Colombia’s national planning department (DNP) will work with municipal governments to draw up a contingency plan to prevent a severe municipal water shortage by 2025, according to the government’s 2019 development vision.
Read full article one: BNamericas, [subscription site], 26 July 2010
Posted in Colombia, Financing, Sanitation, Water resources management
Ecuadorian city Guayaquil’s private water utility Interagua will launch an international tender to carry out feasibility studies for a US$120mn wastewater treatment project, the head of Interagua’s treatment division, Angela Castaño, told BNamericas.
Contact: Interagua
Tel: 593 4 2874030
Contact: oficinacentral@interagua.com.ec
Site Interagua: http://www.interagua.com.ec/
Read full article on: BNamericas, [subscription site], July 1, 2010
Posted in Ecuador, Financing, Water resources management
he Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (Prasa) has agreed to implement major capital improvements and upgrades to resolve alleged longstanding violations of the Clean Water Act at 126 drinking water plants across the island and violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act at three others, the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Tuesday. Most of the communities served by the drinking water treatment plants that will be upgraded under the agreement are in low-income communities.
The agreement, filed in federal court in the District of Puerto Rico, requires Prasa to implement measures to properly handle harmful pollution from 126 drinking water treatment plants that discharge into Puerto Rico’s lakes, rivers and streams, some of which are sources of drinking water. The work required by the agreement, when fully implemented by the public utility, is estimated to cost more than $195 million.
“Today’s settlement agreement sets the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority on a clear path to improve the infrastructure of their facilities, reduce the amount of harmful pollutants entering the environment and ultimately provide safer drinking water to the people of Puerto Rico,” said Moreno.
Prasa’s efforts to improve the water quality of either Lake Toa Vaca or both Lake Toa Vaca and Lake Cidra will address the growing amount of nutrients in the lakes, both of which are drinking water sources for portions of Puerto Rico. Increased levels of nutrients in water bodies can severely impact ecosystems and human health. As a supplemental environmental project, Prasa will set aside $2.2 million to design and construct an aeration system that will increase oxygen levels in the lakes and an additional $324,000 to operate and maintain the system. This project, when implemented, will enhance the condition of the aquatic ecosystem and restore the water quality of the lakes. A supplemental environmental project is an environmentally-beneficial project that a violator voluntarily agrees to undertake in a settlement and one the violator would not otherwise be required to perform.
Source: Caribbean Businesspr.com, 4 May 2010.
Trinidad & Tobago’s water and sewerage authority (WASA) is considering a clampdown on bottled water companies in the light of the drought affecting the country. If the water shortage worsens, WASA will suspend water extraction from wells used by bottled water firms
Read full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 18 Mar 2010
Nicaragua’s congressional environment and natural resources committee has approved the creation of the national water authority (ANA) in 2010. ANA will be a decentralised organization, with administrative and financial autonomy, with responsibility for drawing up a national water resources plan, monitoring water basin levels in basins and maintaining a public registry of water rights.
Read full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 25 Jan 2010
Posted in Governance, Nicaragua, Policy & legislation, Water resources management
Tagged water authorities
Peru’s agriculture ministry (Minag) was expected to publish the country’s new water resources regulations by the end of January 2010. Peru’s new water law, approved by congress last March, guarantees water as a human right that cannot be bought or used as private property. It also mandates the creation of 14 decentralised water basin organizations (AAAs), partially funded by World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loans.
Read full article on: : BNamericas.com [subscription site], 20 Jan 2010
Mexico’s national water authority Conagua has opened a water bank in Sinaloa state. The bank is the fourth in the country, and aims to regulate the acquisition and transfer of water rights in the state.
Read the full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 27 Nov 2009
Up to 40% of residents of Honduran capital Tegucigalpa may have to evacuate the city if urgent measures are not taken to combat the area’s severe potable water shortage, according to national water authority Sanaa.
The current water supply is insufficient to meet the capital’s needs, and the problem will only worsen as the rainy season is not expected to start until May 30, [2010].
Read the full article in BNamericas.com [subscription site], 17 Dec 2009
Chile’s water and sanitation service authority SISS (Superintendencia de Servicios Sanitarios) has received an award from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for the success of its reforms and water management program, which have been implemented over the last decade.
The award was delivered by IDB president Luis Alberto Moreno and the president of the Femsa foundation, José Antonio Fernández to SISS head Magaly Espinosa in Mexico city on November 16, during the IWA Development Congress.
Related web site: Chile – Superintendencia de Servicios Sanitarios
Read the full article in a href=”http://www.bnamericas.com/content_print.jsp?id=498532&idioma=I§or=4&type=NEWS”>BNamericas.com [subscription site], 18 Nov 2009
Business News Americas – Water & Waste
