Colombia - Cartagena Water Supply, Sewerage, and Environmental Management Project

Report No. PID4504 PID4504.TXT Project Name Colombia-Cartagena Water Supply,(@#) ... Sewerage and Environmental Management Project Region Latin America and the Caribbean Sector Water and Sanitation Project ID COPE44140 Borrower The District of Cartagena (the Municipality) Executing Agency Aguas de Cartagena (ACUACAR) Barrio Getsemani Avenida del Arsenal, Cra. 10B 24-02 Cartagena, Colombia Tel: 57-56-649581 Fax: 57-56-649583 Tentative Appraisal Date May 1999 Tentative Board Date June 1999 Background The District of Cartagena de Indias has a population of about 750,000 inhabitants, which has been growing at 2.5w p.a. in recent years. It is surrounded by water on almost all sides - the Caribbean Sea in the north and west, Cartagena Bay in the south and the Cienaga de la Virgen lagoon (a in- city large coastal lagoon hereafter denominated the Cienaga) in the north- east, as well as traversed by several interconnected water courses (canos y lagos). Thanks to its historical landmarks and spectacular natural scenery, Cartagena is Colombia's largest tourist area, as manifested by its name: Distrito Turistico y Cultural (Turistic and Cultural District), with a large annual influx of about 700,00 national and foreign visitors drawn by its tropical climate, natural beauty and historical sites. A floating population of thousands of tourists can be encountered in the city all year long, with peak numbers during vacation seasons and holidays. UNESCO declared the Old City, Fortresses and Group of Monuments in Cartagena as Cultural Heritage Site of Humanity in 1984. The city's economy is heavily dependent on the tourism industry which generates an estimated US$315 million in annual revenue. Cartagena has also a thriving industrial sector with important petrochemical, beverage and seafood processing industries, most of which are located in the Mamonal industrial estate, and is an important port city and a gateway for supplies, goods, lumber, and general merchandise imports to the country The port moves over 10 million tons of cargo per year. The city and its surroundings represents a complex area particularly from the socio-economic and ecological perspectives. Cartagena is a destination for rural Colombians displaced by violence in the countryside looking for better economic opportunities, making it one of Colombia's most rapidly growing cities. Cartagena has doubled its population in the past 20 years. As a result of high immigration to the city of poor population from other parts of Colombia, 84t of the fixed population is of low and medium-low income, 31t of which is extremely poor. About 14t of the population is of medium and medium-high  income and less than 2t is of high income. Within the urban sector, low-income residents living along the periphery of the Cienaga de La Virgen are considered to be among the city's most impoverished, living in the flood prone areas of the Lagoon. Most live without any basic services and some are dependent on the natural resources of the Cienaga for their survival (fish, firewood). During the rainy season those who live adjacent to the Cienaga are susceptible to floods and serious health problems. Garbage is disposed along the lagoon shores. Public space is poorly developed and non-existent in some areas. To the North of the city, land is used for livestock production, small- scale agriculture, fisheries and small-business/commercial purposes. Small poor communities in the area have no sanitation services. The Northern Zone Master Land Use Plan (1994) and the proposed new Land Use Zoning Plan (1998) have both identified the northern zone as an area for future urban expansion with an expected saturation population of over 150,000 inhabitants. Private developers of both hotel and urban development projects have targeted the area. Cartagena lies within a complex landscape of interconnected wetlands, bays and coastal plains. This landscape has been modified by urban expansion, construction of infrastructure such as urban and national roads and the city airport, as well as infrastructure built by the Spanyards hundreds of years ago such as the Canal del Dique (connecting the Magdalena River to the Cartagena Bay) and an underwater wall at the Bay's main water entrance. The marine ecosystem around Cartagena varies widely from the uniquely diverse Islas del Rosario National Park and the Isla of Tierrabomba (across the Bay) with important coral reefs and marine life, to areas with less biodiversity such as the Cienaga de La Virgen, a wetland area which nevertheless still is an important ecosystem for small-scale fisheries. The Ocean bottom in front of Cartagena is generally of low biodiversity but some lobster fishing areas can be found in specific points. Shrimp farming is most prevalent south of the Bay. The Cartagena ocean front area is under the influence of strong current patterns, favorable for ocean dispersion and bacterial decay. The area is also subject to sediment loads from the plume of the Magdalena River at Barranquilla, some 120 km east of Cartagena. Although ocean floor slopes are very low (because of the high deposition of the Magdalena river sediments) in the oceanfront, bathymetric surveys revealed areas of steeper slopes north of Cartagena at Punta Canoas, some 20-km north of Cartagena. The city's water resources contribute significantly to the quality of life of its residents by providing venues for both leisure (swimming, water sports) and commercial activities (fishing, commerce). Unfortunately, the water bodies surrounding Cartagena are severely befouled by wastewater as they are the repositories of the untreated municipal and industrial liquid wastes of the city, with a current total floe of 145,000 m3/day, 30t of which is discharged into the Cartagena Bay, other 60t into the Cienaga de La Virgen and 10t into the in-city water courses. Overflows from the overloaded sewage collectors in the wealthy neighborhoods of the city contaminate the beaches and further contaminate the in-city water courses, while industrial wastes from the Mamonal industrial estate area contribute additional contamination loads to the Cartagena Bay. The population residing in the poor neighborhoods around the Cienaga suffers from the worst sanitation conditions, since as a result of -2 -  lack of sewerage networks in these neighborhoods, raw sewage is flowing in its streets. In addition, because of their location in the vicinity of the contaminated lake and because they are crossed by many canals carrying the sewage from other sectors of the city, these neighborhoods are exposed directly and indirectly to about 609 of the untreated sewage of Cartagena. The present situation has generated severe public health, sanitation and environmental problems, which, in addition to their direct impact on the population in deteriorated quality of life, are posing serious a restriction to sustainable economic development of Cartagena, especially in the tourism sector, which is the main income source in the city. As a result of a recent institutional reform in the water sector in Cartagena and massive efforts to improve water supply, the water coverage was increased in the past three years from 70% to the current value of about 80%. However, the water supply system is insufficient to meet the present demand and supply problems become worse during the high tourism season. Similarly, the sewerage coverage was increased during the past three years from 58% to about 65%-. Unfortunately, the current sewerage coverage is still low and a large portion of over a third of the population, most of it residing in the poor neighborhoods of the city located around the La Virgen lake, does not have sanitation services. Continuous increases in the population density in the wealthy neighborhoods of the city resulted in overloading and collapse of the sewerage systems in those neighborhoods. Consequently, real estate construction activities have been constrained by the authorities until such time as the sanitation problem is resolved, resulting in severe limitations on the economic development of the city. Up until June 1995, the water and sewerage services in Cartagena have for a long time been under the responsibility of Empresas Publicas Distritales (EPD), an overstaffed and extremely inefficient public utility, which suffered from continually increasing financial problems, resulting in poor and ever deteriorating performance leading to a low level of service delivery. During 1994 and early 1995, a major initiative was taken by the Municipality, supported by the National Government, to incorporate an experienced private operator in the management and operation of Cartagena's water and sewerage services. This initiative has been brought to a successful culmination in June 1995 by liquidating EPD and transferring the responsibility for providing the water and sewerage services, as of June 25, 1995, to ACUACAR (Aguas de Cartagena), a mixed capital company constituted as an association between the Municipality of Cartagena and Aguas de Barcelona (AGBAR), an experienced European private operator. ACUACAR's share holding distribution is: 50% owned by the Municipality, 45% owned by AGBAR and 5% owned by private shareholders. Its Board of Directors is composed by five members: two nominated by the Municipality, two nominated by AGBAR and one nominated by the private shareholders. Decisions in the Board have to be reached on the basis of a majority of 80%, i.e. by a supporting vote of at least four members, which requires a common agreement between the Municipality and AGBAR. The General Manager of ACUACAR is nominated by AGBAR and needs to be approved by the Board. Since the take over of the responsibility for the water and sewerage services by ACUACAR, major efforts were invested in developing the water supply master plan and the sewerage master plan. Similarly, major investments in water supply and sewerage systems have been carried out, financed by the District of Cartagena and ACUACAR, as well as by Government support. For that purpose, -3 -  ACUACAR took on major loans from local commercial banks (for an amount equivalent to US$ 41 million at the time the loans were received) and from the IDB (through the District of Cartagena) for an amount of US$ 24 million (exclusively for sewerage works in the Cartagena Bay drainage basin). The institutional reform lead to improved management of the utility and considerably improved operation and maintenance of the water and sewerage systems, resulting in a significant improvement in the quality of the delivery of services. Institutional and Regulatory Framework A new regulatory framework conducive to efficiency improvements, expanded private sector participation in the delivery of public services, greater accountability, and a more arm's length relationship between the utilities and local politicians was legislated by the Government as Public Services Law (Law 142) and approved by the outgoing legislature in July 11,1994. Through various modernization decrees issued in December 1992, the National Government has also introduced several modifications in sector policies, institutions, operations, and finances, aimed at promoting sector reforms. The most important reform took place in the Ministry of Development, with the creation of the Vice-Ministry of Water, Housing and Urban Development, which took over responsibility for the sector, previously under the Ministry of Public Works. Two new institutions were also created in the Ministry of Development: the Potable Water and Sanitation Directorate, "Direccion de Agua Potable y Saneamiento" (DAPS), and the Water Regulatory Commission, "Comision Reguladora de Agua y Saneamiento" (CRAS). The DAPS is the department within the Vice-Ministry of Water, Housing and Urban Development that oversees the water and sanitation sector and establishes the sector policies. The CRAS oversees waste water, sewerage and sanitation services, with tasks including the definition of efficiency criteria and quality standards, setting tariffs for regulated public services, establishing general formulas and criteria for pricing and deciding the grade of autonomy for tariff adjustments among sector companies, promoting competition for management of services, curtailing monopolistic and restrictive practices and resolving conflicts among public enterprises. In addition, under the Public Services Law, the Government has also established the Superintendency of Domestic Public Services, "Superintendencia de Servicios Publicos Domiciliares" (SSPD). The SSPD is expected to be a powerful entity with responsibilities for general administration and control of policies, including establishing uniform accounting systems, supervising proper administration of subsidies and enforcing regulations. Project Objectives The project development objectives are to: (i) improve the water and sewerage services of Cartagena and the sanitary conditions of the city's poorest population, by expanding water and sewerage coverage, particularly in the city's poor neighborhoods, (ii) facilitate the environmental cleanup of waterbodies surrounding the city (Cartagena Bay, Caribbean beaches and Cienaga de la Virgen lake) by providing for adequate collection, treatment and disposal of the entire flow of the city's wastewater; and (iii) improve the sustainability of water and sewerage services in Cartagena by leveraging Bank support to shore up the private sector participation (PSP) model pioneered by ACUACAR; the city's mixed-capital water and sanitation utility, against the prospect of political interference. - 4-  Project Description The proposed project would include the following components: Component A - Expansion of the water supply system: This component includes the following subprojects: (i) expansion and improvement of the water production system; (ii) increase of the water coverage in the city; (iii) replacement of primary distribution mains; (iv) mitigation of environmental impact of water treatment sludge; (v) remote control systems; and (vi) Unaccounted For Water (UFW) reduction plan. Component B - Expansion of sewerage system in the Cienaga Basin: This component includes the following subprojects: (i) enhancement of conveyance capacity of existing sewage collectors in the southwest, southeast, and central parts of the city that currently drain to the Cienaga; (ii) expansion of secondary sewerage network in the southwest, southeast, and central parts of the city, as well as the Boquilla area, that currently drain to the Cienaga; (iii) construction of new pressure lines and pumping stations; and (v) construction of new gravity collectors in residential areas. Component C - Construction of the main wastewater conveyance system: This component includes the following subprojects: (i) upgrading of the Paraiso pumping station; (ii) construction of the pipeline from Paraiso pumping station to the treatment plant site; and (iii) construction of the effluent pipeline from the treatment plant to the submarine outfall at the Caribbean shoreline. The conveyance system would consist of a 72" reinforced concrete cylindrical pressure pipe (RCCP) with a total length of 20.85 km. Component D - Construction of the Wastewater Treatment Installations: The Preliminary treatment Installations will remove floatable materials, grease, oil, sand, and grit. Treatment facilities will include six rotary screens (1.5 mm clearance) followed by two vortex-type grit chambers. The rotary screens will remove rags, floatable material, and large solids. The expected volume of screenings generated by the rotary screens is about 8.5 m3/d. In addition. The vortex-type grit chambers will remove about 5.1 m3/d of sand and grit. Component E - Construction of Submarine Outfall: This component consists of construction of the submarine outfall for the safe discharge of the pre-treated effluent to the Caribbean sea near Punta Canoa. The main conveyance system will connect the treatment plant with the submarine outfall. The outfall would be constructed using a 72" reinforced concrete pipe. Total outfall length would be 2,850 m and the discharge point (diffuser area) will be submerged at a depth of 20 m. The diffuser will have a length of 540 m, with a riser spacing of 20 m, i.e., a total of 27 risers. Each riser will be made of a 12" diameter pipe, 2 m long. The upper end of each riser pipe will be sealed by a welded plate, and it will have 2 openings close to the plate, each of diameter 8", i.e., the total number of discharge ports will be 54. In the surf zone between the shoreline and the 3 m-depth contour, outfall pipes will probably be laid using a trestle built over the water. At greater depths, a barge-mounted crane would probably be used for construction. Component F - Industrial Wastewater Discharge Control: This part of the project would address issues related to industrial wastes discharged to the municipal sewerage network. It is not aimed to provide investments for treatment installation but rather to assist in establishing the regulatory - 5 -  framework and provide technical assistance related to pretreatment of industrial wastes. It would support the following activities: (i) carrying out a survey to identify key sources of industrial pollution in the city of Cartagena , i.e., establishing a baseline inventory and data base for industrial pollution within the city areas served by the sewerage networks (based on preliminary assessments, most of these are expected to be small industrial and commercial establishments, such as restaurants and car shops, since larger industry is located in Mamonal, outside the city's sewerage networks limits); (ii) establishing a system for regulating the discharge of industrial wastes, either to the sewerage system or to receiving bodies; (iii) establishing a system for auditing the status of industrial wastes discharge; (iv) defining strategies for control of small and dispersed sources of industrial pollution discharging to the sewerage networks (gasoline stations and mechanical repair shops); and (v) providing technical assistance in selection and design of pretreatment processes. Component G - Environmental and Social Component: This part of the project seeks to implement mitigation measures of the environmental and social impacts of the project. The environmental management program includes: (i) environmental supervision during construction; (ii) restoration and conservation of the Cienaga de la Virgen nature reserve; (iii) carrying out a monitoring program before and after construction of the marine outfall to study the fate of pathogenic coliforms and other contaminants discharged through the outfall; and (iv) environmental institutional strengthening program. The social management program includes: (i) organization and Strengthening of the community; (ii) construction rehabilitation and equipping of community centers; (iii) support of in house basic sanitation in La Boquilla; and (iv) strengthening of the Community Relations unit of ACUACAR. Component H - Project Management, Technical Assistance, Studies, design and Supervision: This component would support and partially finance the following activities: (i) project management; (ii) design and supervision of the water supply systems works; (iii) design and supervision of the sewerage systems works; (iv) design of the main wastewater conveyance system, treatment installations and submarine outfall; (v) supervision of the main conveyance system works; and (vi) supervision of the treatment installation and submarine outfall works. The project management activities which would be carried out by the PIU, the unit in charge of project implementation, include: financing of consultants to the PIU, assistance in completion of detailed engineering designs as required, preparation of bidding documents for purchase of equipment and execution of works, preparation of letters of invitation and corresponding packages for hiring consultants and carrying out all the procurement processes as required, assistance in supervision of all works and carrying out the financial management activities of the project. The other activities under this part of the project are mainly design and supervision activities, which would be carried out by consulting firms. Project Financing Total project cost is US$ 117.8 million, of which the Bank loan of US$ 80 million will finance about 68t of project cost. The remainder of US$ 38.7 million equivalent of counterpart funds will be provided by: (i) the Government which will contribute US$ 30 million equivalent, representing about 25.9 of project cost; and (ii) the District of Cartagena which will provide US$ 8.7 million equivalent, representing about 7t of project cost. - 6 -  Project Implementation The Borrower will be the District of Cartagena (the Municipality) and the executing agency will be ACUACAR. The services of the existing project implementation unit of ACUACAR which handles all the investments provided by the District, the Government and ACUACAR, as well as the on going IDB project, will be extended to include the proposed project management responsibilities. The proposed project would be implemented over the 5-year period 1999-2004. Consulting services would be hired for design and supervision of works, contractors would be used for execution of the physical components of the project. Project Sustainability The up front resolution of the Cartagena water sector institutional issues by the creation of ACUACAR ensures high quality in the provision of services and sustainability of the investments, and provides a sound basis for Bank participation in the proposed project which would be based on a strong and capable water and sewerage utility. The continued Bank involvement in Cartagena's WSS sector will further enhance ACUACAR's operational independence and will ensure that the utility's installations will continue to be operated with private sector efficiency. The sustainability of the project is also linked to ACUACAR's financial viability. The works implemented under the project would generate additional income and strengthen the financial position of ACUACAR, thereby contributing to project sustainability. Lessons from Previous Bank Involvement in the Sector Background: Since 1975, the Bank has made 13 loans totaling approximately US$707 million for water supply and sewerage development in Colombia. About 60t of these funds were lent to five municipal water companies, Bogota, Cali, Barranquilla, Cucuta and Plamira, through ten separate operations. By far, the largest borrower has been the Bogota Water and Sewerage Company (EAAB) which alone has borrowed over US$400 million under five separate operations. In addition to loans for large cities, the Bank has also supported sector investment through a multi-city lending operation through the intermediary for municipal development FINDETER, involving sublending for over 300 subprojects in medium and small size communities. This line of activity continues under a new operation with FINDETER. The Bank's overall experience in Colombia's water and sanitation sector can be characterized as mixed, with satisfactory achievement of physical objectives but inadequate progress towards the institutional and financial performance goals set at appraisal. The main lesson that emerge from the record are summarized below: Front-loading institutional change: The most important lesson is that key institutional and financial reforms should be front-loaded. This key finding is reflected in the design of the present project in as much as significant institutional reforms have already been sought and achieved during preparation instead of being delayed to project implementation. Safeguards against political interference: Cartagena and Barranquilla represent two successful cases of institutional improvement through private sector participation in water and sanitation services. This suggests that PSP -7 -  is the most promising strategy for achieving institutional improvement in Colombia's WSS sector companies. Past and present Bank experience in Colombia point to a consistent pattern of political interference in the WSS sector. In Barranquilla, a new Mayor, who was not the Mayor that awarded and signed the PSP contract, recently tried to liquidate this contract after taking office. He was not successful but his behavior highlights the potential risks of political interference and non-compliance of commitments on part of the public sector Consequently there is an overriding need to protect the PSP model pioneered in Cartagena against the prospect of interference from future District authorities. To this end, one of the project conditions will specifically require District authorities to maintain private sector participation in the provision of the water and sewerage services in Cartagena. Appropriate design standards: On a technical level, past Bank projects in the sector have often fallen victim to chronic overestimation of water demand and frequent implementation delays, which, in an inflationary environment, have resulted in cost overruns for most of the projects. The focus on sewerage services in unserved areas that already have water services, as well as the careful design of wastewater treatment and disposal facilities, through a strategy of minimum cost that is protective of the environment, will minimize the risk of over-design in the proposed project. Focus on sewage collection and treatment: The June 1994 Colombia Poverty Assessment Report (Report No. 126730-CO) concluded that lack of access to water and sewerage is mostly a problem for the urban poor. The report makes the following recommendations: (i) current neglect of wastewater treatment raises serious environmental concerns, and points to the need for concerted action at all levels to deal with the health and economic welfare of all residents, especially the poor, who live in marginal settlements along polluted waterways; (ii) an urgent priority is the need to design and restructure tariff systems that provide incentives to improved public awareness of the true cost of water and sewerage services and to targeting social subsidies in such a manner that they reach the poor; and (iii) in areas with near-universal coverage, focus should be directed to reducing UFW and improving quality in such areas. These recommendation have been reflected in the proposed project design in the following form : (i) wastewater collection in poor areas and treatment/disposal of sewage produced city-wide account for the vast majority of physical investments; (ii) tariff increases in parallel with ACUACAR's water and sewerage expansion measures will enhance public awareness of the true cost of water and sanitation investments; and (iii) activities to reduce UFW are an integral part of the project. Poverty Category Not applicable Environmental Aspects The proposed project is expected to have significant beneficial environmental and health impacts as it will extend and improve the sewage collection network and will provide a safe wastewater treatment and disposal method that is protective of the environment. Nonetheless, the construction of sewage collection networks and treatment and other ancillary facilities, as well as disposal of treated wastewater through a marine outfall has the potential to - 8 -  cause, if not properly mitigated, negative environmental impacts. For this reason, the project has been classified as EA Category A. A full EA was commissioned under terms of reference agreed with the Bank. Formal Bank review of the final reports was carried out before appraisal and they were found to conform fully to Bank policy guidelines regarding environmental and social issues The environmental assessment process was based on a two-phase approach: (i) a feasibility study analyzed collection, treatment, and disposal options of the wastewater of Cartagena and those were compared on their technical, economic and environmental merits; (ii) once a project scheme was selected, a more detailed environmental assessment designed a comprehensive environmental management plan (EMP). A Bank-appointed panel of five international experts, with broad experience in wastewater management, design and construction of ocean outfalls, water quality and oceanographic modeling, environmental impact assessment and private sector participation provided advice, reviewed technical reports, and participated in public consultation meetings and in a one-day workshop at Bank headquarters in Washington. Perhaps the most important methodological characteristic of the EA was the introduction (for the first time in Colombia) of cumulative impact analysis. Impacts on wetland and marine ecosystems, water quality, fisheries, communities and cultural heritage were evaluated and adequate mitigation and compensation measures were identified. The selected outfall site ensures minimum environmental risks All the above mentioned reports have been made available in the Public Information Center of the World Bank in Washington. Proposed actions: The EA report recommends the implementation of an EMP which proposes a number of measures to mitigate environmental impacts during the construction and implementation phases and establishes an organizational structure, set of procedures and a budget to implement activities under the EMP. The EMP has also identified a set of priority environmental activities that will enhance environmental conditions in Cartagena and will assure achievement of the project's environmental objectives. The EMP is divided in two parts: (i) management of construction activities; and (ii) environmental enhancement. The goal of these activities is to: (i) improve urban environmental quality; (ii) improve natural resources management, particularly in highly sensitive areas such as the wetlands of the Cienaga; (iii) develop environmental education and public awareness programs for wastewater management and conservation of urban natural ecosystems. A firm will be hired to implement the activities detailed in the EMP related to the construction phase. This phase will also include the implementation of an environmental baseline program to monitor oceanographic, biological and ecological indicators. After construction, this program will be converted to a long-term monitoring program. The environmental and social component of the project would also include activities designed to improve the overall environmental quality of the city and the area to the city's North and ensure attainment of overall environmental objectives. The most important activities to be implemented include: (i) restoration, conservation and management of the Cienaga de la Virgen wetland ecosystems, to ensure its long-term sustainability. The project will finance legal and technical feasibility studies to create a legally protected area, management plans, environmental education programs in surrounding communities, and awareness programs regarding solid waste disposal in water bodies, mangrove deforestation, and over-fishing.; (ii) activities aimed at assisting in establishing the regulatory framework and providing -9-  technical assistance related to pretreatment of industrial and non-domestic wastes for the purpose of controlling existing and future toxic discharges into the sewage system and thereby in the outfall discharge. The project would finance an industrial pollution survey in the sewerage network, establishment of a database on industrial pollution to be updated by both ACUACAR and CARDIQUE (the regional environmental authority), the preparation of regulations for industrial and non-domestic sewerage connections, and the definition and dissemination of pollution control and clean technologies for most significant sectors; and (iii) implementation of an institutional strengthening program, to ensure institutional capacity to implement EMP. The project would finance training workshops, study tours and specialization courses for DAMARENA (the environmental department of the District of Cartagena) and CARDIQUE in topics such as wetland management, pollution control, water quality monitoring and environmental audits. Final engineering designs would include the preparation of detailed measures to deal with contingency plans (power black outs), additional site-specific environmental guidelines for construction, special construction practices for river and drainage crossing and ocean approach, demarcation of mix zone, undersea construction process and right of way restoration and management. These measures will be included in the bidding documents used in the project. Resettlement: No involuntary resettlement is expected to take place as a result of the construction of any component of the facilities to be financed by the project, as indicated by the feasibility analysis and the environmental analysis of alternatives. The EA has provided additional field evidence that no involuntary resettlement will take place. Other project components include the construction of water and sewerage networks, expansion of water storage and treatment systems, pumping stations, and water intakes. All sites were screened for potential sensitive impacts such as affectation of wetlands and other ecosystems, resettlement and nuisances for communities. No sensitive issues were identified. An Environmental Data Sheet for each proposed infrastructure site was prepared and submitted to the Bank. The water supply component for the northern area will take water from an existing small, private reservoir. Complementary measures for the protection of water quality in this reservoir were identified and included in project costs (reforestation in micro-watershed, land use restrictions to be included in land use plan). Finally, an environmental manual with specifications for the construction of water and sewerage networks and other water and sanitation infrastructure will be prepared and included in bidding documents. Program Objective Categories 16. The project's principal contribution is towards environmentally sustainable development. It would also address the program objective of poverty reduction and human resources development as well as the objective of private sector development. Contact Point: The InfoShop The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone No. (202)458 5454 Fax No. (202) 522 1500 - 10 -  Note: This is information on an evolving project. Certain activities and/or components may not be included in the final project. Processed by the InfoShop week ending May 14, 1999. - 11 -