The Dominican Republic’s water and sanitation authority Inapa and the Spanish international cooperation agency for development (AECID) have launched a joint project to decentralise rural potable water and sanitation systems in San Juan province, the presidential office said in a release.

The project will also help Inapa create financially and operationally autonomous entities, which will enable communities to make their own decisions. Over the next three years, Inapa expects San Juan to become the model province for improvement of the operation, maintenance and sale of potable water and sanitation services across the country.

In Mexico congressman Silvano Aureoles is proposing decentralising the administration of the country’s water resources, currently the responsibility of national water authority Conagua. According to the congressman, federal government initiatives pertaining to the water sector are “severely limited” because Conagua has too much control over decisions related to the administration of resources. Without decentralisation distributing water will become increasingly complicated in th short term, Aureoles added.

Web sites:

• Wikipedia - Water Supply and Sanitation in the Dominican Republic
• Dominican Republic - Inapa
• Spain - AECID
• Mexico - Conagua

Source: BNamericas [subscription site], 10 Mar 2009 ; BNamericas [subscription site],10 Mar 2009

Tags: governance, latin america & caribbean, water supply