The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a $60 million loan to boost the quality and coverage of drinking water and sanitation services for the inhabitants of the Zarumilla and Aguas Verdes districts in northern Peru.

The project will directly improve the quality of life of nearly 50,000 people. These beneficiaries include 7,050 homes that will be connected to the drinking water system for the first time, as well as approximately 11,900 families set to receive wastewater collection and treatment services.

The loan will help expand and rehabilitate the drinking water supply and sewer systems by financing new wells, collector lines, impulse lines, reservoirs, distribution networks, pumping stations, and household connections. Additionally, the plan includes building and rehabilitating treatment plants and creating a sewer connection program.

The strategy will also help the executing agency, Agua Tumbes, refine how it manages its operations in order to guarantee its sustainability, operational resilience, and service quality. Part of the loan will be invested to reduce water losses, improve processes to collect technical and commercial information, optimize energy use, create a well protection and monitoring program, and strengthen human resources.

The loan will significantly improve the population’s quality of life. Currently, the people of the districts of Zarumilla and Aguas Verdes—on the border with Ecuador—experience constant interruptions and outages in their drinking water service. In both districts, their uninterrupted water supply averages a mere 4 to 9 hours per day.

The source of the districts’ water is groundwater, which is extracted through five tube wells. The quality of this water is fair, and it has a high risk of cross-contamination that can cause intestinal infections and other health problems, especially for children.

A local contribution from the Ministry of Housing, Construction, and Sanitation brings loan total to nearly $78 million. The loan will be disbursed over a period of 6 years, with a 15-year repayment term, a 7-year grace period, and an interest rate based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR).