Condominial Approach, Bolivian Highlands

Geographic Area: El Alto, Bolivia
Link: http://www.wbcsd.org

La Paz and El Alto are twin cities in the Bolivian highlands with one major difference: poverty rates. While 45 percent of La Paz's population lives in poverty, 73 percent of El Alto's residents are poor. Historically, lack of access to clean water and sanitation has closely tracked poverty rates. But an innovative public-private partnership between the Bolivian government and a private consortium, Aguas del Illimani, has begun to reverse this trend.

This partnership is based on the "condominial approach" — a system pioneered by Brazilian engineers that combines community engagement and appropriate technology to get clean water and sanitation to residents cheaply. Aguas del Illimani recognized early on that leveraging community knowledge would allow them to save costs by more intelligently targeting local needs and harnessing local capabilities.

The consortium offered zero-interest loans and reductions in connection fees to those willing to share their knowledge about consumption patterns, the most cost-effective places to lay pipes, and what kinds of routine maintenance the community could perform. With such specialized information, Aguas del Illimani was able to cut design and construction costs by laying pipe in shallower trenches under sidewalks and alleys with no heavy vehicle traffic. The consortium also convinced 80% of its first cohort of customers to invest sweat equity by connecting their homes to the system and performing on-going basic maintenance.

Three years after its start, 57,000 new households now have ready access to clean water and 35,000 new households have proper sanitation. Thanks to the condominial approach, this has been affordable for the community and profitable for Aguas del Illimani. El Alto is finally catching up to its more prosperous twin.