Drinking water supply and sanitation in Ecuador is characterized by a number of achievements and challenges. One key achievement is a significant increase in both access to an at least basic water source (90% in 2000 to 100% in 2015 in urban areas) and at least basic sanitation (82% in 2000 to 89% in 2015 in urban areas). Significant increases in coverage in urban areas were achieved both by the public utility EMAAP-Q, serving the capital Quito, and the private concessionaire Interagua in the country's largest city Guayaquil. However, municipalities rely overwhelmingly upon central government investment, rather than recouping the costs at a local level. Another problem is intermittent water supply, which affects half of the urban areas. Also, only 8% of all collected wastewater is being treated. The level of non-revenue water is estimated at 65%, one of the highest in Latin America. Addressing these challenges is complicated by the atomization of the sector: A multitude of stakeholders – the Ministry of Housing, the Emergency Social Investment Fund, the Solidarity Fund, the State Bank, NGOs, municipalities and others – intervene in the sector. Despite the existence of an Interinstitutional Committee for Water and Sanitation there remains room to improve coordination.
Access In 2015, around 1.1 million people lacked access to "at least basic" water and around 2.2 million lacked access to "at least basic" sanitation.
In 2004, water supply coverage (piped on premises) stood at 90% in urban and 67% in rural areas while Improved sanitation coverage in 2004 was 95% of urban and 79% of rural households.Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation of WHO/UNICEF(JMP , 2010 estimates for Ecuador
Urban (67% of the population) Rural (33% of the population) Total Water Improved water source 100% 80% 93% Piped on Premises 93% 73% 86% Sanitation Improved sanitation 90% 80% 86%Sewerage 72% 53% 62% Source: Joint Monitoring Program WHO/UNICEF(JMP /2010). Data for sewerage is based on the 2003 WHO World Health Survey.
Coverage for both water and sanitation services tends to be lower at the coast and in the East than in the sierra. In addition, water supply coverage varies greatly by income, reaching about 90% for the top three income deciles in urban areas compared with levels of only about 60% for the bottom three income deciles.
Service quality
In general, water service quality is low in Ecuador. Water supply services are interrupted in 50% of the urban areas. Water pressure is well below standard, particularly in poor outlying areas. In 30% of the urban areas, there is no treatment of drinking water. 92% of wastewater is discharged without any kind of treatment.
According to a study in 2004 about sustainability, 38% of systems in rural zones have collapsed, and 20% are seriously damaged. 29% are somewhat damaged and only 13% are considered sustainable. OAS 2005
History and Recent Developments Between 1965 and 1992, the Instituto Ecuatoriano de Obras Sanitarias (IEOS) or Ecuadorian Institute for Sanitary Works had been responsible for water supply and sanitation services in Ecuador.
In 1992, the sector was decentralized due to a Decentralization Law and the sector's administration was assigned to MIDUVI, which merged with the IEOS. Many municipalities, in particular small and medium-sized ones, did not dispose of enough capacity for providing water supply and sanitation services. In 2001, the national government began to support those municipalities with technical assistance through PRAGUAS (see below).For more information about the institutional development of the sector in Ecuador, see UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Responsibility for water supply and sanitation There are several contradictory policies on allocating the sector's resources within the country. There is no system for information, monitoring and assessment of the sector. Thus, an institutional chaos can be observed which doesn't define limits of responsibility between the institutions. Latinosan 2007 - Latinamerican Sanitation Conference: Report about Ecuador, p. 4-5
Policy Responsibility for establishing sectoral policy is legally vested in the "Subsecretaría de Agua Potable y Saneamiento" or Subministry of Potable Water and Sanitation under the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing. However, there is no clear definition of roles and responsibilities between various national and sub-national actors, nor is there an independent regulator of water supply and sanitation services. Stakeholders in the sector include the Ecuadorian State Bank, the Fondo de Inversión Social de Emergencia (FISE) or Emergency Social Investment Fund and several governmental ministries at the national, provincial and municipal level, among others.
While Ecuador has a National Water and Sanitation Policy, Política Nacional de Agua y Saneamiento under Executive Decree No. 2766 of 30 July 2002 it is set out in relatively vague terms and avoids a clear position on sensitive issues such as investment subsidies (by national and sub-national governments) and who should receive them.
A draft plan for a Water and Sanitation Sector Law was prepared, but has not yet been presented to Congress, given unstable political conditions.
An Interinstitutional Committee for Water and Sanitation acts as a forum for interchanging experiences in collaboration with MIDUVI. Latinosan 2007 - Latinamerican Sanitation Conference: Report about Ecuador, p. 1
Service Provision In urban areas, municipalities are directly responsible for delivering the services. They can provide it themselves or through an autonomous municipal utility. In the capital Quito, water and sanitation services in the city itself and the rural parts of the municipality (canton) are provided by the metropolitan utility Empresa Metropolitana de Alcantarillado y Agua Potable de Quito (EMAAP-Q). In Guayaquil, the service was transferred to the private company Interagua under a concession in 2001. At the same time, the former municipal utility ECAPAG became the regulatory agency for the new private utility.Empresa Cantonal de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado de Guayaquil (ECAPAG)
In rural areas, more than 5,000 Potable Water Boards provide the services. Most of them are left to their fate in abandoned conditions, due to very low tariff levels, negligence of care of the water sources and lack of an institution helping water boards since the dissolution of IEOS in 1992. OAS 2005 and UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Efficiency Potable water supply efficiency is usually measured through labour productivity and the level of unaccounted-for water. In terms of manpower, the best practices of the region reflect less than 3 employees per 1000 connections. In less populated areas, it can be difficult to determine the number of employees per connection, as services are often bundled by the government with other civic services, but the World Bank estimates that the number of employees per connection exceeds this in medium-sized towns, with somewhere between 5 and 14 employees assigned per 1000 connections.
Non-revenue water, which is the difference between produced and invoiced water is also difficult to guess, given low measuring levels in Ecuador. However, at the end of 2001 it was estimated at 65%, one of the highest levels in Latin America.
Financial aspects
Tariffs, Cost Recovery and Affordability
A study commissioned by the government under financing by the World Bank concluded that nationwide, tariffs covered only about 2/3 of system operation and maintenance costs in 2001. National and sub-national (provincial and municipal) government transfers are required to cover the operation and maintenance gap and to finance coverage expansion. Plan Nacional de Desarrollo del Sector de Agua Potable y Saneamiento Básico, G. Yepes, B. Gómez y E. Carvajal, October 2002, realized as part of the first stage of the Adaptable Program Loans of the PRAGUAS project
Concerning the affordability of tariffs and ability to pay of user, in 1998 households that indicated expenses for water in the national living standards measurement survey, stated that on average they stood at 1.7% of their total expenses. This percentage is higher in urban areas (1.9%) than in rural communities with some basic infrastructure (rural amanzanado - 1.3%) and rural areas with scattered population (rural disperso - 0.9%). Within the poorest decile, this percentage is 1.9% on national average, but 3.3% in urban areas. The expenses include water which is bought from water tankers, but excludes expenses for sanitation.WHO, "Inequality in Access, Use, and Expenditure in Water in Latin American and the Caribbean: Ecuador" ("Desigualdades en el acceso, uso y gasto con el agua potable en American Latina y el Caribe: Ecuador" (PAHO, February 2001, based on the ECV 1998), p. 95
Investment and financing
Financing for urban and rural water supply investments is provided by a multitude of national and sub-national actors under different terms and conditions. Some favour participation by users and municipalities, but the majority provide assistance without requiring any contributions (assistencialismo) in a clientelistic manner, underestimating the importance of participation to reach sustainability of services.
In 2001, an Executive Decree was adopted by the government which created correlation between a tax on telephone calls and government transfers of funds for water and sanitary improvement to municipalities.Decreto Ejecutivo No. 2562 published on 21 February 2005 The level of the transfers is higher for poorer municipalities, and – most notably – higher for those that improve operator performance or choose to delegate service provision to autonomous operators. The system of sub-national transfers thus provides incentives to improve both performance and more sustainable institutional arrangements at the local level.
From 1990 to 2005, US$409 million were invested in water supply and sanitation at the municipal level. As shown above, the funding reached its peak in 2002, when US$6.1 per capita were spent. However, the average investment p.a. was at only US$2.1The data were obtained directly from the municipalities, the PRAGUAS program and the Fondo de Inversión Social de Emergencia (FISE). Possible investments by the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing are not included. Data on population and deflators: World Bank World Development Indicators database; All figures in constant US Dollars of 2006 Compared to other Latin American states like its neighboring countries Peru and Colombia, the investment level in Ecuador is low.See: Investment in water supply and sanitation in Latin America
Success stories
EMAAP-Q, the public enterprise serving Quito