Sustainability analysis of water supply systems in Cochabamba, Bolivia

After the decentralisation, water supply systems in several municipalities of Cochabamba department, Bolivia are being managed by different local institutions. The main aim of this study was to make a comparative evaluation of the sustainability of three water supply systems in Cochabamba, Quillacollo and Tiquipaya municipalities of Cochabamba. Based on the results of extensive field data collection and sustainability scoring system developed, technical, financial, social, institutional, and environmental aspects of these three water supply systems were analysed. Sustainability analysis showed that SEMAPA Cochabamba has the highest score in all sustainability aspects followed by COAPAT Tiquipaya and EMAPAQUI Quillacolo. Furthermore, the technical aspect is the weakest in all the three water supply systems. Lessons learnt from this study could be used to improve the sustainability of water supply systems in these municipalities and would be helpful to analyse water supply situations in other municipalities in Bolivia