarca and does not

differentiate between catchments.

An IWRM plan for Tominé catchment should unite all existing plans and create a more concerted set

of objectives, combining spatial planning with water efficiency plans and wastewater management.

The benefits of this would be that civil servants spend less time preparing each separate plan every

three years, that regional authorities have a better view on the local situation and objectives and it

also can serve as a focused source of information. This would require reorganization by the MAVDT

of the current regulations concerning water management and planning.

The above illustrates that institutes like IDEA but also CAR Cundinamarca and others, still have a

tendency towards thinking in old patterns: where a group of experts can solve any problem, writing

plans without knowledge, participation or consent of the municipalities in question. The term

“integrated” implies “participatory”, but this way of approaching problems is to date not an obvious

approach. The thinking process of IWRM requires the participation of all relevant actors, and

sustainable solutions can never be successfully achieved by just a single party or stakeholder.

5.3 Process The lack of a learning alliance meant that stakeholders were not an integral part of learning and

doing the IWRM process, and consequently the presented analysis is only a first step in the process

of creating IWRM in the region. The project did not give the stakeholders feeling that they were

going to solve their own problems.

The EMPOWERS cycle emphasizes the importance of stakeholder involvement at each phase but,

although there was a genuine will from the researchers’ side to improve their situation, the affected

actors of the future IWRM plan did not know about the project until half-way through it, at which

time it was too late. This made the involved stakholders more passive and they waited for the team

to present the results of the research, and did not take a pro-active participatory role. It was difficult

to change the mentality from working for stakeholders to working with stakeholders.

There was no opportunity to work with the stakeholders on problem identification, vision creating

and strategizing: important first steps in the process of IWRM. At the end of the project, the

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 46

stakeholders should have the feeling they are empowered, and can work together and solve their

problems.

During the startup phase of the research it became clear that there was a need for tools or guidelines

to be able to work with the methodology. The lack of leadership and experience had as a

consequence that there was a lack of a systematic approach and meant team-members worked on

things of their own expertise, rather than analyzing the perceived problems of the stakeholders. This

resulted in a situation that there was no clear order in which to do things and what had activities

should receive priority over others.

It took time to find a routine and working method. The presence of an experienced leader could have

sped up this process, and perhaps more could have been achieved in the short amount of time that

was available. One of the consequences of the lack of time was that it did not allow for a buildup of

trust between the team and the stakeholders. The effort it takes to create stakeholder platforms and

a learning alliance was underestimated.

47 Conclusions

6 Conclusions

6.1 Technical Eutrophication of the Tominé reservoir cannot be stopped by uncoordinated end-of-pipe solutions

but require an integrated effort. This should be a major focus of a future IWRM plan for the

catchment.

The security of supply in both rural and urban Sesquilé needs to be improved.

Guatavita needs to reduce its water demand.

Sending the raw sewage of Guasca into the Siecha River must stop as soon as possible. Building the

WWTP should be top priority, and it can be combined with work on a separated storm water system,

making the new treatment plant more effective.

6.2 Stakeholder There is generally very poor integration and coordination of plans, both between local and regional

stakeholders, and between institutions and local municipalities.

Institutes still try to solve problems for people instead of with people.

The lack of control by environmental agencies or municipal government does not give citizens any

incentive to change habits or improve their systems.

6.3 Process The lack of leadership made the work of the team as a whole unorganized.

The lack of experience in IWRM made progress slow.

The research team had not set the objective to create the learning alliance or stakeholder platforms

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 48

7 Recommendations The next step towards an IWRM plan for the Tominé catchment is forging a Learning Alliance. This

group of people should contain representatives of the key stakeholders, and take a central position

in all issues related to water in the region. It should communicate with all levels; national, regional

and local on a regular basis. An information base should be established that is accessible to all. The

water information sheets presented in this thesis could be used as an example for this information

base.

Once this has been done, the alliance can focus their efforts on individual problems. Doing more

detailed assessments, quality controlling data and if necessary collect primary data through

measurements, and involving local actors in the process, will yield detailed assessments of the root

causes of specic problems. Some of these specific problems are mentioned below.

Technical

Resolution of the San Francisco Stream conflict

Measuring and monitoring the available resources and redistributing them fairly, assessing who

needs how much, who has no other water source and who has a choice. A skilled and impartial

facilitation team should seek the dialogue with the different stakeholders and find common

acceptable solutions, both short and long term. Reducing the over extraction of the San Francisco

Stream can be done by increasing the capacity of the Corales pipeline. Reducing Guatavita’s water

system losses, eliminating illegal connections and charging for water use will help achieve this.

Implementation Possible Pilot Projects

Showing examples of rainwater harvesting will convince an important part of the citizens that are

facing seasonal droughts to take action. A mix of conventional and unconventional water supply

technologies like storage infrastructure and rainwater harvesting can increase Sesquilés resilience

and secure supply.

Additional Research

There is not much data about the intra-annual variability of water and for instance what effects

climate change might bring to the region. Data on evapotranspiration and groundwater is very

limited. New research into this can contribute to a better water balance.

Research on the effects septic tanks

The home built septic tanks could be impacting the water quality of the reservoir, but it is unknown

what the effects are exactly.

Stakeholder

Create stakeholder platforms

An institutional stakeholder platform provides opportunities for increased cooperation, sharing of

information and improves the institutional memory. Creating a local stakeholder platform would

improve the communication between municipalities, both town councils and rural water boards,

possibly be helpful in resolutions of conflicts, increase the dissemination of information and

knowledge concerning water issues in the area, inspiring neighbours and be a voice for the

population towards the institutional actors.

49 Recommendations

Guasca needs to work on improving the water supply of some of its rural water boards. They can do

this by bringing rural water board presidents together and have them exchange experiences and

knowledge.

Task Analysis

A detailed task analysis and roles/responsibilities of stakeholders needs to be made regarding

specific topics of IWRM. Data presented in the stakeholder relations diagram needs to be verified

and accepted by the stakeholders. The “who does what” is very important in the stage of

strategizing.

Creating the IWRM plan

Each municipality has five different plans related to water. The IWRM could be the integrating

umbrella format for all of these, with the common, quality checked information base where other

plans are specific chapters of this plan. This could remove the conflicts of sources and be a working

tool for all municipalities. A future IWRM plan should also address the causes of deforestation and

destruction of páramo, and manage their protection.

Capacity training

There is a lack of capacity in the rural areas of the catchment regarding plumbing and administration

of water systems. There is a national goal to improve this. Perhaps the Governorate can initiate a

project to improve this situation.

Work in Guatavita

Capacitate the office, get more funding, invest in infrastructure, get a campaign going on the value of

water, and make sure everyone realizes things cannot continue the way they are going. Let people

pay a fair price for the use.

Process

IWRM expert

It could be recommended an IWRM expert join the facilitation team, working with the research team

first, making sure that the chosen methodology is clear beforehand. The tasks are divided to wish

and having regular meetings keeping everyone up to date of the progress.

Take time for stakeholder contact

Stay in the municipality for an extended period of time, and work full-time with the stakeholders.

Create trust between the facilitation team and the stakeholders. Make clear action plan of what

needs to be achieved, how much workshops are needed and plan them well ahead of time, so that

stakeholders can anticipate.

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 50

8 References

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impact on the hydrology of the Andean páramos. Earth-Science Reviews, 79(1-2), 53-72.

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MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 52

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53 References

8.2 Websites http://www.acueducto.com.co – Agua y Alcantarrillado de Bogotá

http://www.car.gov.co – Corporación Autónoma Regional de Cundinamarca

http://www.corpoguavio.gov.co – Corporación Autónoma Regional del Guavio

http://cra.gov.co – Comisión de Regulación de Agua Potable y Saneamiento Básico

http://www.dnp.gov.co – Departamento Nacional de Planeación

http://www.eeb.com.co – Empresa de Energía de Bogotá S.A. ESP

http://www.emgesa.com.co – Emgesa S.A. ESP

http://institucional.ideam.gov.co – Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales

http://www.project.empowers.info – Euro-Med Participatory Water Resources Scenarios

http://www.sdp.gov.co – Secretaría Distrital de Planeación

http://www.superservicios.gov.co – Superintendencia de Servicios Públicos

http://www.switchurbanwater.eu – SWITCH: Managing Water for the City of the Future

http://www.unesco-ihe.org – UNESCO-IHE: Institute for water education

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 54

9 Appendices

9.1 Rural Water board Data.

55 Appendices

Sesquilé Rural Water Boards

Water Board Source Users People WTP Concession Produced Meters Demand Notes

# # LPS m3/month m3/month

Tierra Negra Q. El Gaque 90 329 37324 26126

Uval 96 Together with Tierra Negra

Nescuata La Villa

Q. El Urital 89 Y Y

Nescuatá La Escuela

220

Chaleche Q. La Hormiga 68 253 N 0,65 1400 Trimestral water rates are (in COP); locals: 3000, farmers: 15000, weekenders: 70000. Q. La Hondura 0,45

Q. El Curí 0,55

N. El Manantialito 0,65

Gobernador Q. Grande 120 600 Y 2 LPS Y Two storage tanks of 32 m3 each.

Q. San Antonio 15 80 Y 30672 Y 21470

Salina 45 154

Boitiva La Villa 190 1790 Y 1,39 Y 39190 Three storage tanks of resp. 180, 55 & 45 m3.

El Cajon 190 Y 0,59 1529 One storage tank of 180 m3.

Loma Larga Q. La Clara 61 0,69 0,69 LPS

Boita 210 908

San Jose Q. La Clara 45 306 0,76

Q. Girardot / Buenavista ? 0,72

Manantial 54 ?

El Hato Springs 468 N This area has no permanent water source and no infrastructure

Espigas - Alta Springs 40/45 280 N Water reliability is bad, as the springs dry up in the dry periods. In times of need they rely on water trucks from Sesquilé.

Espigas - Baja

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 56

Guatavita rural water boards

Water Board Source Hhs WTP Concession Produced Meters Demand Price/month WW treatment

Notes

# LPS LPS m3/month COP

Amoladero This area has no water board.

Carbonera Alta

Q. EL Chuscal (later Q. San Francisco)

107 N Y 1667 Septic Tanks The use limit is 40 m3, an extra m3 costs COP 12000.

Carbonera Baja

Q. San Francisco 135

Chaleche I Q. El Estanco 75 N 0,75 6000 Septic Tanks Commuters pay COP 20000/month

Chaleche Cocuos

Choche Y Santa María

Q. Corales 130 N 2,5 2500 Septic Tanks (30%)

In the process of building a WTP.

Corales Springs 102 3500 None A new connection costs COP $1350000

Guandita Hatillo

Q. Chuscales (or Gaitán)

180 N 1 2,5-3 Y 3000 The use limit is 35 m3. Water used to be filtered, but filters broke.

Monquentiva Q. Solo Cachos 35 N 4000 Septic Tanks Water quality affects the milk production.

Montecillo Q. San Francisco 52 Filters 7000 Septic Tanks (few)

Filters don't work properly. In dry periods there is severe rationing.

Potreritos This area has no waterboard.

Potrerolargo I

Q. El Quiebroyal 29 N 5000 WWTP & Septic Tanks

Potrerolargo II

Q. Peña Colorada 87 N Y 2000 Septic Tanks The use limit is 40 m3, an extra m3 costs COP 500

Tominé De Blancos

Q. Las Peñuelas 38 N 0,25 4000 Septic Tanks 78 new hh are being connected.

Tominé De Indios

Waterboard is still being formed.

57 Appendices

Guasca rural water boards

Water Board Source Hhs People WTP Meters Produced Price/month Notes

# # LPS COP

Mariano Ospina I Q. Pericos 300 The water source is only available in the wet periods.

Mariano Ospina II Rio Chiguanos 470 Y Y 3333/1667 The use limit is 40 m3, an extra m3 costs COP 400

La Floresta I Rio Chipatá 90

La Floresta II Q. El Uval 70

San Jois Rio Los Salitres & Q. Iligueron

600 3500 Y Y 9,7 6000 In the dry period the production drops to 6,5 LPS. Until 40 m3 the price is COP 448, above that an m3 is COP 586.

Santa Barbara Q. El Chuscal 145 N 5000

Peña Negra Rio Chipatá 48

Santa Lucia Rio Chiguanos 95

Trinidad - Pericos Nacedero 25 N 3333

Llano Rio Chipatá 15

Pastor Ospina - Flores I Q. El Uval & Q. Montoque

358 Y 6,5 10000/6000 There are two tariffs. The use limit is 65 m3, an extra m3 costs COP 200/300

Pastor Ospina - Flores II Q. El Uval & Q. Montoque

65 4

Los Guayabos Rio Chipatá 56 N 8750

Trinidad - Betania 69 N 0,9 3000

Parehondo 85 N 1,5 5000 The use limit is 20 m3, an extra m3 costs COP 10000

Los Árboles 24 N 6000

Manantial Del Siecha 510

La Concepción 25

El Espino Corcobado 26 N 1000

La Cabrerita 150 600 N N 6000 The water has a high turbidity

MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 58

9.2 Initial economic assessment of urban water supply

systems.

WTP reference costs Guasca Sesquile Guatavita

Average monthly supply (m3) 36.540 73.070 33.327

Averagde monthly demand (m3) 22.655 23.858 11.633

Households (hh) 1.251 1.002 717

Average administration costs ($/ hh/month) $ 4.992 $ 2.512,11 $ 2.881

Average operation & investment costs ($/hh/month) $ 326,14 $ 877,97 $ 804,12

Costos de referencia alcantarillado Guasca Sesquile Guatavita

Average monthly sewer discharge (m3) 21.574 20.41820

11.633

Households (hh) 1.16821

818 53622

Average administration costs ($/ hh/month) $ 1.996 $ 1.440,05 $ 1.152,4

Average operation & investment costs ($/hh/month) $ 100,85 $275,55 $ 322

Balance WTPs (thousands of COP) Guasca Sesquile Guatavita

Number of households 1.251 1.002 717

Total anual income $ 122.707 $ 107.765 $ 107.553

Total anual expenses $ 218.383 $ 281.844 $ 347.726

Deficit -$ 95.676 -$174.079 -$ 239.173

Balance WWTPS (thousands of COP) Guasca Sesquilé Guatavita

Number of households 1.168 818 536

Total anual income $ 45.956 $ 36.847 $ 41.908

Total anual expenses $ 62.408 $ 82.465 $ 54.408

Deficit $ -16.451 -$45.617 $ -12.500

20 Oficina Servicios Públicos Sesquile. Facturación 2010 21 Oficina de Servicios Públicos Guasca. Facturación 2009 22Usuarios Alcantarillado Guatavita. 2010

59 Appendices

9.3 Impressions of field work.

Taking GPS points and water samples Visiting water intake

Interviewing rural citizens Plumber shows small-scale rural WTP

Meeting with heads of rural water boards A typical house has a storage tank of 1000L