Venezuela to improve drinking water service quality with IDB support

$50 million loan will promote efficient use of water, benefiting 80,000 households

The Inter-American Development Bank has approved a $50 million loan to promote the efficient use of drinking water in Venezuela in order to improve quality and enhance service coverage.

The Bank-supported program will focus on at least five of the nine subsidiaries of the national water company HIDROVEN. Activities to be funded include legalizing connections for 80,000 households, as well as investments aimed at improving the service's quality, pressure, and continuity.

The government of Venezuela will provide $25 million in local counterpart funds, taking total funding for the program to $75 million.

Of these, $62 million will be used to upgrade in-home water connections, including the installation of meters and instruments for flow control and measurement, replacement of pipes, connection fittings and sections of small-scale distribution networks. A network map and user registry will also be produced with these funds.

Another US$5 million will be earmarked for technical assistance and awareness building campaigns, including the use of audiovisual material to promote efficient water use; personnel training; and the adoption of guidelines and procedure manuals on the management of assets, unbilled water, and consumption efficiency.

The program is expected to lead to a reduction of daily per capita consumption, which in some periurban areas is more than 900 liters —a level considered too high by international standards— to no more than 350 liters, while ensuring service continuity of at least 18 hours a day.

Besides improving the service, this will produce annual savings of 25.5 million cubic meters of water, which will in turn help cut costs by some $2.2 million a year.

The IDB's loan is for a 25-year term, with a 5-year grace period, at a variable interest rate based on LIBOR.