The Water Treatment Plants Of The Bogotá River: Case Study

Since de early seventies a number of technical sanitation alternatives were proposed to clean the wastewaters of the Bogotá River. However, mainly for economic reasons, they were not implemented. It was only until the early nineties that the administration of the city of Bogotá decided to adopt a strategy for the sanitation of the River, and a concession contract for the construction and operation of a series of treatment plants was signed in 1994. However, the decision was not the result of judicious analysis and it ignored the results of previous technical studies and evaluations. The treatment plants began operations at the end of 2000. In 2003 the city´s administration decided, at a high cost for the city, to terminate that concession contract. This decision was justified based on the limited benefits and high costs of the sanitation project. This case study analyses how this project which was financially and technically indefensible was eventually be implemented. For this purpose the analytical framework of the WDR 2003 is used.