Colombia is a country situated in the northwestern part of South America. The country borders Panama to the northwest, Venezuela and Brazil to the east, and Peru and Ecuador to the south. It has significantly long coastlines on both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
The country is divided into 32 departments and subdivided into over 1,100 municipalities. There are also 5 districts, and territorial entities with a special administration that are assigned to five cities of national importance.
Country Overview | Year | Figure |
---|---|---|
Population | 2022 | 51,874,024 |
Country Area (km2) | 2021 | 1,140,619 |
GDP (billion USD) | 2022 | 343.94 |
GDP per capita (USD) | 2022 | 6,630.3 |
World Bank Income Group | 2022 | Upper middle Income |
World Bank Region | 2022 | Latin America & Caribbean |
Source: World Bank Data - Colombia
Water and Wastewater Sector Structure
The water and wastewater sector in Colombia is highly decentralized. The service provision is the responsibility of municipalities that, according to Law 142 of 1994, have to ensure that their inhabitants efficiently receive public services by service companies of public, private, and mixed nature, or directly by municipal administration.
In 2023, the Registry of Home Public Service Providers (RUPS), run by the Superintendency of Residential Public Services (SSPD), listed 2,787 water and wastewater service providers. Out of the total number, 60% were solely drinking water providers, 38,5% were both water and wastewater service providers and less than 2% were exclusively providing wastewater services.
Privately owned or Hybrid water utilities are common in medium-sized cities (between 300,000 and 400,000 people) and smaller cities with populations below 100,000 people. Concession contracts have been so far the most popular form of private sector participation in the sector. The analysis of the RUPS suggests that the percentage of water and wastewater services by private providers is as high as 47%. However, the largest Colombian cities such as Bogota, Medellin, and Cali are served by publicly owned utilities.
Authority | Level | Role |
---|---|---|
Potable Water and Basic Sanitation Regulation Commission (CRA) | National | Comisión de Regulación de Agua Potable y Saneamiento Básico (CRA) is a regulatory agency that works on the prevention of monopolies in the water and wastewater sector, sets technical standards, and determines tariffs, to make service providers economically efficient. It is composed of representatives from several governmental bodies and ministries, and it is attached to the Ministry of Housing, City, and Territory. |
Superintendency of Residential Public Services (SSPD) | National | Superintendencia de Servicios Públicos Domiciliarios (SSPD) is a multi-sector regulatory agency that supervises and enforces the technical and economic regulations that govern public service utilities including the water and wastewater sector. |
Ministry of Housing, City and Territory (Minvivienda) | National | Defines and implements public policy through programs and projects that articulate access to water, basic sanitation, territorial planning, urban development, and comprehensive management of water resources, among others. |
Vice-Ministry of Water and Basic Sanitation | National | Under the auspices of Minvivienda, it is responsible for promoting sustainable development through the formulation and adoption of policies, programs, projects, and regulations for the population's access to drinking water and basic sanitation. |
Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MinAmbiente) | National | Defines and implements national environmental policy as well as promotes protection, recovery, conservation, and sustainable management of renewable natural resources. |
Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MinSalud) | National | Defines the minimum quality parameters for water supply and supervises them through its health offices. |
Urban Environment Authorities (AAU) | Local | Las Autoridades Ambientales Urbanas (AAU) are environmental management institutions charged with promoting and executing environmental national, regional, and sectoral programs and policies in municipalities with over one million people. |
Water and wastewater service providers | Local | Public, private, and Hybrid public-private service providers are responsible for water supply, wastewater, and sanitation services in urban areas. |
Regulation of the water and wastewater sector in Colombia is assigned to two separate institutions at the national level - the Potable Water and Basic Sanitation Regulatory Commission (CRA) and the Superintendency for Residential Public Services (SSPD), a multi-sector regulatory agency.
The CRA defines technical standards and criteria for efficient service provision as well as rules and methodologies for tariff calculations. However, it is not in charge of supervising and enforcing these rules. Supervision is done by the SSPD which exercises inspection, surveillance, and control of water and wastewater service providers. The SSPD also runs a national registry containing all the providers in the country. Everyone registered in the Single Registry of Public Service Providers (RUPS) is annually obliged to upload information on their technical, operational, administrative, commercial, and financial aspects. Evaluation of their work is then publicly available through various reports and other forms such as the Single Information System for Home Public Services (SUI).
In terms of tariffs, the SSPD monitors, inspects, and controls if the tariff methodology established by the CRA is correctly applied. According to the methodology, the basic tariff is calculated based on economic costs, as defined in the Public Services Law from 1994. The law also calls for a socioeconomic stratification of residential users receiving public services. In practice, high-strata residential users as well as commercial and industrial users help low-strata users to cover the tariffs of public utilities that cover their basic costs, by applying different tariff adjustment factors. Among six socioeconomic strata, stratum 4 is the “neutral” stratum paying the actual tariff.
Most urban water and wastewater service providers in Colombia charge tariffs that are sufficient to meet operational costs and network maintenance, and in some cases to cover their future infrastructure needs.
Water and Wastewater Regulations
Legislation and Policies | Year | Description |
---|---|---|
Law 142 of 1994 (Ley de Servicios Públicos Domiciliarios or Public Housing Services Law) | 1994 | A Central law governing the water and wastewater sector, and other public service areas. It establishes a general framework to transform regulation, control, and oversight, and to strengthen the spirit of decentralization as well as private sector participation. Creates and defines the nature, principles, and functions of an independent regulator, the Potable Water and Basic Sanitation Regulatory Commission (CRA), to prevent abuse and monopolies by public service companies. |
Law 1508 (Public Private Partnership Law) | 2012 | Regulates public-private partnership (PPP) agreements between public entities and private companies, in the area of public services and infrastructure projects. |
Resolution 2115 of 2007 | 2007 | Establishes the acceptable physical and chemical parameters for water for human consumption. |
Areas of Regulation
Areas | Potable Water and Basic Sanitation Regulatory Commission (CRA) | Superintendency for Residential Public Services (SSPD) |
---|---|---|
Tariff Calculation | Yes | No |
Tariff Approval | No | No |
Licensing Water and/or Wastewater Service Providers | Yes | No |
Business plans approvals | No | Yes |
Performance indicators monitoring | No | Yes |
Economic Data Collection | No | Yes |
Technical Data Collection | No | Yes |
Utility | Date | Link |
---|---|---|
Veolia Aguas de Tunja | 2018 | Tariff |
Empresa de Agua, Alcantarillado y Aseo de Bogotá | 2023 | Tariff |
A more complete list of tariffs can be found in the IBNET Tariff Database - Colombia