Community-led Acueducto Drinking Water Systems

The Chingaza water system presents a unique high-mountain social-ecological system rich in biodiversity and “water” a highly valued resource. It also harbours the rich ethos of the indigenous communities and the associated legends that reverberate to this day. The local communities inhabiting these spaces have unique adaptive strategies, among which the community-led acueducto system for multiple water needs stands out as an ingenious practice that weaves the social and ecological fabric of rural societies in the Andean mountains of Colombia. 

“We don’t have gold, but we have water” – Oscar 

These acueductos veredales (rural communities’ water supplies) have a hybrid governance mechanism with the active participation of community members and some instances of support from the local government. Despite abundant water resource units, this social-ecological system is not free of governance challenges, and land use changes draw the need for a better multipurpose cadastral system. The local communities push for a greater shared ethos of community-led conservation of the Chingaza water system among the resource users beyond the rural landscape. They identify themselves as the steward of this extremely important social-ecological system, but they believe that the accountability for its survival must not reside just upon them. They want to be accepted as stakeholders with increased power in the decision-making processes. 

Social-Ecological System of the Mystical Páramos  

The páramos represent the local people's deep connection with nature and are believed to be the mystical mountains with a rich history associated with the Muisca people, the indigenous inhabitants of central Colombia who sought refuge in the highlands from Spanish colonization. They are fragile and harsh ecosystems, yet beautiful and thriving with rich biodiversity. They are conserved under the Chingaza National Park, and the motive behind the establishment of this park is attributed not just to the unique ecosystem it harbors but also to the immense value of the water provisioning service it holds. When the park was established, the local inhabitants were given the choice of either selling or continuing the land ownership during their lifetime. However, a considerable portion of it falls under private ownership, thus representing a social-ecological system replete with resource use by the local inhabitants and the city dwellers in the lowlands. 

Study Sites La Calera and Coachi & Multi-Stakeholder Research Approach

We visited Chingaza National Park and interviewed the local stakeholders in the villages of La Calera and Coachi, located in the park’s buffer zone. Through these in-depth interactions, we delved into understanding the social-ecological drivers of access to water and the adaptive strategy of the local communities. A total of 11 stakeholders (8 males and 3 females) were interviewed. They were chosen to represent resource users and governance actors in the social-ecological system and ranged from a peasant, academician, community action board member, homemaker, practitioners from NGOs, forest officials to an ex-mayor of the La Calera municipality. 

Who bears the onus of conserving Chingaza?

The local communities in La Calera and Coachi's villages have abundant water in springs, creeks, and streams. However, they have observed some drying of springs. They are conscious of the conservation measures and realize that they are the custodians of the Chingaza water system, the lifeline for the downstream urban dwellers of Bogota. However, they find the accusations of their livelihood activities affecting the paramos unfair.  They want the city dwellers to contribute towards the conservation measures and not just subject them to the sanctions, for they are the ones from whom the resource is extracted. They firmly believe that since paramos are a strategic system conserved particularly for water, everyone dependent on its resources must pay for the ecosystem services. 

Unbridled Expansion of Resource Use in the Rural Landscape 

The rural communities in La Calera and Coachi use water primarily for domestic consumption and agriculture. However, there is increased pressure on water resources due to private companies selling bottled water, thereby luring the youth to out-migrate and work for them in Bogota. The local communities find this commercialization of water disturbing, and they fear the alienation of youngsters from the paramos social-ecological system. Also, the people from Bogota with access to economic resources have expanded their residential boundaries beyond their urban areas. There has been an increased influx of people owning dual residences in the city and the rural landscape of La Calera and Coachi. This has invariably led to more demand and pressure on the existing resource systems in the rural landscape. 

Social-Ecological Drivers of Access to Water

Access to natural resources such as water is ubiquitously associated with socio-economic conditions. However, as Alejandro points out, “There are several factors; economic factors are always there, but they are not the critical ones.” The location of one’s residence is deemed the most critical criterion for access to water. “The place where you are located is important; you can have a house in a wonderful, beautiful area, but if the area has problems with water, even money will not give you the water. But if you are close to the water streams, you will always have water even if you don’t have the money”— Oscar. 

The rural communities in La Calera and Coachi suffer from water shortages when their water provisioning infrastructure is damaged due to landslides, technical failures, or damages to pumping machines. During these circumstances, their social network comes alive and helps them with the water supply. Also, water rationing is a common measure adopted until restoration occurs. During drier months, they adopt more efficient water use and make agreements to save water. They believe that the provision of water utility services in the rural region is not at par with the designs in urban spaces. Also, discontinuity in implementing projects due to changes in political regimes is seen as a significant fracture in the institutional system. One project initiated by an incumbent official is seldom carried forward by the next in charge. 

Community-led Acueductos: Unique Adaptive Strategy

“We share and use this acueducto; it is not private but a community acueducto.”  

There are pockets of habitations in the veredas of La Calera and Coachi, where water management is shared collectively. Drawing water from different sources involves pumping or gravity-based water supply to the tanks with a natural filtration process through sedimentation. These community water supply systems with their institutional arrangements, colloquially known as acueductos, are governed by the community action boards, who work voluntarily and are selected by the local people. They take the onus of framing the norms and regulations for the proper operation and functioning of the water utility service. 

Some of these community acueductos, each comprising of 50 to 70 households, receive financial support from the local government to build the water facility infrastructure. The members pay a monthly fee ranging from 5mil to 20mil pesos (1.19 to 4.77 USD) every month and consider it payment for the service rather than the resource itself. This payment collected from all the members is utilized to pay the technicians who clean the water tanks and maintain the pipelines whenever needed. They do not have meters and, therefore, do not have a limit to the usage except for some veredals where they pay for the extra water used. They publicly list those who refrain from making the payment. However, this does not impede access to water, and there are also pockets of habitation where the local people neither pay nor need authorization for water use. The major challenge reported was the full participation of members, especially in meetings conducted to make crucial decisions for keeping the acueducto system functional. 

Policy Recommendations by the Local Communities 

Water-based Public Education & Conservation Measures

Education about the value of water is deemed essential. Primary and secondary school curriculum based on its importance must be introduced. Field-based learning through observation of rivers' course from their pristine origin to water bodies degraded by industry and residences could help understand how rivers become polluted once they descend from the highlands. One pathway to positive transformation is more deep-rooted behavioral changes targeted at water use and prevention of water pollution. More resilient measures are needed to conserve water sources, in addition to the existing practices of plantation drives and fencing of water sources. 

Sectoral Integration & Multipurpose Cadastral System

Integration of sectors is essential; we cannot be confined to a specific sector and work in silos; it is imperative to have a systems approach and have open communication channels across sectors—housing, mining, and water. Therefore, water-related policies should be designed in tandem with other policies. This speaks to integrated approaches like the water-energy-food nexus. The land ownership regime requires special attention since policies around land use are ambiguous. There is no precise regulation around land purchases by private companies operating domestically and abroad. Land can be bought along with its water bodies, and foreign investments in this are seen as a potential threat. There are instances of private companies purchasing springs to sell water. Therefore, it is imperative to formulate a multipurpose cadastral system to address the present challenges of land tenure. 

Resilience through Community Capacity, Cohesiveness & Trust

Support for the Community Action Boards and their capacity building is essential. Some veredals have received support from the Acueducto de Bogota for laying the water supply infrastructure in exchange for the water extraction to the city. However, there are still instances of existing dilapidated acueducto infrastructures. Therefore, more robust measures around the maintenance of infrastructure are required. Creating a sense of community and greater involvement of the local communities in decision-making processes at different levels of governance is essential for successful outcomes of community-led management of resources. There are instances of incomplete project implementations where the local communities are not informed about the project outcomes. Therefore, transparency, accountability, and stakeholder engagement are essential governance principles for project implementation in these landscapes. The locals believe that positive transformation can be achieved if they can trust their government to lead locally and nationally and if there is a greater representation of their voices. 

Reflexivity Statement

All the interviews were conducted with the translator’s help since the research scholar does not speak Spanish. Therefore, we recognize the disadvantage of missing out on the nuances shared by the interviewees. The names of interviewees referred to in the body are pseudonyms. Subsequent work will address acueducto governance and water security challenges from a more in-depth conceptual and empirical perspective, also related to the lead author’s dissertation studies in the Eastern Himalayas.

Acknowledgment

The IGE-NSF program at Pennsylvania State University funded the internship in Colombia, and the Goddard Chair endowment at Penn State provided the summer support. We are grateful to Mrs. Tatiana Núñez Suárez, the translator.

We also extend our gratitude to— Amazon who financed the environmental education work with the rural communities of La Calera and Choachí, the Diploma Team in Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano and Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá for their support in field, and the rural communities in La Calera and Choachí municipalities. 

¹ Penn State University ² Jorge Tadeo Lozano University ³ Independent Consultant

For further information related to this blog and future work, please contact abriti9@psu.edu