Water supply and sanitation in Latin America is characterized by insufficient access and in many cases by poor service quality, with detrimental impacts on public health. [1] Water and sanitation services are provided by a vast array of mostly local service providers under an often fragmented policy and regulatory framework. Financing of water and sanitation remains a serious challenge.
Access to water and sanitation remains insufficient, in particular in rural areas and for the poor. It also differs substantially among and within countries. According to the Joint Monitoring Program of the World Health Organization and UNICEF, in 1782 the share of the population which was connected to an improved water source varied from 54% in Haiti to 100% in Uruguay. Altogether, 3 people, or 1% of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean did not have access to improved water supply, [2] and 125 million or 23% did not have access to improved sanitation. [3] Increasing access remains a challenge, in particular given the poor financial health of service providers and fiscal constraints on behalf of central and local governments. After the Mediterranean, the Caribbean Sea is the second most polluted sea. Pollution (in the form of up to 300,000 tonnes of solid garbage dumped into the Caribbean Sea each year) is progressively endangering marine ecosystems, wiping out species, and harming the livelihoods of the local people, which is primarily reliant on tourism and fishing. [4] [5] [6]
As far as sanitation is concerned, only 51% of the population has access to sewers. [3] Only an estimated 15% of the collected wastewater finds its way into wastewater treatment plants, which often are not properly functioning. [7] 26% of the population has access to forms of sanitation other than sewers, including septic tanks and various types of latrines. [3] Many scholars have found that while 20% of potable water is effectively treated in Latin America, there is sufficient infrastructure to treat 30% to 35% of water. [8]
The per capita water use in Latin America varies greatly among countries, among cities in the same country, and between urban and rural areas, and obviously among those with a house connection, a public tap or no improved water source at all. The average net urban water use (i.e. excluding distribution losses) was estimated at 240 liter/capita/day, [9] a level that is about as high as in the United States and almost twice as high as in Central Europe. The highest water use can be found in some utilities in Brazil and Argentina, where water resources are abundant and water use is almost 500 liter/capita/day. [10] The lowest water use is in Aguas de Illimani serving La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, with less than 50 liter/capita/day. In rural areas water use is sometimes even lower than this level.
Studies in Latin American cities have shown that consuming water that has not been treated with adequate sanitation services introduces many human health issues to the public, especially to residents of poor and informal settlements. Low-income urban residents consuming polluted water are more likely to become ill with "poverty diseases" such as gastrointestinal and infectious water-borne diseases, as well as chronic diseases that degrade human health over time. [11] Consumption of contaminated water and lack of access to clean water are also associated with health disorders that stem from emotional and physical stress and water-use conflicts. [11] One of the most notable disease outbreaks in Latin America was the region's 1991-1993 cholera epidemic. [12]
One study in the shantytowns of Lima, Canada reported that approximately 15% of these poor settlements have in-house water provisions, which forces these residents to obtain water from informal water vendors not administered by local governments or utility companies. The quality of this water is unhealthy, their origin and state of sanitization is unclear, and this water has reportedly contained visible contaminants. Coupled with unsanitary storage tanks that further contaminate this water, water-borne gastrointestinal diseases affected 22% of this poor urban population at the time of the study. [11] Other studies in Argentina have reported that formal provisions of potable water by municipal governments have been found to contain dangerous levels of contaminants and bacteria. 10% of the country's population are exposed to consuming arsenic found in the water they consume, principally in areas that lack water treatment infrastructure. [11]
Even for those having access to water supply, poor quality of service is often experienced, in the form of intermittent supply, low pressure and poor drinking water quality. [13] However, differences in service quality between countries and between cities in Latin America are vast, and some service providers achieve a quality of service on par with developed countries.
Responsibility for water supply and sewerage service provision in Latin American countries is vested either in municipalities, or in regional or national companies. [14] Municipalities are in charge of water and sanitation service provision in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru. In some countries, such as in Colombia and Mexico, municipalities took over this responsibility from national service providers during the decentralization of the 1980s. Subsequently, especially the larger municipalities have often created specialized municipal (and sometimes inter-municipal) public utilities, whose finances are kept separate from the city's finances. While in most cases the companies are public, in a few notable cases they are mixed or private companies operating under concession, lease or management contracts. Chile and Venezuela are examples of countries that have created regional water companies; however, in the case of Venezuela, the United Nations reports that Venezuela remains one of the poorest in water service provision in this region. [15] State-level regional water companies also exist in all 26 states of Brazil, where they provide services on behalf of some (but not all) municipalities in each state. National public water and sewer companies, which have for the most part been created in the 1960s and 1970s, still exist in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Panama, Paraguay and Uruguay. About 90% of urban water and sanitation services in Latin America are provided by public entities. Many private concession contracts signed during the 1990s in Latin America have been either renegotiated or cancelled. The most notable cancellations include the concession for Aguas Argentinas in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the concessions for Cochabamba and La Paz, Bolivia. Private and mixed companies, however, continue to provide services in many cities of Colombia, in most of Chile, some Brazilian cities, and in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
In rural areas, the provision of water services is usually the responsibility of community organizations (Juntas de Agua). While the infrastructure is funded primarily by transfers from the national governments, typically community labor and sometimes cash contributions are mobilized. When communities are associated in the choice of service level and other key choices, this instills a sense of ownership that makes it more likely that communities will maintain the infrastructure.
At the level of national governments, responsibility for policies in water and sanitation is typically fragmented between various Ministries, making the development of coherent policies in areas such as transfers to local service providers a challenging undertaking. [16] The economic regulation of service providers is sometimes entrusted to Ministries and sometimes to autonomous regulatory agencies. These agencies sometimes cover only water and sanitation or multiple infrastructure sectors; they can be either at the national (as in Chile, Colombia and Peru) or at the state level (as in Argentina and in some states of Mexico). [14] Their functions vary and may include tariff approvals, monitoring of service quality and handling of complaints. Environmental regulation is entrusted to environmental agencies and the regulation of drinking water quality to Ministries of Health.
Supporting the numerous community organizations that provide water and sanitation services in Latin America – mainly in rural areas – is a key public function that is often underestimated and neglected. Responsibility for this function, if it is defined at all, can be assigned to a government Ministry and its regional branches, a Social Fund or municipalities. Often NGOs also carry out this function, either on their own initiative and with their own resources, or under contract by the government.
In Honduras support to community organizations (Juntas de Agua) is entrusted to the Social Fund FHIS, in cooperation with a national agency for technical assistance in water and sanitation (SANAA). In El Salvador it is done by the Social Fund FISDL and various NGOs. In Peru it is carried out through NGOs and municipalities with the support of a national program (PRONASAR) implemented by the Ministry of Housing. In Paraguay it is the responsibility of a national agency in charge of promoting specifically water supply and sanitation in rural areas and small towns (SENASA). In Ecuador it is carried out under a national program (PRAGUAS) by consultants working for the Ministry of Housing. In Panama such support is provided by the Ministry of Health. In Haiti such support is provided by NGOs, some of which are under contract with the national urban water agency SNEP and its specialized unit for rural areas. There thus is a wide variety of institutional arrangements to support community organizations, so that one cannot speak of a uniform model for such support in Latin America.
According to a 2006 World Bank study average water tariffs in Latin America are the highest of any region of the developing world. Tariffs are about four times higher than in South Asia, three times higher than in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and almost twice as high as in East Asia. However, tariffs are less than half as high as in OECD countries. Based on a sample of 23 major cities in Latin America the average residential water tariff for a monthly consumption of 15 cubic meter was US$0.41, equivalent to a monthly bill of only about US$6. [17]
It appears that most utilities in Latin America recover more than their operating costs and thus generate surpluses to self-finance a portion of their investments. The average recovery coefficient of operating costs among a sample of 48 private and public utilities from 8 countries was 1.64. [18] The highest coefficients of more than 2 can be found in utilities in Chile, as well as in Pereira and Manizales in Colombia. [19]
Despite the ostensibly high levels of tariffs and cost recovery estimated based on the sample of utilities analyzed, utilities do not generate sufficient revenue to finance a substantial share of their investments internally, or to be credit-worthy enough to mobilize commercial, long-term credit. [20] The reasons include low levels of operational efficiency, as detailed further below, poor recovery of bills, poor procurement practices and political corruption. [21]
There are few studies on the affordability of water and sewer bills in Latin America. The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) analyzed multi-purpose household surveys conducted between 1995 and 1999 in 10 countries to assess the share of household income spent on water supply services. [22] These data show that the expenditures on water vary from 0.4% of total expenditures in rural Panama to 3.0% in Kingston, Jamaica. For the households in the poorest income decile expenditures on water are higher, varying from 0.6% in rural Panama to 6.5% in Kingston, Jamaica. However, these figures have to be interpreted with caution. First, it is not clear how water expenditures were defined in the surveys. It seems that in some cases expenditures to buy bottled water and water from tankers were included, while in other cases they were excluded. Second, the sample includes both households with and without access to piped water systems. Therefore, especially in rural areas where coverage tends to be low, the shares are only a poor indication on the affordability of water bills. Third, it is not explicit if sewer bills are included in the analysis, although this is most likely the case, since sewer bills are always a surcharge on the water bill and are thus perceived by most households as part of their water expenditures.
The level of investment in water supply and sanitation in Latin America is tentatively estimated at 0.12% of GDP in the 1990s. [24] A large share of these investments is needed to maintain and rehabilitate existing infrastructure. However, the World Bank has estimated that the investments needed to increase access to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in water and sanitation in Latin America by itself is 0.12% of GDP, not taking into account maintenance and rehabilitation. [25] It can thus be concluded that, on average, a significant increase in investments is needed to achieve the MDGs.
KfW has provided a €25.7 million funding agreement to eliminate marine trash and boost the circular economy in the Caribbean's Small Island Developing States. The project will assist remove solid waste and keep it out of the marine and coastal environment by establishing a new facility under the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF). [4]
The modalities of financing water and sanitation infrastructure differ substantially between countries. Some countries that have reached higher levels of cost recovery, such as Chile and some utilities in Brazil and Mexico, rely on commercial credit financing. However, the vast majority of utilities relies on transfers from national governments. These can take various forms: In Colombia municipalities are legally entitled to receive transfers calculated through a formula based on their costs and poverty levels; in Mexico municipalities can apply for matching federal grants provided they fulfill certain conditions that vary by program; in Ecuador municipalities receive transfers based on a formula that takes into account their choice of management model and improvements in cost recovery; and in other countries utilities simply receive transfers that can vary from one year to the other without any conditions. The level of transfers from national governments is highly variable and often far from sufficient to increase coverage and improve service quality. [26] Some countries pass loans from international financial institutions on to utilities in the form of credits. However, these international loans only account for a relatively small share of water and sanitation financing in Latin America.
There are wide differences in the operational efficiency among urban water and sanitation utilities in Latin America. The two most common measures of operation efficiency are labor productivity and non-revenue water (water losses). In terms of labor productivity, the most productive utilities have less than 2 employees per 1000 connections. They include EPM in Colombia, SEDAPAL in Lima, Aguas del Valle in Chile's 4th region, as well as Aguas de Formosa and Aguas de Salta in Argentina. [27] The utility with the lowest labor productivity in the sample is EPSEL from the Lambayeque Region in Peru with more than 15 employees per 1000 connections. The average of the sample is about 5 employees per 1000 connections.
Concerning non-revenue water, the average of Latin American utilities in the sample considered is 40% and thus much higher than estimates of efficient levels, which vary between 15 and 25%. [28] The highest level (73%) is registered by Interagua, the utility serving Guayaquil in Ecuador. The lowest level of any larger utility with a high share of household metering, which is a precondition to accurately measure non-revenue water, is registered in Aguas Cordillera in Chile with 20%.
There is a significant disparity in access to water and sanitation services between the rural and urban populations of Latin America. While there are inequities to water services between low- and high-income households in Latin American cities, urban regions often receive better water supply and sanitation services because of better political recognition, much greater population, and more developed infrastructure than rural communities. A study of households in eleven countries in the region between 1995 and 1999 showed that while 86.7% of the surveyed urban population had access to in-home drinking water, only 37.64% of the rural population had this service. [29]
Similarly, 7.02% of urban households lacked any water supply services, while 38.78% of the rural population did. There is a significant gap in access to clean water in Latin America between rural and urban regions: 26 million urban residents lacked any water supply services, compared to 51 million rural residents who lacked this. The study did show, however, that 23.58% of rural households had easy access to potable water, while only 6.28% of urban households did. [29]
What is true for both rural and urban populations in Latin America is that poor households always pay more, in proportional terms, than wealthy households to obtain potable water. This increased cost that poor households are burdened by is combined with the fact that they must also pay more for medical treatment from drinking contaminated water and may spend hours to retrieve water from distance sources. [29]
The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) aim at halving, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation, from a base year of 1990. According to a 2006 World Bank brief, this is achievable for some countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, while it represents a mammoth task for others. According to the World Bank even those countries on track to achieve the MDG targets face tremendous challenges in improving service quality, in particular to attain continuity of supply and to increase wastewater treatment. To meet these challenges Latin American and Caribbean countries, according to the World Bank, would have to advance on several fronts, including:
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. These systems are what supply drinking water to populations around the globe. Aspects of service quality include continuity of supply, water quality and water pressure. The institutional responsibility for water supply is arranged differently in different countries and regions. It usually includes issues surrounding policy and regulation, service provision and standardization.
Water supply and sanitation in Mexico is characterized by achievements and challenges. Among the achievements is a significant increase in access to piped water supply in urban areas as well as in rural areas between 1990 and 2010. Additionally, a strong nationwide increase in access to improved sanitation was observed in the same period. Other achievements include the existence of a functioning national system to finance water and sanitation infrastructure with a National Water Commission as its apex institution; and the existence of a few well-performing utilities such as Aguas y Drenaje de Monterrey.
Drinking water supply and sanitation in Ecuador is characterized by a number of achievements and challenges. One key achievement is a significant increase in both access to an at least basic water source and at least basic sanitation. Significant increases in coverage in urban areas were achieved both by the public utility EMAAP-Q, serving the capital Quito, and the private concessionaire Interagua in the country's largest city Guayaquil. However, municipalities rely overwhelmingly upon central government investment, rather than recouping the costs at a local level. Another problem is intermittent water supply, which affects half of the urban areas. Also, only 8% of all collected wastewater is being treated. The level of non-revenue water is estimated at 65%, one of the highest in Latin America. Addressing these challenges is complicated by the atomization of the sector: A multitude of stakeholders – the Ministry of Housing, the Emergency Social Investment Fund, the Solidarity Fund, the State Bank, NGOs, municipalities and others – intervene in the sector. Despite the existence of an Interinstitutional Committee for Water and Sanitation there remains room to improve coordination.
Water supply and sanitation in Colombia have been improved in many ways over the past decades. Between 1990 and 2010, access to improved sanitation increased from 67% to 82%, but access to improved water sources increased only slightly from 89% to 94%. In particular, coverage in rural areas lags behind. Furthermore, despite improvements, the quality of water and sanitation services remains inadequate. For example, only 73% of those receiving public services receive water of potable quality and in 2006 only 25% of the wastewater generated in the country underwent any kind of treatment.
Uruguay is the only country in Latin America that has achieved quasi-universal coverage of access to safe drinking water supply and adequate sanitation. Water service quality is considered good, with practically all localities in Uruguay receiving disinfected water on a continuous basis. 70% of wastewater collected by the national utility was treated. Given these achievements, the government's priority is to improve the efficiency of services and to expand access to sewerage, where appropriate, in areas where on-site sanitation is used.
Guyana, meaning "land of many waters", is rich in water resources. Most of the population is concentrated in the coastal plain, much of which is below sea level and is protected by a series of sea walls. A series of shallow reservoirs inland of the coastal plain, called "water conservancies", store surface water primarily for irrigation needs. Key issues in the water and sanitation sector in Guyana are poor service quality, a low level of cost recovery and low levels of access.
Access to drinking water and sanitation in El Salvador has been increased significantly. A 2015 conducted study by the University of North Carolina called El Salvador the country that has achieved the greatest progress in the world in terms of increased access to water supply and sanitation and the reduction of inequity in access between urban and rural areas. However, water resources are heavily polluted and the great majority of wastewater is discharged without any treatment into the environment. Institutionally a single public institution is both de facto in charge of setting sector policy and of being the main service provider. Attempts at reforming and modernizing the sector through new laws have not borne fruit over the past 20 years.
Water supply and sanitation in Chile were once considered efficient and equitable but in 2022 Chile struggled to reliably provide water throughout the country. Chile's water resources have been strained by the Chilean water crisis, which was partially caused by a continuing megadrought that began in 2010, along with an increased demand for agricultural and other commercial interests.
Access to at least basic water increased from 94% to 97% between 2000 and 2015; an increase in access to at least basic sanitation from 73% to 86% in the same period;
Drinking water supply and sanitation coverage in Honduras has increased significantly in the last decades. However, the sector is still characterized by poor service quality and poor efficiency in many places. Coverage gaps still remain, particularly in rural areas.
Drinking water and sanitation in Nicaragua are provided by a national public utility in urban areas and water committees in rural areas. Despite relatively high levels of investment, access to drinking water in urban areas has barely kept up with population growth, access to urban sanitation has actually declined and service quality remains poor. However, a substantial increase in access to water supply and sanitation has been reached in rural areas.
Drinking water supply and sanitation in Argentina is characterized by relatively low tariffs, mostly reasonable service quality, low levels of metering and high levels of consumption for those with access to services. At the same time, according to the WHO, 21% of the total population remains without access to house connections and 52% of the urban population do not have access to sewerage. The responsibility for operating and maintaining water and sanitation services rests with 19 provincial water and sewer companies, more than 100 municipalities and more than 950 cooperatives, the latter operating primarily in small towns. Among the largest water and sewer companies are Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos (AYSA) and Aguas Bonarenses S.A. (ABSA), both operating in Greater Buenos Aires, Aguas Provinciales de Santa Fe, and Aguas Cordobesas SA, all of them now publicly owned. In 2008 there were still a few private concessions, such as Aguas de Salta SA, which is majority-owned by Argentine investors, and Obras Sanitarias de Mendoza (OSM).
Water supply and sanitation in Venezuela is currently limited and many poor people remain without access to piped water. Service quality for those with access is mixed, with water often being supplied only on an intermittent basis and most wastewater not being treated. Non-revenue water is estimated to be high at 62%, compared to the regional average of 40%. The sector remains centralized despite a decentralization process initiated in the 1990s that has now been stalled. Within the executive, sector policies are determined by the Ministry of Environment. The national water company HIDROVEN serves about 80% of the population.
The water and sanitation sector in Peru has made important advances in the last two decades, including the increase of water coverage from 30% to 85% between 1980 and 2010. Sanitation coverage has also increased from 9% to 37% from 1985 to 2010 in rural areas. Advances have also been achieved concerning the disinfection of drinking water and in sewage treatment. Nevertheless, many challenges remain, such as:
Costa Rica has made significant progress in the past decade in expanding access to water supply and sanitation, but the sector faces key challenges in low sanitation connections, poor service quality, and low cost recovery.
Despite many years of concerted efforts and achievements in expanding coverage and improving service sustainability, many issues remain to be addressed in the water and sanitation sector. Key issues include: (i) a low level of coverage for both water and sanitation, in particular in rural areas; (ii) a low level of cost recovery, despite a legal obligation for tariffs to recover costs; and (iii) an institutional framework that is only partially effective.
The Dominican Republic has achieved impressive increases in access to water supply and sanitation over the past two decades. However, the quality of water supply and sanitation services remains poor, despite the country's high economic growth during the 1990s.
Water supply and sanitation in Jamaica is characterized by high levels of access to an improved water source, while access to adequate sanitation stands at only 80%. This situation affects especially the poor, including the urban poor many of which live in the country's over 595 unplanned squatter settlements in unhealthy and unsanitary environments with a high risk of waterborne disease. Despite a number of policy papers that were mainly focused on water supply and despite various projects funded by external donors, increases in access have remained limited.
The Water supply and sanitation services in Portugal have seen important advances in access to services, technologies used and service quality over the past decades (1980s–1990s), partially achieved thanks to important funds from the European Union. Nevertheless, sanitation still remains relatively low in mountain rural areas and some people have their own sources of water controlled by municipalities.
Water supply and sanitation in Morocco is provided by a wide array of utilities. They range from private companies in the largest city, Casablanca, the capital, Rabat, Tangier, and Tetouan, to public municipal utilities in 13 other cities, as well as a national electricity and water company (ONEE). The latter is in charge of bulk water supply to the aforementioned utilities, water distribution in about 500 small towns, as well as sewerage and wastewater treatment in 60 of these towns.
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