IDB and FEMSA Foundation award Water and Sanitation Prize to innovative service operators

Service operators and public officials from Mexico, Nicaragua, Brazil and Colombia were recognized for innovative contributions to water and sanitation by the Inter-American Development Bank and FEMSA Foundation during the 2010 World Water Week congress in Stockholm.

Federico Basañes, chief the IDB’s Water and Sanitation Division, and Genaro Borrego Estrada, Director of Corporate Affairs for FEMSA, awarded the second edition of the Water and Sanitation Prize, which was inaugurated [in 2009] with the goal of recognizing outstanding contributions to the challenge of providing sustainable and accessible water and sanitation services in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Servicios de Agua y Drenaje de Monterrey, Mexico, received the award for water management in recognition of its successful strategy to voluntarily reduce consumption and encourage conservation of water over the last 20 years.

The Government of the State of Amazonas, Brazil, received the award for sanitation management in recognition of the results of the Programa Socioambiental dos Igarapés de Manaus (PROSAMIM), which implemented an integrated solution to water, sanitation and housing problems in low-income communities in the city of Manaos.

Aguas de Cartagena, Colombia, received a special mention for its success in the commercial management of accounts in low-income districts.

Empresa Nicaraguense de Aqueductos y Alcantarillados (ENACAL)also received a special mention for the construction and operation of a waste-water treatment plant in the city of Managua.

Representatives from each of the four awardees gave presentations describing the recognized project or initiative as part of “Latin America Day” at World Water Week, considered the largest international congress specializing in this sector.

The winners, as well as the recipients of special mentions, will receive scholarships financed by the FEMSA Foundation [to] send water and sanitation professionals to the Centro del Agua para América Latina y el Caribe (CAALCA), a specialized training and research institution jointly created by the IDB, FEMSA and Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Source: IDB, 07 Sep 2010

Nicaragua: Enacal requesting US$5.78mn for sanitation

Nicaraguan national water and sewerage utility Enacal needs to invest some 120mn córdobas (US$5.78mn) to repair and remodel 25 wastewater treatment plants throughout the country in 2010. The repairs and upgrades are required to avoid a collapse of the sanitation system in several departments.

Read the full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 16 Dec 2009

Nicaragua: Spain provides US$12mn loan for Boaco waterworks

Nicaraguan national water and sewerage utility Enacal has received a US$12mn loan from the Spanish government to improve potable water and sewerage conditions in Boaco department’s capital of the same name/ Potable water works include construction of an 187,000m3 reservoir, a wastewater treatment plant with a capacity to treat 117l/s, and a 1,050m pipeline connecting the plant to storage tanks.

Read the full article on BNamericas.com [subscription site], 07 Dec 2009

Nicaragua, Juigalpa: Enacal begins phase II of US$40mn potable water project

Nicaraguan national water and sewerage utility Enacal has started work on the second phase of a unique US$40mn potable water project for Chontales department capital Juigalpa. It is the first time water has been taken from lake Cocibolca, which is the second largest lake in Latin America.

Read the full article on BNamericas.com [subscription site], Nov 2009

Nicaragua, Managua: World Bank to finance US$30mn water project

The World Bank (WB) is to finance a US$30mn project to install pipelines in the driest areas of Nicaraguan capital Managua. The project, announced by national water and sewerage utility Enacal, seeks to solve the city’s water supply problem by installing potable water and sewerage systems in 36 locations, mainly in districts five and six.

Enacal executive president Ruth Selma Herrera said that WB is donating US$15mn for the project, and will lend Enacal the rest of the money at an interest rate of 1%, to be repaid over 30 years. The project will begin in 2010 and will benefit some 60,000 residents.

Managua’s mayor Daysi Torres Torres said the municipality will support Enacal throughout the project, including an ongoing awareness campaign to teach people not to dump trash in streams and streets.

Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 27 Aug 2009

Nicaragua: Govt, Spain spending US$11.5mn on Boaco water, sewerage project

The Nicaraguan and Spanish governments will jointly invest 8.5mn euros (US$11.5mn) to carry out a potable water and sewerage project in the former country’s Boaco municipality. [The] potable water distribution grid and a storage tank [will be completed first at a cost of ] 5.5mn euros [followed by] the sewerage component [which will cost] of 3mn euros. Expected to be completed in 18 months, works are scheduled to start in June [2009] and be [carried out] by national water utility Enacal. The project will benefit 35,000 residents.

Source: BNamericas [subscription site], 14 May 2009

Nicaragua: Germany to provide US$20mn for Granada potable water, sewerage project

The German government will contribute US$20mn in non-reimbursable funds to support a project aimed at improving Nicaraguan city Granada’s potable water and sewerage system. [...] The project is expected to benefit 200,000 people and help stop the contamination of Cocibolca lake, the country’s main reservoir.

Works are expected to start in September [2009]. National water utility Enacal will carry out the project, which will be funded through German development bank KfW, the report said.

Source: BNamericas [subscription site], 21 Apr 2009

Nicaragua: Environmental committee debating water decentralisation bill

The environmental and natural resources committee of the Nicaraguan congress has started debating a bill aimed at [giving]  communal potable water and sewerage committees (CAPS) [...]  legal authority to manage financing from national and international entities for maintenance and improvement of potable water systems.  Additionally, the entities would receive technical support from national water utility Enacal.

Comisión de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales

Source: BNamericas [subscription site], 30 Apr 2009 ; Asamblea Nacional [in Spanish], 29 Apr 2009