The Development of an Integrated Water Management Plan for the Tomine Catchment, Colombia. Master Thesis by Chris Holtslag MASTER'S PROGRAMME IN INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY Delft University of Technology & Leiden University August 2011 Supervisors: Maarten Siebel, UNESCO-IHE Gijsbert Korevaar, Delft University of Technology
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The Development of an Integrated Water Management Plan for the Tomine
Catchment, Colombia.
Master Thesis by Chris Holtslag
MASTER'S PROGRAMME IN INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY
Delft University of Technology & Leiden University
August 2011
Supervisors:
Maarten Siebel, UNESCO-IHE
Gijsbert Korevaar, Delft University of Technology
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag ii
Preface My interest in developing countries and thinking about elemental problems, has led me to seek a
graduation topic that could take me abroad and let me put Industrial Ecology to practice. I found this
in Delft where UNESCO-IHE deals with all the sustainability aspects regarding water. One the projects
of UNESCO-IHE is called SWITCH – ‘Managing Water for the City of the Future’, an action research
program with partners in more than 15 countries. One of the cities involved is Bogotá, the capital of
Colombia. I was able to take part in the research team based at the National University of Colombia
(UNAL), in the Institute of Environmental Studies (IDEA) making this water project the subject of my
master thesis.
The master program Industrial Ecology looks at the current problems the world is facing and tries to
tackle unsustainability with a system’s perspective and a multi-disciplinary approach. Many of the
worlds current problems be it energy, poverty, development or climate change, are related to water.
During my study I became more and more convinced that sustainable water management is a basic
condition for sustainable development.
The UNESCO-IHE is an institute that attracts people from all countries that want to learn more about
solving water-related problems. I wanted to do my Msc thesis on the subject but first wanted a more
hands-on experience in an institute with this special focus. I was able to do an internship at UNESCO-
IHE with professor Maarten Siebel, and learned about a project in Colombia. This SWITCH project
focused on the Bogotá River and looked at ways to reduce its pollution from effluents of tanneries
that were dumped in the river upstream. A second project was initiated focusing on a region
upstream of Bogotá, the Tominé catchment. The idea was to make an analysis of the problems in the
current water management system which could be used to further develop an integrated water
management plan. In Colombia I was part of the research team that made this analysis, and at the
same time could use this experience as the subject of this MSc thesis.
I want to thank: Maarten Siebel, Gijsbert Korevaar, Mónica Sanz, Tania Santos, Claudia Casallas,
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... iii
List of figures ....................................................................................................................................... vi
List of tables ....................................................................................................................................... vii
Glossary ............................................................................................................................................. viii
List of acronyms................................................................................................................................... ix
There are three different types of WRA (Table 2.3). Creating an IWRM plan for the catchment has
never been done before and work on this is still in an early stage. Not all problems have been
identified by all stakeholders and there was no complete assessment of data on catchment level
before the Tominé project. The Rapid WRA was chosen because it most suited the needs for the
stakeholders and can serve as the basis for further problem-focused or comprehensive assessments
in the future.
Table 2.3. Different types of Water Resources Assessments (adapted from EMPOWERS 2006).
Rapid Problem-focused Comprehensive
Initial identification of priority problems
Focused on an individual problem or a group of problems. Usually follows on from a light water resource assessment.
Aimed at developing a comprehensive water-related information base that covers all water related issues with a given area of interest.
Initial assessment of relatively easily accessible quality-controlled secondary data. Primary data collection restricted to gap filling.
Detailed assessment of quality controlled secondary data with additional primary data collected if necessary.
Comprehensive consolidation, quality control and assessment of secondary data. Primary data to fill gaps and, in some cases, as part of a long-term M&E program.
Secondary data, and rapid appraisal techniques for collecting societal information.
Targeted rapid or participatory appraisal techniques for collecting information that is specific to problems.
Participatory appraisal techniques for collecting societal information, and detailed measurement of physical.
Initial assessment of causes of problems.
Detailed assessment of root causes of individual problems
Detailed assessment of root causes of problems, linkages between problems and externalities that influence water availability and use.
The objectives of the Rapid WRA are (Table 2.3); identifying priority problems, collecting and
assessing data about water resources and societal issues, and get an initial assessment of the causes
of problems. The most useful tools to organize this data are (EMPOWERS 2007):
1. For the water resources; the Resources, Infrastructure, Demand & Access (RIDA) framework.
2. For the societal information; the Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Knowledge Systems or
RAAKS Methodology (Engel et al. 1997).
The outputs of the RIDA framework and the RAAKS Methodology are (GIS) maps with important
infrastructure related to water, water information sheets with numbers on water like demand and
access, and insights in the needs and views of the local population, their views of the problems they
face and a list of key stakeholders whose involvement is indispensible for the success of any IWRM
project. This way of organizing and presenting data can lead to new insights as to identifying priority
problems and their causes.
Stakeholder Dialogue and Concerted Action “Well informed stakeholders who communicate effectively with each other on a regular basis will
find locally appropriate solutions to pressing water related problems.”, (EMPOWERS 2007).
Stakeholder Dialogue and Concerted Action or SDCA assumes that if the stakeholders are known,
they can be brought together and discuss their problems and views. Usually a facilitation team is
needed to help improve the dialogue between levels, especially from the local level to the
intermediate level. The poor are often in need of assistance in voicing their needs. The dialogue
between levels helps to coordinate actions of the stakeholders and allows them to solve problems
more effectively than if they were to address them alone. The stakeholder platform is sometimes
also referred to as a ‘Learning Alliance’ (SWITCH 2006).
15 Background
The role of the facilitation team is envisioned as follows (EMPOWERS 2007): In the initial phase,
when the stakeholders are new to the approach, they require intensive facilitation, which can last up
to 12 months or until the planning phase has been completed. In the second phase, the team gives
lower level support in cases problems arise, and makes sure the stakeholders are on track with the
process of IWRM.
Figure 2.6. Typical stakeholders in water governance. The process facilitation team enhances communication and dialogue within and between stakeholders platforms at different institutional levels (adapted from EMPOWERS 2007).
In the process of SDCA, as shown in Figure 2.6, stakeholders from different levels are guided by a
facilitation team. One of the most important first steps in increasing the dialogue between the
stakeholders and coordination their actions is the creation of a stakeholder platform or the learning
alliance which can consist of multiple platforms for the different levels of stakeholders. Establishing
this calls for effort from both the stakeholders and the facilitation team. The objective of creating
this platform is improved communication between stakeholders and is continuous.
Ideally, a team consists of experts with topic expertise of different scientific fields and at least one
person with skills like project management, facilitation and participatory approaches. The team
should be impartial and try to gain the trust of the stakeholders and know about the problems and
issues that play.
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 16
3 Methods
3.1 RIDA The RIDA framework was used to structure the Rapid Water Resources Assessment of the Tominé
Catchment. Table 3.1 shows the questions that were asked for each part of t the data gathering
methods are presented in (EMPOWERS 2006).
Table 3.1. The RIDA Framework and assessment methods.
Resources Infrastructure Demand & Access
What is the quantity/quality of water available?
What is the design supply capacity of the network?
How much water do people get every day? How much water would people LIKE to get/ be willing to pay for?
Are there issues with variability?
How much water is supplied /put into the system?
How reliable is the supply? Is the quality acceptable?
What is the licensed/permitted limit to abstraction?
What is the quantity/proportion of unaccounted for water?
Are there major differences in the access of different user groups?
Who are the main actors/institutions involved in water resource management?
What are the key institutions involved in managing water supply?
What are the key institutions involved in managing access to the supply?
Gathering Information from:
Hydrological data Expert opinion Reports, etc. Key informant interviews
Interviews with plumbers Plans Reports, etc. Meter readings (from treatment works) Records & Estimates
Water meter reading; Water use diary Social mapping; Household water use surveys Focus group discussions Household discussions Water quality testing Social mapping
Water Balance Estimation The first thing that was done was a Water Balance Estimation. It gives insight in the available
resources, especially rainwater. Water resources are given in the hydrological unit of this study, the
Tominé catchment. The estimation is based on the fact that water does not disappear, but either
flows out of the catchment or evaporates (changing state). It uses a simple equation like:
P = Q + E ± ΔS
Where P is the precipitation, Q is the runoff, E is the evaporation and ΔS is the difference in
groundwater recharge. The estimation was performed on the entire catchment.
Data Collection Process The data was gathered from the available literature and verified in interviews with public service
officers and local plumbers. The data availability was influenced by the incompleteness or absence of
some documents, the willingness to cooperate or difficulties in getting in touch with local water
board presidents.
3.2 RAAKS stakeholder identification Guiding questions from the RAAKS (Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Knowledge Systems) Methodology
(Engel et al. 1997) were used:
What actors (organizations, groups, and individuals) are relevant in the water sector of the
specific geographical area of the case study?
What are the interests/objectives of these actors? Is there a shared objective?
17 Methods
What are the main problems you think each of these actors perceives?
Who can be seen as the key actors and who should not?
What are actual information flows among actors? What relevant information/knowledge
networks do the actors already utilize? In what areas?
The result of answering these questions is a list of key actors and a better view of which stakeholders
could work together effectively. This initial analysis will give a first impression of who the relevant
stakeholders are and how they stand in relation to the other stakeholders. An initial assessment of
the information flows between stakeholders was done, using information from interviews with civil
servants, urban and rural citizens of the three municipalities and an employee of CORPOGUAVIO. The
information presented in the results chapter needs to be verified in workshops with the stakeholders
and all should agree that the relationships are properly illustrated.
A more elaborate analysis should be done if the project goes into the planning phase, where it is
important for all stakeholders to know their tasks, roles and responsibility in the project.
3.3 Evaluation of the role of the facilitation team The evaluation of the performance of the facilitation/research team for this thesis was done by
comparing the actual performance of the team and execution of the research of the author in
Colombia to the ideal performance, role and outputs according to the above stated EMPOWERS
guidelines. The outputs of this comparison are lessons learned which a future facilitation/research
team can use to be more effective in their tasks.
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 18
4 Results The results have been organized as follows: First the rapid water resources assessment is presented
starting with the entire catchment and then zooming in on each municipality, both the urban and
rural data are presented, highlighting priority problems. Next the stakeholder analysis is shown,
identifying key stakeholders and possible cooperation connections. Finally, a view on the way the
initial assessment project was run in Colombia and the role the research team played, is presented.
4.1 Water Resources Assessment
Water resources of the Tominé catchment The precipitation shows a bi-modal pattern with peaks around May and October. The average yearly
precipitation is around 907 mm (IDEAM 2010). The inter-annual variability of the precipitation is
shown by Figure 4.1, the Guatavita weather station, a central point in the catchment. Figure 4.2
shows the average monthly precipitation and evapotranspiration. The evapotranspiration data
however was only available from the Guatavita weather station.
Figure 4.1 Average annual rainfall at the Guatavita station 1968-2008 (IDEAM 2010)
Figure 4.2 Average monthly precipitation and evapotranspiration in the Tominé catchment (IDEAM 2010)
Table 4.1 Average monthly temperature, precipitation and evaporation data of the Tominé catchment from 1982 to 2009 (IDEAM 2010)
Month jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug sep oct nov dec Total
Surface water Average annual runoff mm 297 JICA - 2003
Achury Canal m3/yr 109.300.000
Total outflows catchment m3/yr 495.990.000
Priority Problems
San Francisco Stream
The urban area of Guatavita, the rural water boards Carbonera Alta & Baja and some rural areas in
Sesquilé depend on the San Francisco Stream for their drinking water. However, according to the
digital elevation maps and other available cartography, the stream is not part of the catchment. This
makes it an external inflow source coming from another catchment (Figure 4.4). The exact amount of
water entering the catchment from this inflow is unknown. The data shown in Table 4.2 is an
estimation based on the production of water for the urban area of Guatavita only, which were only
available in L/s, and does not include the other levels of extraction. It has been reported that in dry
periods the discharge of the stream is severely reduced.
Untreated black water
An unknown amount of untreated black water is entering the reservoir, coming from around 2000
households. The main source is the urban area of Guasca, which has no WWTP and discharges its
black water in the Siecha River, which enters the southern part of the reservoir. This could be a
threat to the water supply of the urban area of Sesquilé because a large part of its water resources
comes from the Achury Canal, through which water leaves Tominé Reservoir into the Bogotá River.
Groundwater
The two available studies that mention groundwater levels of the catchment listed in Table 4.2 (JICA
2009 & Ingeominas 1990), present very different values. The groundwater value affects the water
21 Results
balance estimation significantly, but it does not affect the water resources available to the
inhabitants of the municipalities as groundwater extraction barely takes place.
Water quality issues
The water quality of the reservoir is being monitored by Emgesa by order of the MAVDT (MAVDT
2008). Several studies have shown that the levels of phosphorous and BOD values are very high in
the southern end of the reservoir entering through the Siecha River (CIIA 2007 & Daphnia 2010). The
factors that could be contributing to these water quality issues are: raw sewage, agrochemicals like
fertilizers and pesticides and erosion causing excessive sediments to enter the reservoir. Figure 4.5
shows the aquatic plant growth in the south end of the reservoir, believed to be the West Indian
spongeplant or Limnobium laevigatum. It is being removed by Emgesa, by order of the ministry of
environment (MAVDT 2008).
Figure 4.5 Aquatic plant growth in the southern part of the Tominé reservoir. (Source: Daphnia 2010)
Sesquilé
Figure 4.6 Town square of Sesquilé (photo by author)
Sesquilé is the northernmost municipality of the catchment and lies downstream of the others.
Figure 4.7 is a map of Sesquilé showing the water intakes, treatment plants and roads in the
municipality, as well as the urban area and surrounding rural veredas. Figure 4.8 shows a schematic
of the urban water system. Two of the sources are streams which feed the WTPs by gravity; Q. Olvido
and Q. Santafereña, and the remainder of the water demand is met by pumping water out of the
Achury Canal, which connects the Tominé Reservoir with the Bogota River. The urban water supply
grid also supplies water to neighboring rural area of Boitá, but this area does not have a sewer
system or wastewater treatment infrastructure.
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 22
Figure 4.7 Water infrastructure in Sesquilé
Figure 4.8 Water system scheme of the urban area of Sesquilé
Table 4.3 shows the data that was gathered from the urban area of Sesquilé in the RIDA format,
starting with demand & access, the infrastructure and finally resources. The data was obtained from
records of the office of public services and plans concerning the municipality.
23 Results
Table 4.3 Water information summary sheet of Sesquilé
WISS Sesquilé
Unit 2010 2020 Source/Notes
De
man
d &
Acc
ess
Domestic Population # 2884 4.118 DANE 2010
Domestic water demand l/c/d 120 120
Domestic water demand m3/yr 126.678 180.368
Average Actual use l/c/d 120 120 Actual use total /365/population*1000
Actual use total m3/yr 126.678 180.368 meter records 2010
Range of actual water use l/c/d
households on network % 100 100 The municipality has recently taken over a rural water board. This might influence this number.
households unserved % 0 0
Satisfaction % ? ?
Commercial Actual use total m3/yr 8004 meter records 2010
Agroindustrial Actual use total m3/yr 3012 meter records 2010
Special Actual use total m3/yr 1392 meter records 2010
Official Actual use total m3/yr 13374 meter records 2010
Total water use m3/yr 152.460
Total Water demand m3/yr 152.460
Infr
astr
uct
ure
Domestic Planned per capita supply l/c/d ? ?
supply capacity before losses
m3/yr 186.624 PMAA 2009 Sesquilé
Average losses % 26
actual supply after losses m3/yr 137.820 PMAA 2009 Sesquilé
Total capacity after losses m3/yr
Total capacity before losses m3/yr
wastewater treatment
Type WWTP Capacity of 6 LPS (PMAA 2009)
access or coverage % 77 818 households WWTP; 400 hh no sewer connection
Re
sou
rce
Rainfall Average annual rainfall mm 713 713
rainfall over Sesquilé area m3/yr
Springs Average annual yield m3/yr -
acceptable water quality %
Groundwater average sustainable yield m3/yr -
acceptable water quality %
Surface water Average annual availability m3/yr ? Availability more than halves if the canal sluices close.
acceptable water quality % 50 Water from the Achury Canal is not treatable by the WTP if the sluices are closed.
Rainwater harvesting
Average annual availability m3/yr 71442 102030 based on households with an average roof size of 100 m2 (1002 in 2010; 1431 in 2020)
Total m3/yr
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 24
Water resources
Sesquilé has the least amount of water intakes and streams of the catchment, as it lies downstream
of the other two municipalities. Sesquilé pumps water from the Achury Canal (Figure 4.9) to a WTP
that produces potable water for the urban area and a few surrounding rural areas. During times of
drought the extraction of the canal is increased. Rural areas have more trouble in times of drought as
they do not have pumping equipment and are dependent on small streams or sometimes even
springs. These have been reported to dry out sometimes.
Figure 4.9 Water intake from the Achury Canal for the WTP of Sesquilé.
The main actors and institutions involved in the water resource management are the Energy
Company of Bogotá (EEB) which controls the Achury Canal and operates the sluices and the CAR
Cundinamarca which provides technical and financial support for the infrastructure and gives out
water extraction licenses & limits for both the urban water sources as well as the rural water intakes.
However there is a lack of transparency regarding the distribution of water extraction licenses. Some
rural water board presidents feel deforestation is affecting the water resources negatively in
Sesquilé.
Urban water supply
The current supply capacity will not be able to supply the future demand of the urban area, as
demographic projections show a 40% increase in population in ten years’ time. The supply capacity of
Sesquilé is currently just enough to provide water for the urban area and a few connected rural areas
under normal circumstances. It is estimated the losses of the supply system are around 26%. During
normal conditions the daily use is around 120 l/c/d (Table 4.3) , but when water is rationed, people
have to make do with less, which has proven not always to be easy. In the urban area, 400
households have no sewer connection, and this wastewater is entering the Achury Canal directly. The
access to a water and sewer connection in the urban area is managed by the office of public services,
and in the rural area the rural water boards have this responsibility.
The current infrastructure cannot cope well with periods of drought and the closing of the Achury
Canal sluices. The WTP of Sesquilé is not designed to treat still standing water, which happens if the
sluices are closed. The water quality of the canal is influenced negatively by both wastewater from
the other municipalities and Sesquilés own wastewater from 400 households as their wastewater is
not connected to the WWTP. In December 2010 and January 2011 the sluices had to be closed and
the water quality in the canal was not acceptable, as the WTP could not guarantee that the water
would be potable. In addition, the combined sewer is not able to deal with periods of increased
25 Results
precipitation, as the amount of water often exceeds the treatment capacity. The main actor
responsible for the supply management of water in the urban area is the office of public services of
the town council as they maintain the infrastructure and do the administration around the network,
including metering, billing, etc.. For the rural areas these are the acueductos veredales, the rural
water boards. They usually have one president to do the administration and a local plumber to do
the maintenance of the water system.
Rural water supply
Poor rural communities like El Hato or Espigas (see Table 4.3) have no or bad water supply and
storage infrastructure. If the springs dry up, they have no alternative, and since no or little water is
stored, they depend on the help of the town council to supply them water. The Other rural water
boards are better organized and do have WTPs and storage tanks. Information like meter records
about water supply, demand, use or storage capacity is scarce. 76.5% of the 13 water boards in
Sesquilé have no WTP and drink untreated water (PDM Sesquilé 2008).
Demand & Access
Rural areas have even more trouble as some don’t have a reliable water source and no money to buy
infrastructure like storage tanks. If the dry period lasts very long the town council sends water trucks
to the affected areas, however this is costly. It is obvious that the poorer communities have more
trouble in times of drought than other rural areas.
Guatavita Guatavita lies between Sesquilé and Guasca and has the poorest population of the three
municipalities. The urban areas main water source is the San Francisco Stream (Figure 4.12), the
water intake of which lies outside the catchment boundary (Figure 4.11). This intake was constructed
in the 1960s when the new Guatavita was built. At that time the San Francisco Stream had a very
large discharge. Now, due to water scarcity in dry months, a new water intake in the Corales stream
has been constructed and is used to meet the water demand for the urban area.
Figure 4.10 Street of Guatavita (photo by author)
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 26
Figure 4.11 Water infrastructure in Guatavita
Figure 4.12 Water system scheme of the urban area of Guatavita
27 Results
Table 4.4 Water information summary sheet of Guatavita
WISS Guatavita: Urban Area
Unit 2010 2020 Source/Notes
De
man
d &
Acc
ess
Domestic Population # 1866 2.025 DANE 2010
Domestic water demand l/c/d 150 150 Target set by Town council
Domestic water demand m3/yr 102.164 110.869
Average actual use l/c/d 563 ? Actual use total m3/yr 383.250 ?
Range of actual water use l/c/d
-
There is as of yet no water metering at the household level. The goal is to implement this in 2011.
households on network % 100 100
households unserved % 0 0
satisfaction % ? ?
Total water use m3/yr 383.250 - Actual supply after losses
Total water demand m3/yr 102.164 110.869
Infr
astr
uct
ure
Domestic Planned per capita supply l/c/d
supply capacity before losses
m3/yr 547500 avg. production of 1500 m3 potable water/day ( "PTAP - Guatavita, Diagnostico y propuesta de optimización")
Average losses % 30 "PTAP - Guatavita, Diagnostico y propuesta de optimización"
actual supply after losses m3/yr 383.250
Total capacity after losses
m3/yr ?
Total capacity before losses
m3/yr ?
wastewater treatment
type WWTP & septic tanks
access or coverage % 97 536 households WWTP; 15 hh septic tanks; 20 hh no treatment
Re
sou
rce
Rainfall Average annual rainfall mm 893 893
rainfall over Sesquilé area m3/yr
Springs Average annual yield m3/yr -
acceptable water quality %
Groundwater average sustainable yield m3/yr -
acceptable water quality %
Surface water
Average annual availability
m3/yr ? Availability is drastically reduced during dry periods
acceptable water quality % 75 100 Some water quality issues have occurred with sediments.
Rainwater harvesting
Average annual availability
m3/yr 111714 121269 based on households with an average roof size of 100 m2 (1251 in 2010; 1358 in 2020)
Total m3/yr
Resource
Although Guatavita is less affected than Sesquilé, it too faces water shortages in the dry months. The
municipality draws on the San Francisco stream which, while in the wet periods has ample water,
nearly dries up in the dry months. When the new Guatavita was designed, also the potable water
system had to be redesigned. The San Francisco stream was chosen as the main water capture,
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 28
because in that time it was an abundant stream. The office of public services has resorted to an
alternative stream, the Corales Stream, but the initially built piping infrastructure is not sufficient to
meet the demand. It is however not seen as a priority by the mayor who can decide to invest in a
new pipeline.
The drying up of the San Francisco stream is not only a problem for the urban area of Guatavita, but
also for the users downstream of the intake in Sesquilé. The rural areas are also affected by the dry
months. Water quality is also an issue in this municipality; A lot of sedimentation and agrochemicals
have been reported to be present in the water. To counter this, WTP managers see the need to add
excess amount of flocculants and chemicals to the water, not always yielding good results.
There are two main actors involved in water resource management. The first is CAR Cundinamarca,
which gives out licenses for water extraction to the urban area and the rural water boards. The
second is the town council and the mayor, for he can ultimately decide in what areas investments
should be made regarding water infrastructure. In Guatavita it the service utilities have become a
political issue.
The urban area of Guatavita is extracting more water from their source than they have a license for
and a lot of illegal connections have been made by farmers. Some of these happened when the
connection was being made and if the water pipes crossed the land of some farmer, he demanded a
free connection. Unfortunately, CAR Cundinamarca is not very active in the region concerning
reinforcement of the rules resulting in a lack of coordinated management of the water resources in
the whole municipality.
Infrastructure
The rural water boards of Guatavita have less infrastructure, meters and records of all sorts than in
the neighboring municipalities. Table 4.4 shows that none of the rural water boards have (working)
potable water treatment (interviews & PUEAA Guatavita 2008). In the downstream areas agricultural
pesticides in the water are regarded as the biggest problem and in the other areas the main
problems are sediments.
It is suspected that the water losses of the urban water supply system are very high. It has been
reported there are a number of (semi)illegal connections, mostly farmers. They do not pay for their
water and their use is not monitored so it is unknown how much they really use. Secondly, although
micro-meters in the urban households have been installed, they are not being used. This means the
office of public services doesn’t know how much people are using, as they only pay a fixed tariff. It
has been estimated by different sources that the water supply losses are between 30 – 60%
(Guatavita 2009).
The sewer system is a combined system and also receives rainwater. In times of heavy rainfall, the
WTP cannot handle all the water and discharges it untreated to the Tominé reservoir.
The office of public services is responsible for the management of urban water supply. They
administer the money and a plumber maintains the treatment plants. For the rural areas the
acueductos veredales are responsible for the maintenance and operation of the water infrastructure.
29 Results
Demand & Access
The initial assessment indicates that the actual use of the citizens is quite low. It is unknown how
much citizens are able or willing to pay. It is a poorer community than the other two municipalities. It
is certain that the costs are not evenly distributed and that not everyone is paying what they should.
Within the rural areas there are big differences in access to clean water; generally the more
downstream veredas have the lowest quality water, often untreated.
In the urban area 20 households have no connection to the WWTP due to the geography of the area.
They do have a sewer system but this leads directly to the Tominé reservoir. Most rural citizens have
septic tanks, these are either self-built or pre-fabricated.
The CAR Cundinamarca is the institution that gives out the water extraction licenses and so also
determines who has access in the rural areas. The execution in the urban area is again the office of
public services and in the rural areas the rural water boards. They can connect new people to water
supply network. However there are an unknown number of illegal connections. They manage their
own access, often affecting the demand of other citizens downstream.
Priority Problems
Water quality issues, sedimentation and (agro)chemicals in the potable water.
Lack of coordination in relation to water resources, a lot of illegal water intakes.
Large water losses in the entire system of water supply.
No metering at the household level and appropriate payment for use.
Over extraction and unregulated intakes in the San Francisco stream is fueling a conflict
between Guatavita and Sesquilé.
Opportunities
Rainwater harvesting has the potential to meet 100% of the current and future urban water
demand.
Capacitation of the population about water use, costs and general awareness raising can
speed up the process of change.
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 30
Guasca Guasca is the southernmost municipality of the Tominé catchment, and has the largest area. It
contains the largest tributaries to the reservoir, the Siecha and Aves River. It has an abundant
amount of streams from which water can be extracted. The main water intake for the urban area is
in the Chipatá River (Figure 4.16). Rural water boards have several WTPs (Figure 4.15), but there is
still no working WWTP (Figure 4.14).
Figure 4.13 Water tanks on houses in Guasca. (photo by author)
Figure 4.14 Unfinished WWTP of Guasca December 2010. (photo by author)
31 Results
Figure 4.15 Water Infrastructure of Guasca.
Figure 4.16 Water system scheme of the urban area of Guasca
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 32
Table 4.5 Water information summary sheet of Guasca
WISS Guasca
Unit 2010 2020 Source/Notes
De
man
d &
Acc
ess
Domestic Population # 4623 5.747 DANE 2010
Domestic water demand l/c/d 125 125 CAR uses 125 l/c/d for calculating water concessions
Domestic water demand m3/yr 210924 262207
Average Actual use l/c/d 161 Actual supply /365/population*1000
Actual use total m3/yr 271858 Actual supply
Range of actual water use l/c/d
households on network % 100 100
households unserved % - -
satisfaction % ? ?
Industrial /Public Services
Actual use m3/yr ? Currently counted as losses in the water system
Total water use m3/yr Domestic Actual use + industrial/public service actual use
Total Water demand m3/yr
Infr
astr
uct
ure
Domestic Planned per capita supply l/c/d
supply capacity before losses m3/yr 438.480 Macro meter records
Average losses % 38
actual supply after losses m3/yr 298166 Supply Cap. - losses
Total capacity after losses m3/yr
Total capacity before losses m3/yr
wastewater treatment
type None
access or coverage % 0 100 The construction of a WWTP has begun, but has stagnated due to legal & financial issues.
Re
sou
rce
Rainfall Average annual rainfall mm 786 786
rainfall over Sesquilé area m3/yr
Springs Average annual yield m3/yr -
acceptable water quality %
Groundwater average sustainable yield m3/yr -
acceptable water quality %
Surface water Average annual availability m3/yr ? Guasca uses only surface water for its potable water supply
acceptable water quality % 100 Generally acceptable
Rainwater harvesting
Average annual availability m3/yr 56356 70033 based on households with an average roof size of 100 m2 (717 in 2010; 891 in 2020)
Total m3/yr
Resources
Guasca is least affected by the variability of the precipitation, as it has the most rainfall of the
catchment. It also has the highest territory of the catchment and thus also the most páramo
vegetation. They do have an alternate water source for the urban water supply which they use in the
dry periods, but are not as seriously affected in these times as the other two municipalities. The rural
areas, especially the lower areas, are experiencing water quality problems with sediments. Also
contamination with pesticides has been reported. The institution responsible for licensing of the
water extraction and water quality monitoring is the regional environmental authority,
33 Results
CORPOGUAVIO. The office of public services has applied for a larger extraction limit, as their water
demand has increased.
Infrastructure
The urban water supply infrastructure in operated well and losses are estimated at around 26%.
However water for public buildings like 2 schools, a clinic and the town council is not metered and
counted as water losses. This means the actual system losses are lower but there is no way of
knowing if they can be further improved. There is great variability in rural water supply; some water
boards have a well-functioning WTP, while others don’t treat their water at all and have water that
contains a lot of sediments. Infrastructure like storage tanks is needed in some rural areas, to deal
with seasonal variation.
On wastewater treatment, the situation is less organized: the construction of a WWTP for the urban
area was started, but has come to a standstill. All of the wastewater of the town is led through the
sewage network and enters the Siecha River, which enters the southern end of the Tominé
catchment.
The key institution in managing the urban water supply is the town council, the office of public
services. They are the most reliable of the three municipalities and deliver the best service to the
citizens. The rural water boards are responsible for managing their own supply, but do get technical
assistance from CORPOGUAVIO and the town council.
Demand & Access
The demand and access in the urban area are generally satisfied and good, but in rural areas the
availability is not always up to standards. Guasca has some quite large rural water boards which are
quite well organized. The smaller ones do have trouble finding resources to improve their water
systems. This can be financial: to pay for a WTP, or human: where expertise is required to assist in
the design of a WTP and storage tanks. There exists a poor population in downstream areas who still
do not have treated drinking water. The responsible actors and institutions for the access of water
are the office of public services of the town council for the urban area and the rural water boards for
the other areas.
Priority Problems
Water for public building like 2 schools, a clinic and the town council is not metered and
counted as water losses.
The WWTP is not ready although construction has started. In the meantime raw sewage is
entering the ecosystem and Tominé catchment.
Rural water boards are in need of assistance in order to improve the water quality or
treatment infrastructure.
Opportunities
A separate storm water drainage system exists in the urban area and because the WWTP is
not yet finalized, the sewer and storm water streams could be separated at little extra cost.
Rainwater harvesting has the potential to meet 25% of the current and future water
demand.
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 34
Data Gaps The data previously presented in the water information sheets give a view of the main issues in the
catchment and how each municipality has its own problems. The sheets also show the gaps in the
available information. Therefore these sheets must be seen as the beginning of an ever-growing
information base that can be used by local and regional policymakers to aid in strategic decisions
about the water system.
Summarizing Table 2.1 shows that Guatavita, although having the smallest population, consumes the
most water, both per person and in absolute numbers.
Table 4.6 Summary of water use in the three municipalities
Unit 2010 2020 2020
Sesquilé Population # 2.884 4.118 4.118
Domestic water demand l/c/d 134 134 120
Total water supply m3/yr 126.678 201.411 180.368
Average Actual use l/c/d 120 120
supply before losses m3/yr 186.624 ?
Average losses % 26
Guatavita Population # 1.866 2.025 2.025
Average actual use l/c/d 563 563 150
Total water supply m3/yr 383.250 415.906 110.869
supply before losses m3/yr 547.500 ?
Average system losses % 30
Guasca Population # 4.623 5.747 5.747
Average use l/c/d 178 178 125
Total water supply m3/yr 298.166 370.660 262.207
supply before losses m3/yr 438.480 ?
Average system losses % 38
4.2 Stakeholder Identification
Relevant Actors In the background chapter the official roles of the relevant actors in the Tominé catchment were
presented, Figure 4.17 shows a map of the relevant stakeholders and the level on which each one
operates, the outer layer being the national level, the middle layer the regional and the inner layer
the local level.
35 Results
Figure 4.17 Relevant stakeholders on the National (outer), Regional (middle) and Local (center) level.
Institutional stakeholders The municipalities in the catchment get support from the regional autonomous corporations (CARs)
and the departmental governments, in this case the Governorate of Cundinamarca. The public
service companies have a regional union called Empresa Cundinamarquesa de Servicios Públicos
Domiciliarios (ESP) which provides technical and organizational assistance to all public service
companies in Cundinamarca. Figure 4.18 shows the different organizations and agencies that are part
of the water sector for the study area.
Figure 4.18 Institutional stakeholders
Table 4.7 shows in what way the stakeholders are involved in the water management of the region
and if they are key actors in improving the water management of their area and the catchment.
(Note: Town Councils include the offices of public services, planning and social development)
Table 4.7. Key actors among stakeholders
Stakeholder In what way Key Actor
MAVDT Policies & laws
CAR Cundinamarca Manage water resources in Sesquilé & Guatavita ●
CORPOGUAVIO Manage water resources in Guasca. ●
DNP Plans national objectives
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 36
CRA Creates water regulations, norms & tariffs
SSPD Checks CRA
IDEAM Hydrological data
Governorate of Cundinamarca Authority body, funding and institutional support
Town Council of Sesquilé Management of the water infrastructure, supply and access of Sesquilé. ●
Town Council of Guatavita Management of urban water infrastructure, supply and access of Guatavita. ●
Town Council of Guasca Management of rural the infrastructure, supply and access of Guasca. ●
Rural Water Boards Management of the water resources, infrastructure, supply and access in their area.
●
Community Based Organizations Access to communities
Citizens of the municipalities End users, local representation
Farmers Large water consumers
EAAB Expertise on water treatment
EMGESA / EEB Management of reservoir & funding
IDEA / UNAL Facilitation team & Researchers
UNESCO-IHE Expertise in IWRM
The key actors manage the water resources, infrastructure, supply and access to water within the
catchment. They are responsible for the functioning of the system and they fall out, this means the
water system will stop functioning. They need to be involved in the creation of an IWRM plan for it to
be successful. The other stakeholders are important but have contributing role and in in different
specific situations different actors may become key actors, but this only becomes relevant when an
implementation plan has been made, and tasks have to be divided.
Interests, Objectives & Problems
MAVDT
The ministry is interested in the sustainable use of natural resources and the maintaining the
ecosystems of Colombia healthy. To this end they have a number of environmental policies in place
to protect the environment and the people living in it. Their objective is that the environmental
policies are met and enforces them. The problem they face is that the only power they have is setting
emission limits and fining polluters, meaning they often are mostly doing damage control.
CAR Cundinamarca & CORPOGUAVIO
Because they are the same type of institution, and only have a different jurisdiction, the interests and
objectives of the two CARs are similar. They need to ensure the laws and legislation are being met
and implemented and that norms regarding environmental aspects are met. Their goal is to ensure
that the communities and the ecosystems have enough water. As an extension of the ministry of
environment, they also stimulate reducing environmental impacts with sustainable practices in mind
by for example organizing water conservation campaigns or stimulating the reduction of pesticide
use agricultural workshops.
The municipalities of Sesquilé and Guatavita fall under the jurisdiction of CAR Cundinamarca and
Guasca falls under CORPOGUAVIO. In the POMCA, CAR Cundinamarca makes a diagnosis of problems
for the Tominé catchment but does not list them for Guasca. This shows a lack of communication
between the two CARs, where it is in both their interest to share the available information about the
catchment with each other and work on solutions.
37 Results
Governorate of Cundinamarca
The governorate has more authority than a single municipality, and is interested in meeting national
goals for its department. The main objectives regarding water, are to meet the targets set in the PDA
(Departmental Water Plan, see background). It has financial resources to spend on large projects to
improve the situation of its citizens. The problem of the governorate is that it is often not aware of
the specific needs and other issues on the local level. The governorate is a useful stakeholder that
can give implementation of new plans a boost, but they should not be seen as leading.
Town Councils
It is in the interest of both the town councils and the CARs that the citizens have a potable and
reliable water supply and a working wastewater treatment system. The main objective of the town
councils is providing and managing these services.
The main problem town councils face is the lack of human resources. The workload a single person
has to do is often just enough to keep up with the administration of the system, but leaves little time
for planning improvements. Additionally, thinking on the catchment level is not something they are
used to. Another thing is that they are not a company and are not interested in making profit. The
water supply administrations are operating at losses19, but they receive subsidies so there is little
incentive to raise the tariffs. Consequently, water losses or inefficiencies in the system do not directly
affect the town councils. Although they have to make a water efficiency plan (the PUEAA), this does
play a large role in day to day work.
They are aware of water problems or conflicts within the municipality but if it does not concern the
urban area, they are powerless to solve them. They lack support from institutions like the CARs or
sometimes even the mayor who does not see the need to invest in new infrastructure. The town
council has trouble communicating with regional actors; it is often absent or slowed by strict
procedures.
Rural Water boards
As with the town councils, rural water boards want to supply potable water to the citizens, but they
do not provide wastewater treatment. A centralized wastewater treatment system doesn’t make
much sense in an environment where people do not live in close vicinity to each other. Not all water
boards have treatment infrastructure and it depends if they have the skills and financial resources to
invest in improving the service. In some cases the water board is so high up that the untreated water
they drink does not cause problems, but in more downstream areas the results of pesticides and
erosion are clear. The problem with rural water boards is that they have very little power or authority
generally within their community and often for example cannot convince farmers not to cut down
the trees on their land. The only way the rural water boards can exert power is through the water
bill, which in some places has good results and in other places is more complicated: if the water
board does not manage any treatment infrastructure, the citizens do not feel the need to pay as they
think the water board does not do anything.
EAAB
The EAAB treats water from the Bogotá River and is therefore interested in the water quality of the
river. A polluted river makes water treatment more difficult and thus costly. They are interested in
19
See Appendix 9.2: Initial economic assessment of Urban Water Supply systems.
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 38
preventing pollution entering the Bogotá River, especially upstream of the capital. By being involved
in the development of an IWRM plan for Tominé catchment they hope their expertise can be of good
use, and if it works the plan could serve as a model for the other upstream catchments. The only
problem the EAAB has is that they are a private company who has no authority or business in the
actual catchment, and the only role they can fulfill is a contributing one, but not a leading one.
EEB / Emgesa
As owner of the reservoir, EEB is responsible for its maintenance. There are many reservoirs in
Colombia and problems with eutrophication are not uncommon. Under pressure of the MAVDT, EEB
runs a number of projects to control environmental impacts in and around the reservoir (EEB 2007
capitulo 6), these include:
Removing of trees in the floodable areas of the reservoir.
Removing the aquatic plant growth present in the southern part of the reservoir.
Perform studies on water quality of the reservoir.
Corporate Social Responsibility programs including job generation for local citizens and
education programs.
The EEB is a largely public enterprise and it is in its best interest to comply with regulations, and it
likes to be seen as a responsible company that cares for the people and the environment. As the
operator of the reservoir, Emgesa is closely related to EEB. Starting in 2006 in concordance with CAR
Cundinamarca, EEB, Emgesa and EAAB financed study monitoring the water quality of the Tominé
Reservoir (Daphnia 2010).
IDEA / UNAL
The IDEA is interested in applying concepts like IWRM in Colombia. Through action research it
intends to disseminate the knowledge it acquires in this project within Colombia and contribute to
the academic field as well as helping to develop the area. As part of the public education system it
has institution limited financial resources, just about enough to pay its staff.
UNESCO-IHE
The UNESCO-IHE is interested in transferring knowledge about water management to places in the
world where it is needed. It can provide expertise, and facilitate funding applications for EU or UN
funds but has no own financial resources.
Information Flows Among Actors This short information flows assessment is only an initial attempt to illustrate the relations between
stakeholders. It should be constantly updated if new situations arise. The links presented here are
made with the limited information available to the author.
39 Results
Figure 4.19. Information flows between stakeholders on the local, regional and national level.
The arrow direction in Figure 4.19 represents the direction information flows. The dotted arrows
represent a weak relationship and the red arrows represent a relationship of control. Taking the local
level as a starting point; town councils are in good and regular contact with the citizens, this is not
strange as the public servants are citizens themselves. The urban plumbers have a good knowledge
of the state of the systems they manage every day. They also know about some problems rural water
boards face, but not all. Interviews with public service offices in the three municipalities showed that
they know little of the water problems of their neighbors except maybe some general issues.
The rural water board presidents have less knowledge about what goes on in the urban area and
often only know the neighboring water boards, and even then they sometimes do not know what
problems they face.
All actors on the local level see the CARs as a necessary evil that comes and denies them things like
cutting trees or putting limits on the amounts of water they can take from the streams. Some rural
water board presidents also feel that permits are given without proper knowledge of the real
hydrologic situation, effectively giving more permits than there is water. A key issue here is that the
permits are given out in liters per second and seem to ignore the inter-annual variability of the
resource.
A final concern of the presidents was that they suspected wealthy farmer getting concessions for
large quantities of water even though the surrounding area was facing drought. Of the two CARs,
CAR Cundinamarca was generally seen as more difficult to deal with, as a bigger organization and less
connected with this particular region. (An interesting fact was that during the whole project and the
numerous invitations that were sent to CAR Cundinamarca by the research team, it was impossible to
arrange a meeting or speak to a representative.)
Figure 4.19 shows that on the regional level there is very limited communication between actors. It
seems each actor has their mandate and is not concerned with other institutions that could have
shared objectives. The information flows between the regional and national levels are not very fast,
but they do have established official communication systems. The information flows between the
regional and local level tend to be very one-sided: The authorities and institutions do not know the
problems of the stakeholders at the local level, but do impose regulations or conduct specific
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 40
projects in the area without involving the local stakeholders in the decision-making process.
Decisions on the regional level seem to be hardly affected by the needs of the local stakeholders.
Lack of emergency planning
In the period of october – december 2010, Bogotá and a lot of other parts in Colombia suffered from floodings due to severe rainfall. The dikes of the Bogotá River overflowed in many places and many suburbs were flooded. The potable water supply of one of the project towns, Sesquilé, was also impacted. The sluices of the canal of Achury were closed by Emgesa because they did not want the levels of the Bogotá River to rise even more, but the consequence was that, the water that is pumped from this canal and treated for the urban area’s water supply no longer met the required quality levels for the treatment plant. For safety reasons they couldn’t treat the water anymore and where left without drinking water or had to ration the little they could get from another stream. An emergency plan was thought up to take water from a new source, a stream that was close by. This is illegal however, until the Environmental agency CAR approves of it, but since they are a large organization it takes a lot of time to give that sort of permission. This story illustrates the lack of emergency planning and the institutional inability to react quickly when this is urgently needed.
4.3 Evaluation of the project Although the research was led by a researcher and a professor from the IDEA, there was no leader of
the research team for the entire duration of the project. The research team had experience with
some elements which come into play in IWRM; none of the members had done a specific IWRM
project or experience with the methodology. At the start of the research the facilitation team was
not familiar with the concept of IWRM and there was no formal meeting, workshop or training to
learn about it.
No clear methodology & goals Within the research team there was no agreed upon methodology as to how to approach the specific
parts of the project. There was a general idea of the things that needed to be done so the process of
collecting information started sure enough, but in an uncoordinated fashion and with few moments
of reflection and internal communication. The action plan that had been developed was insufficiently
explicit about the specific objectives and it wasn’t used by all members of the team to measure
progress. The SWITCH methodology was only available in separate briefing notes which were not
available in Spanish. It was only until late in the project that a comprehensive document concerning
the whole process of IWRM was discovered, the EMPOWERS Guidelines. By the time this was
brought forward as a useful guide, it was not seen as an option to start over.
No learning alliance The research team had never set the objective to create the learning alliance. At the start of the
project, only the team leader had met the different stakeholders personally. It was late in the project
that workshops were being organized and that the research team made contact with the different
stakeholders. The public service officers were the only stakeholders that the research team had more
intensive contact with. The number of meetings was too few to be able to forge a learning alliance or
speak of stakeholder platforms. Only one meeting with the institutional stakeholders was organized
and the mayors that were ate the first meeting did not attend, so it was not a follow-up. There was
no agenda of regular progress meetings that could give the stakeholders to anticipate and plan the
workshops and each meeting was organized separately. All experts where put to research things of
their expertise related to the Tominé catchment. The result was that the research team was in a
41 Results
position where it needed to look for all the information itself, going to the field and interview
plumbers, citizens and public officers about water related issues. Scaling the objectives down was not
considered an option.
Not enough time Although the foregoing suggests time was not used as efficiently as could have been done. The goal
of writing an IWRM plan in four months in any case is very short, as the methodology suggests that
working with stakeholders and winning their trust takes times, up to a year for the first phase. The
fact that there was no team member with experience in facilitation, using the methodology of IWRM
meant that learning about IWRM and the methods and tools involved took more time. The gathered
data had to be organized but there was no preconceived format for this and dealing with this
happened through trial and error.
Other barriers Besides being inexperienced, short time and lacking a clear and agreed upon methodology other
factors influenced the end result of the project and the amount of work that was able to be done.
The research team held office in the IDEA on the UNAL Campus in Bogotá and was not residing in the
study area, some 3 hours by car away. This distance meant that any visit to the study area had to be
planned in advance and well prepared. On the day-trips that were organized only a limited number
of useful hours were available in the study area to find and interview stakeholders. Contact with the
local stakeholders was also hampered by the distance as they were not always reachable by
telephone, and personal visits were not always possible.
The expert where contracted for a set period, as is customary in Colombia, in this case 6 months, and
had very specific task descriptions in their contract. The completion of these tasks was top priority
for the experts, and only secondary to that was the success of the project. On top of this, personal
circumstances of the project leaders and team members meant that they were not able to focus their
attention exclusively to the project and participate full-time.
In general the information gathering was slow. Many institutions did not cooperate with the research
team, with the exception of the town councils, and the procedures in getting documentation were
bureaucratic. Not only was the available literature difficult to come by, in many cases it contained
outdated or conflicting data. An additional problem was the lack of information in digital format.
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 42
5 Discussion
5.1 Technical The study shows that there are urgent water-related problems in the catchment. Raw sewage,
agrochemicals and sediments enter the reservoir, poor rural communities have no or bad water
supply, storage and sanitation infrastructure and the security of supply is in some places severely
reduced in dry periods. Most of these problems do not have single or clear causes, and their exact
effects are often unknown. By looking at the problems in more detail we can find out what
implications they have.
Eutrophication of the Tominé Reservoir
Raw sewage and agrochemicals are known to cause eutrophication (Schindler et al. 2004) and is
probably the reason there is an increasing amount of aquatic plant growth in the southern end of the
reservoir. Agrochemicals and sediments in water sources are also causing problems for rural
populations that drink this water. The likely causes are a combination of the absence of a WWTP in
Guasca, deforestation and agricultural practices involving (excessive) pesticide use and animal
husbandry close to open water streams, all known to be happening in the catchment. The EEB is
removing the plants from the reservoir but this is an end-of-pipe type solution, and the cause(s) of
the excessive plant growth are investigated or dealt with. The first direction the EEB could look to
find the source of their problems, is unfinished WWTP of Guasca.
Poor rural water supply, storage and sanitation infrastructure
The lack of storage infrastructure means that rural communities are very vulnerable to dry periods
and the associated diminishing of water resources (streams and springs), and depend more heavily
on the support from the town councils. In the higher regions, closer to the source of the water,
untreated drinking water does not cause many problems, but further downstream improving
drinking water quality gets more urgent.
Although it is obligatory for rural citizens to have septic tanks for their sewage treatment, they have
often been built by the end user with no formal training or guidelines. The result is a very diverse but
not always well-functioning number of septic tanks. Citizens with more money are able to afford
well-designed septic tanks and have them installed professionally.
Bad water quality leads to increased health costs and slows economic development. The lack of
financial and human resources in rural areas prevents the creation and proper maintenance of water
treatment infrastructure and leads to a lock in situation which is not easy to overcome without help.
Unsecure water supply
Security of supply has two components: Supply and demand. The supply is insecure when the
demand for water is higher than the supply. If we look at factors that could be reducing supply, there
are a few possibilities.
1. In the dry period the discharge of many streams is reduced, also affecting the water
resources for the urban and rural areas.
2. Deforestation and the removing of the protected páramo vegetation above 3000m, which
acts like a natural sponge (Buytaert et al 2006), can increase runoff rates and so reduce the
43 Discussion
water levels in the streams in dry periods. It has been reported that the expansion of
agricultural activities is happening, but where exactly is as of yet unknown.
3. Climate change may be increasing the duration of the dry periods, but it is very uncertain and
impossible for the actors to base any action upon. On the other hand, the climate of the
region has always had months with little or no precipitation, so this should not be surprising
for them.
Considering the possibility of an increase in water demand, the following factors are relevant:
1. First and foremost is the increased and increasing population. More people increase the
demand for clean drinking water. The area has also seen an influx of residents which do not
live there permanently but only come by on occasion for instance in weekends for
recreational purposes. The currently installed potable water treatment supply capacity for
the urban areas is operating at maximum capacity to meet current demand, but it will not be
able to meet the future demand for potable water.
2. The increase of population has also meant an increase in agro industrial activities, which
increases the water demand for livestock and irrigation of crops. Not all farmers in the region
have an equal access to water, some have springs on their land, and others do not. Some
farmers are rich and influential and can get water rights from the environmental agency,
while others resort to tapping water from nearby streams illegally.
The result of this is not only an increase in demand for water but also a lack of knowledge about the
exact differences between supply and demand for water. This makes it more difficult for policy
makers to deal with security of supply issues, as the problems are in many ways connected.
Opportunities
Population growth will increase the pressure on Sesquilés urban and rural water supply. Because
Sesquilé is the driest of the three municipalities, conventional solutions of creating more water
extraction points will not be enough to meet future demand. Rainwater harvesting can possibly play
a large role in the freshwater supply of Sesquilé, with the potential to meet 50% of current and
future water demand. Creating water storage infrastructure for the rural areas can help in bridging
times of drought. Options are among others: water-saving appliances, rainwater harvesting,
increased water storage capacity and increased treatment capacity.
High water demand, losses in the urban water supply system of Guatavita are contributing to the
conflict over the San Francisco stream. If reducing water demand is not enough to secure the water
supply, Guatavita can expand its Corales pipeline. The benefits of this would be twofold, enough
water for the urban area Guatavita, and a first step in resolving the San Francisco Stream conflict as
there are signs that this stream is currently being overexploited. This would leave enough water for
the people of Sesquilé who do not have another option.
The fact that some rural water boards have a relatively well organized system could be a nice
opportunity for other water boards to get in contact and learn from their neighbors what and how to
deal with the issues they face. On the other hand in some cases specific technical assistance is
required, this is where the governorate and CORPOGUAVIO could play a role.
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 44
5.2 Stakeholders
Regional Starting with Full IWRM, on the one hand we see a large body of institutions related to water which
can contribute to the improvement of water management in the region. They develop plans and a lot
of legislation that is intended to improve the lives of the citizens. However, every institution stays
within their mandate or ‘comfort zone’ and when complex problems present themselves that need
integrated solutions, the institutions are unable or unwilling to think and act beyond their direct
work sphere. Examples are; the removing of plants from the reservoir by the EEB on order of the
MAVDT, the Bogotá River Basin plan from the CAR Cundinamarca which, although it is part of the
basin, doesn’t mention the problems for Guasca because it is not their jurisdiction and the closing of
the sluices of the Achury Canal by Emgesa without having considered the fact this leaves Sesquilé
without a potable water source.
The stakeholder analysis is not yet complete as a key stakeholder, CAR Cundinamarca, was not
interviewed and thus their view on problems was not documented. The general impression,
however, gathered from interviews etc., was not always a positive one. The general attitude of CAR
Cundinamarca seems to be a controlling one, of an institution that know best what the people want
and need and that will provide the solutions, but does not accept resistance. This may be a
somewhat exaggerated image, but the fact that they did not respond to the invitations and were
generally uncooperative does not speak for them either. The distribution method of extraction limits
is also not transparent or clear for the local stakeholders, who have the feeling their neighbours have
disproportional large concession.
Communication and coordination between institutions can be improved. CAR Cundinamarca needs
to be willing to listen to what local stakeholders have to say and involve them more in decisions that
affect them. Sharing knowledge and experiences can improve awareness of decision makers i.e.
Local plumbers have a lot of knowledge that should be used by environmental agencies and
municipal planning projects to improve the water grids.
Local The concept of ‘Light IWRM’ is about local users coming up with improvements for their own
situation. To some extent this is already happening in the study area, for example the rural water
boards that have a well-functioning treatment system and manage to save money from their
revenues and to do new investments. Most rural water boards however have no idea of what their
neighbors are doing. Town councils are not always aware of the situation rural water boards face but
have the potential to provide assistance and expertise. The town councils within the catchment
rarely communicate and know very little about each other’s (often similar) problems, but the fact
they are part of the same hydrological system, could enable them to tackle the bigger problems more
effectively. A stakeholder platform at the local level can provide a common information base and
also be a more effective way of communicating with institutions.
Conflicts over water At the same time Illegal water intakes and a lack of transparency about extraction licenses for the
distribution of water resources has led to conflicts and over extraction.
45 Discussion
Rural water boards are in need of assistance in order to improve the water quality or treatment
infrastructure. Rural communities depend on springs or the help of the town councils.
Stakeholders should take an integral part in the creation and development of solutions to their water
problems. They should feel they have a platform where they can voice their opinions, and have
discussion supported by high quality data with decision makers who take their opinions seriously.
Need for an Overview Plan As mentioned in the background, there is no overview plan that unites the different local and
regional plans that concern water. The organization of the plans make sense from a political point of
view, each municipality must take care of their own water problems. However the three
municipalities of the study area are linked through their geographical setting, the catchment.
Although the POMCA would seem like the document that could include catchment-wide policies and
objectives, it makes no mention of the local plans contained in the PSMVs, PUEAAs and PMAAs of
each municipality. The PDA just focuses on the entire department of Cundinamarca and does not
differentiate between catchments.
An IWRM plan for Tominé catchment should unite all existing plans and create a more concerted set
of objectives, combining spatial planning with water efficiency plans and wastewater management.
The benefits of this would be that civil servants spend less time preparing each separate plan every
three years, that regional authorities have a better view on the local situation and objectives and it
also can serve as a focused source of information. This would require reorganization by the MAVDT
of the current regulations concerning water management and planning.
The above illustrates that institutes like IDEA but also CAR Cundinamarca and others, still have a
tendency towards thinking in old patterns: where a group of experts can solve any problem, writing
plans without knowledge, participation or consent of the municipalities in question. The term
“integrated” implies “participatory”, but this way of approaching problems is to date not an obvious
approach. The thinking process of IWRM requires the participation of all relevant actors, and
sustainable solutions can never be successfully achieved by just a single party or stakeholder.
5.3 Process The lack of a learning alliance meant that stakeholders were not an integral part of learning and
doing the IWRM process, and consequently the presented analysis is only a first step in the process
of creating IWRM in the region. The project did not give the stakeholders feeling that they were
going to solve their own problems.
The EMPOWERS cycle emphasizes the importance of stakeholder involvement at each phase but,
although there was a genuine will from the researchers’ side to improve their situation, the affected
actors of the future IWRM plan did not know about the project until half-way through it, at which
time it was too late. This made the involved stakholders more passive and they waited for the team
to present the results of the research, and did not take a pro-active participatory role. It was difficult
to change the mentality from working for stakeholders to working with stakeholders.
There was no opportunity to work with the stakeholders on problem identification, vision creating
and strategizing: important first steps in the process of IWRM. At the end of the project, the
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 46
stakeholders should have the feeling they are empowered, and can work together and solve their
problems.
During the startup phase of the research it became clear that there was a need for tools or guidelines
to be able to work with the methodology. The lack of leadership and experience had as a
consequence that there was a lack of a systematic approach and meant team-members worked on
things of their own expertise, rather than analyzing the perceived problems of the stakeholders. This
resulted in a situation that there was no clear order in which to do things and what had activities
should receive priority over others.
It took time to find a routine and working method. The presence of an experienced leader could have
sped up this process, and perhaps more could have been achieved in the short amount of time that
was available. One of the consequences of the lack of time was that it did not allow for a buildup of
trust between the team and the stakeholders. The effort it takes to create stakeholder platforms and
a learning alliance was underestimated.
47 Conclusions
6 Conclusions
6.1 Technical Eutrophication of the Tominé reservoir cannot be stopped by uncoordinated end-of-pipe solutions
but require an integrated effort. This should be a major focus of a future IWRM plan for the
catchment.
The security of supply in both rural and urban Sesquilé needs to be improved.
Guatavita needs to reduce its water demand.
Sending the raw sewage of Guasca into the Siecha River must stop as soon as possible. Building the
WWTP should be top priority, and it can be combined with work on a separated storm water system,
making the new treatment plant more effective.
6.2 Stakeholder There is generally very poor integration and coordination of plans, both between local and regional
stakeholders, and between institutions and local municipalities.
Institutes still try to solve problems for people instead of with people.
The lack of control by environmental agencies or municipal government does not give citizens any
incentive to change habits or improve their systems.
6.3 Process The lack of leadership made the work of the team as a whole unorganized.
The lack of experience in IWRM made progress slow.
The research team had not set the objective to create the learning alliance or stakeholder platforms
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 48
7 Recommendations The next step towards an IWRM plan for the Tominé catchment is forging a Learning Alliance. This
group of people should contain representatives of the key stakeholders, and take a central position
in all issues related to water in the region. It should communicate with all levels; national, regional
and local on a regular basis. An information base should be established that is accessible to all. The
water information sheets presented in this thesis could be used as an example for this information
base.
Once this has been done, the alliance can focus their efforts on individual problems. Doing more
detailed assessments, quality controlling data and if necessary collect primary data through
measurements, and involving local actors in the process, will yield detailed assessments of the root
causes of specic problems. Some of these specific problems are mentioned below.
Technical
Resolution of the San Francisco Stream conflict
Measuring and monitoring the available resources and redistributing them fairly, assessing who
needs how much, who has no other water source and who has a choice. A skilled and impartial
facilitation team should seek the dialogue with the different stakeholders and find common
acceptable solutions, both short and long term. Reducing the over extraction of the San Francisco
Stream can be done by increasing the capacity of the Corales pipeline. Reducing Guatavita’s water
system losses, eliminating illegal connections and charging for water use will help achieve this.
Implementation Possible Pilot Projects
Showing examples of rainwater harvesting will convince an important part of the citizens that are
facing seasonal droughts to take action. A mix of conventional and unconventional water supply
technologies like storage infrastructure and rainwater harvesting can increase Sesquilés resilience
and secure supply.
Additional Research
There is not much data about the intra-annual variability of water and for instance what effects
climate change might bring to the region. Data on evapotranspiration and groundwater is very
limited. New research into this can contribute to a better water balance.
Research on the effects septic tanks
The home built septic tanks could be impacting the water quality of the reservoir, but it is unknown
what the effects are exactly.
Stakeholder
Create stakeholder platforms
An institutional stakeholder platform provides opportunities for increased cooperation, sharing of
information and improves the institutional memory. Creating a local stakeholder platform would
improve the communication between municipalities, both town councils and rural water boards,
possibly be helpful in resolutions of conflicts, increase the dissemination of information and
knowledge concerning water issues in the area, inspiring neighbours and be a voice for the
population towards the institutional actors.
49 Recommendations
Guasca needs to work on improving the water supply of some of its rural water boards. They can do
this by bringing rural water board presidents together and have them exchange experiences and
knowledge.
Task Analysis
A detailed task analysis and roles/responsibilities of stakeholders needs to be made regarding
specific topics of IWRM. Data presented in the stakeholder relations diagram needs to be verified
and accepted by the stakeholders. The “who does what” is very important in the stage of
strategizing.
Creating the IWRM plan
Each municipality has five different plans related to water. The IWRM could be the integrating
umbrella format for all of these, with the common, quality checked information base where other
plans are specific chapters of this plan. This could remove the conflicts of sources and be a working
tool for all municipalities. A future IWRM plan should also address the causes of deforestation and
destruction of páramo, and manage their protection.
Capacity training
There is a lack of capacity in the rural areas of the catchment regarding plumbing and administration
of water systems. There is a national goal to improve this. Perhaps the Governorate can initiate a
project to improve this situation.
Work in Guatavita
Capacitate the office, get more funding, invest in infrastructure, get a campaign going on the value of
water, and make sure everyone realizes things cannot continue the way they are going. Let people
pay a fair price for the use.
Process
IWRM expert
It could be recommended an IWRM expert join the facilitation team, working with the research team
first, making sure that the chosen methodology is clear beforehand. The tasks are divided to wish
and having regular meetings keeping everyone up to date of the progress.
Take time for stakeholder contact
Stay in the municipality for an extended period of time, and work full-time with the stakeholders.
Create trust between the facilitation team and the stakeholders. Make clear action plan of what
needs to be achieved, how much workshops are needed and plan them well ahead of time, so that
stakeholders can anticipate.
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 50
8 References
8.1 Bibliography Buytaert, W., Célleri, R., De Bièvre, B., Cisneros, F., Wyseure, G., Deckers, J., et al. (2006). Human
impact on the hydrology of the Andean páramos. Earth-Science Reviews, 79(1-2), 53-72.
CAR (2006). Plan de Ordenación y Manejo de la Cuenca Bogotá: Resumen Ejecutivo. CAR
Cundinamarca.
CAR 2010 Daily values of the Volume in the Tominé Catchment in Millions of m3.
Water Board Source Users People WTP Concession Produced Meters Demand Notes
# # LPS m3/month m3/month
Tierra Negra Q. El Gaque 90 329 37324 26126
Uval 96 Together with Tierra Negra
Nescuata La Villa
Q. El Urital 89 Y Y
Nescuatá La Escuela
220
Chaleche Q. La Hormiga 68 253 N 0,65 1400 Trimestral water rates are (in COP); locals: 3000, farmers: 15000, weekenders: 70000. Q. La Hondura 0,45
Q. El Curí 0,55
N. El Manantialito 0,65
Gobernador Q. Grande 120 600 Y 2 LPS Y Two storage tanks of 32 m3 each.
Q. San Antonio 15 80 Y 30672 Y 21470
Salina 45 154
Boitiva La Villa 190 1790 Y 1,39 Y 39190 Three storage tanks of resp. 180, 55 & 45 m3.
El Cajon 190 Y 0,59 1529 One storage tank of 180 m3.
Loma Larga Q. La Clara 61 0,69 0,69 LPS
Boita 210 908
San Jose Q. La Clara 45 306 0,76
Q. Girardot / Buenavista ? 0,72
Manantial 54 ?
El Hato Springs 468 N This area has no permanent water source and no infrastructure
Espigas - Alta Springs 40/45 280 N Water reliability is bad, as the springs dry up in the dry periods. In times of need they rely on water trucks from Sesquilé.
Espigas - Baja
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 56
Guatavita rural water boards
Water Board Source Hhs WTP Concession Produced Meters Demand Price/month WW treatment
Notes
# LPS LPS m3/month COP
Amoladero This area has no water board.
Carbonera Alta
Q. EL Chuscal (later Q. San Francisco)
107 N Y 1667 Septic Tanks The use limit is 40 m3, an extra m3 costs COP 12000.
Carbonera Baja
Q. San Francisco 135
Chaleche I Q. El Estanco 75 N 0,75 6000 Septic Tanks Commuters pay COP 20000/month
Chaleche Cocuos
Choche Y Santa María
Q. Corales 130 N 2,5 2500 Septic Tanks (30%)
In the process of building a WTP.
Corales Springs 102 3500 None A new connection costs COP $1350000
Guandita Hatillo
Q. Chuscales (or Gaitán)
180 N 1 2,5-3 Y 3000 The use limit is 35 m3. Water used to be filtered, but filters broke.
Monquentiva Q. Solo Cachos 35 N 4000 Septic Tanks Water quality affects the milk production.
Montecillo Q. San Francisco 52 Filters 7000 Septic Tanks (few)
Filters don't work properly. In dry periods there is severe rationing.
Potreritos This area has no waterboard.
Potrerolargo I
Q. El Quiebroyal 29 N 5000 WWTP & Septic Tanks
Potrerolargo II
Q. Peña Colorada 87 N Y 2000 Septic Tanks The use limit is 40 m3, an extra m3 costs COP 500
Tominé De Blancos
Q. Las Peñuelas 38 N 0,25 4000 Septic Tanks 78 new hh are being connected.
Tominé De Indios
Waterboard is still being formed.
57 Appendices
Guasca rural water boards
Water Board Source Hhs People WTP Meters Produced Price/month Notes
# # LPS COP
Mariano Ospina I Q. Pericos 300 The water source is only available in the wet periods.
Mariano Ospina II Rio Chiguanos 470 Y Y 3333/1667 The use limit is 40 m3, an extra m3 costs COP 400
La Floresta I Rio Chipatá 90
La Floresta II Q. El Uval 70
San Jois Rio Los Salitres & Q. Iligueron
600 3500 Y Y 9,7 6000 In the dry period the production drops to 6,5 LPS. Until 40 m3 the price is COP 448, above that an m3 is COP 586.
Santa Barbara Q. El Chuscal 145 N 5000
Peña Negra Rio Chipatá 48
Santa Lucia Rio Chiguanos 95
Trinidad - Pericos Nacedero 25 N 3333
Llano Rio Chipatá 15
Pastor Ospina - Flores I Q. El Uval & Q. Montoque
358 Y 6,5 10000/6000 There are two tariffs. The use limit is 65 m3, an extra m3 costs COP 200/300
Pastor Ospina - Flores II Q. El Uval & Q. Montoque
65 4
Los Guayabos Rio Chipatá 56 N 8750
Trinidad - Betania 69 N 0,9 3000
Parehondo 85 N 1,5 5000 The use limit is 20 m3, an extra m3 costs COP 10000
Los Árboles 24 N 6000
Manantial Del Siecha 510
La Concepción 25
El Espino Corcobado 26 N 1000
La Cabrerita 150 600 N N 6000 The water has a high turbidity
MSc Thesis – Chris Holtslag 58
9.2 Initial economic assessment of urban water supply