Colombia: Government aims to modernize 1,500 small water, sewerage utilities in 2009

Colombia’s environment ministry is offering technical assistance, training and software to small and rural municipalities to create and strengthen potable water and sanitation utilities. The objective is to improve business efficiency to ensure better services and, in some cases, a decrease in water rates.

The initial phases of this project, including its design and pilot programs, were launched previously and 98 utilities have already been created. [...] The ministry has identified a further 1,114 utilities which will receive assistance. [...] The modernization of small utilities is part of a long-term plan being carried out by the government with technical assistance from the Andean Development Corporation (CAF).

The ministry expects to carry out a 2.75bn-peso (US$1.25mn) investment in H1 [first half of 2009] to create 56 new utilities and strengthen 120 firms in small towns and rural areas. Authorities will also evaluate 500 small communities to determine their needs. Overall, the government aims to modernize 1,500 small utilities throughout the country to the benefit of some 4mn inhabitants in rural areas as part of the 2.2tn-peso investment in departmental water plans.

In the period 2007-2010 Colombia plans to invest US$4.5bn to raise urban potable water coverage from 97.4% to 98.5%, rural potable water coverage to 75.1% from 68.6%; urban sewerage coverage from 90.2% to 94.5% , rural sewerage coverage from 57.9% to 65.5%, and wastewater treatment levels from 8% to 30%. Of this amount, US$543mn will go to rural water and sanitation projects.

Local entities will provide US$842mn for the projects, while US$1.8bn will be covered by the Sistema General de Participaciones (SGP) Agua, or general revenue sharing system for water issues. Water utilities will contribute US$1.4bn and the national budget will cover US$541mn.

By 2019 the government Colombian authorities are aiming to provide 100% coverage in potable water and sewerage services in urban areas and 82.2% in rural areas.

Source: Business News Americas [subscription site] – 09 Jan 2009 ; 01 Oct 2008 ; 29 Sep 2008

Ecuador: Texaco Toxic Past Haunts Chevron as Judgment Looms

Photo: ChevronToxico

[...] About 230,000 people live in Ecuador’s northeastern rain forest side by side with oil wells and pools of drilling waste [left behind over a period of 40 years by] Texaco Inc. and Ecuador’s state-run oil company, PetroEcuador.

[The pollution has caused] one of the worst environmental and human health disasters in the Amazon basin [and] depending on how an Ecuadorean judge rules in a lawsuit [it could result in] the costliest corporate ecological catastrophe in world history.

If the judge follows the recommendation of a court- appointed panel of experts, he could order Chevron Corp., which now owns Texaco, to pay as much as $27 billion in damages.

[F]or for a quarter of a century, until 1990, Texaco discharged 16 billion gallons of wastewater that’s a byproduct of drilling. [..] From 1990 until 2007, government-owned PetroEcuador released wastewater into the environment.

[...] In November [2008], a team of engineers, doctors and biologists submitted a court-ordered report concluding that Texaco’s pollution had caused 2,091 cases of cancer among residents and led to 1,401 deaths from 1985 to 1998.

The panel had previously concluded that Texaco polluted streams and drinking water in a 4,972- square-kilometer area and caused economic and social damage to people who live near the wells.

Update : Chevron has to contest the claims in the Nueva Loja court of justice on 11 February 2009. Chevron spokesman James Craig said, the company was concerned about President Rafael Correa’s political interference [Source: BNamericas (subscription site), 05 Feb 2009]

Related web sites: ChevronToxico – Clean Up Ecuador Campaign ; Chevron Ecuador

Read more: Michael Smith and Karen Gullo, Bloomberg, 30 Dec 2008

PERUSAN 2008 “Proposals for Sustainable Sanitation” Launches

Approximately 1,200 people attended the opening ceremony of the First Peruvian Conference on Sanitation, PERUSAN 2008. The conference, “Proposals for Sustainable Sanitation,” is an initiative led by the Ministry of Housing, Construction, and Sanitation, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of the Environment. The international cooperation agencies forming part of the Grupo Agua support this initiative through proposals for specific sanitation activities.

Minister of Housing, Construction and Sanitation Enrique Cornejo, Environmental Minister Antonio Brack, and Health Minister Oscar Ugarte led the opening ceremony.

During the ceremony, the housing minister reported that US$2.5 billion had been invested in water and sanitation projects nationwide. “Sanitation means dignity for individuals and families,” he said.

PERUSAN 2008 was held in Lima from 25-27 November.

Official Conference Website

Source: WSP, 03 Dec 2008