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Colombia - Water Sector Reform Assistance Project                                                                   November 15, 2004
Improving access to water supply and sanitation is key for poverty reduction.  Providing latrines in schools increases primary
education enrollment.  Studies in Africa indicate that access to piped water increased school attendance by 16% by lowering
collection time.  In South America, bringing water and sanitation coverage to 100% would reduce mortality of children under
the age of five due to water borne diseases by 22%.  Poor sanitation degrades rivers and lakes around the world - on which
the poor depend most heavily for their livelihoods.  Moreover, poor services impact women and children most directly, as they
bear the burden of daily water collection.  Sustainable access to water supply and sanitation services is therefore critical to
making progress in health, education, gender, and environmental sustainability.

Facts and figures
S         In the developing world, approximately two out of every ten people are without access to safe water supply; five out of
         ten people live without adequate sanitation, and nine out of ten people do not have their wastewaters treated to any
         degree.
S         25,000 people die each day as a result of water-related diseases, which still represent the single largest cause of human
         sickness and death. 
S         The World Bank lends about $1 billion per year for water supply and sanitation, and supports nearly 100 countries
         through advisory work and policy dialogue.



The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set targets to reduce by half, the number of people without sustainable access to
safe drinking water and basic sanitation by the year 2015.  In order to meet the MDGs, about 1.5 billion people will have to
be provided access to safe water and about 2 billion people will require basic sanitation between 2000 and 2015.  Collecting
and treating wastewater and essential water storage infrastructure pose a further challenge.  No more than 20 percent of
countries will achieve the MDGs if they just carry on with their current rate of new connections.  Less than 10% of the lowest
income countries are on track.

Much money is needed to build, maintain, and operate water supply and sanitation infrastructure.  But, only by coupling
increased financing with sound policies and effective institutions can service be improved and expanded.  The World Bank
provides support to developing countries to improve and expand sustainable and affordable water supply and sanitation
services.  Our support often starts with policy advice and capacity building.  Where our clients wish to proceed expeditiously
with policy implementation, this is combined with or followed by lending.  Our economy wide perspective enables us to
support both sector specific interventions and broader policies which enable sector development, such as water resource
management, municipal finance, and public health.


Many groups have an interest in the delivery of water supply and sanitation.   We engage with governments, as well as the
private sector and civil society to find practical solutions.  In many countries, water is a local responsibility.  We therefore
increasingly focus our capacity building at the local level. 

An example of our support is our work in Colombia.  Over the years, we have supported Colombia through advisory work,
capacity building, and lending.  The government of Colombia has been a pioneer in adopting sound water sector policies.  It
was among the forerunners of decentralizing responsibilities for the provision of water supply and sanitation services to local
governments, rendering institutions more closely accountable to communities.  Colombia developed its own approaches to
partner with the private sector to deliver services.  The government remained in control by introducing clear divisions of
responsibility, authority, and lines of accountability among sector institutions.

Reform was spearheaded by the larger cities, such as Cartagena and Barranquilla.  We supported these reforms through advisory support
on transactions, capacity building for local authorities, financing, and close collaborative work following contract signing.  Both
municipalities contracted out operation to a mixed company.  The mixed companies are jointly owned by the municipality, a private
operator, and local private shareholders.  The municipalities remain the owner of the infrastructure.  Reform resulted in improved water
supply and sanitation coverage (see figure).  Over eighty percent of new connections were installed in poor neighborhoods.  Services also
became more efficient and reliable.  Taps now function 24-hours-a-day.  Staffing levels were adjusted.  Unaccounted for water was
reduced.  Meters were installed.  Response time to satisfactorily address consumer complaints was dramatically reduced.

As the performance of the utilities in Cartagena and Barranquilla improved, customer satisfaction grew.  Mayors of other cities
became interested in reforming their utilities.  Their political constituents are water consumers as well.  The improvements in
Cartagena and Barranquilla proved catalytic for scaling up sector reforms.

These programs focused on large cities.  But about 30 percent of Colombians live in smaller cities and towns and another 30
percent in rural areas, where water supply and sanitation coverage lags behind.  The civil war hampers improving services in
towns and rural areas.  Recently we have partnered with the Colombian government to develop a policy to improve water and
sanitation services in smaller cities and towns.  Here, the majority of the population is poor.  Cross subsidies cannot finance
services for all.  External subsidies are needed to provide for the poor.  The new policy introduces transparent, performance
linked budget transfers from central government to municipalities.  It also promotes the contracting of small local
entrepreneurs in the water sector.  Our Colombia Water Sector Reform Assistance Project supports the government in
implementing this program.  The loan finances municipalities that meet policy and pro-poor targeting criteria to extend service
to the poor.  Initial positive results of the project show the improvements on the ground of the new policy.  Results up till now
have created a new dynamic in town water supply and sanitation, that is bound to spread and prosper over time.
 
We also support the Colombian government in developing and piloting a policy to improve water and sanitation services in
rural areas.  We hope to provide support to the rural population, once the policy development has been completed.
 
Expanded sewerage in Colombian cities and towns has improved environmental health conditions.  But it also has resulted in
untreated wastewater flowing into the water bodies.  Some rivers have turned into open sewers.  The Bank is now supporting
Colombia in finalizing a much needed National Wastewater Management Program and is preparing a loan which will support
the implementation of this program.
 
Colombia has made impressive progress in the water supply and sanitation sector.  The key to success has been the
development of homegrown solutions, and at times, skillfully adapting models used elsewhere to the particular circumstances
and culture of Colombia.  But challenges remain.  Expanding programs for cities, towns, and rural areas will require reaching
out to hundreds of municipalities that require capacity building, policy advice and financing.  We will continue to be a partner
of the Colombian government to scale up earlier achievements in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

Water Sector Reform Assistance Project