Ex-post Monitoring for Completed ODA Loan Projects
El Salvador “Water Supply and Sewerage Improvement ProjectEvaluator: SONODA Hajime
Global Group 21 Japan, Inc.
Field survey: May 2008
1. Project Profile

GuatemalaHonduras
Project site

San Salvador

El Salvador

Location of the project

Chinameca Water Storage tank (May 2008)

1.1

PurposeThe project aims for rehabilitating and improving water supply systems andwastewater treatment systems in 41 cities that have a population of less than 30,000 in
the four eastern prefectures of El Salvador. This project will enhance the quality ofwater supply service and sewerage service together with the project carried out by theInter-American Development Bank (IDB) for institution-building through improving theoperation and maintenance system of the Administración Nacional de Acueductos y
Alcantarillados (ANDA, El Salvador’s national water company). Thus, these two
projects together will contribute to improvements in environmental hygiene andprevention of environmental pollution in the target cities.

1

1.2

Outline of the project (Summary of loan agreement, etc.)

Loan Amount
Loan Disbursed Amount¥1,210,000,000¥1,191,000,000

Loan Agreement
Date of (Disbursement)Completion

March 1993
December 2000

Ex-post evaluation

FY20021

Executing agency

ANDA
There are no corporations with which a contract
has been concluded for an amount of one billion
yen or more.
None

Main Contractors

Consultant Services

In El Salvador the sector of water supply and sewerage lagged behind in its
improvement due to the civil war extending over a period of ten years. Therefore, it
was necessary to develop the sector as quickly as possible. This project was
implemented as a co-financing project in partnership with IDB. The ODA loan projecttargeted comparatively small 41 cities (the total population of 1,570,000 people, and
3,830 people per city on the average) in four eastern Prefectures. More specifically,
water supply system was improved in 41 cities, and sewerage system was improved in 7
cities. IDB implemented a similar project in 96 cities excluding the eastern Prefectures.
Besides, it extended support to the modernization of water supply and sewerage systems
and the improvement of operation and maintenance capacity of ANDA.
1.3

Background
It was pointed out in the ex-post evaluation report that it was difficult to analyze adegree of contribution of this project to improvements in the water supply and sewerage
services because similar projects had been implemented by other donors or governments
nationwide. Furthermore, it was reported that this project had a characteristic ofemergency rehabilitation support and that priority was placed on timeliness rather thanon a sufficient feasibility study. According to the report, neither wastewater treatment
facilities had been constructed nor had the existing sewage treatment facilities been
refurbished because the water supply system was in great need for improvements. It
was further pointed out that the IDB project had failed to produce a good effect instrengthening the institutional capacity of ANDA, which indicated the difficulty ofconsolidating the strengthened capacity of the staff.
1

Ex-post evaluation report on the ODA loan projects (FY2003):
http://www.jbic.go.jp/japanese/oec/post/2003/pdf/project36_full.pdf

2

As a result, this ex-post monitoring was carried out with the chief purposes ofconfirming the operation of sewerage systems including whether or not wastewater wastreated, examining the pollution of river water and grasping the progress of institutional
capacity development of ANDA carried out by IDB as well as revalidating theeffectiveness of the project in the target cities.
2. Results from monitoring
2.1 Effectiveness (effect)
Summary of the effectThis project played an important role in improving the water supply service in theeastern Prefectures. However, its effect is rather limited due in part to the fact that the
project was tinged with a characteristic of emergency support. In the aspect ofoperation, there still remains the necessity of improving services in terms of the shortduration of water supply, inequality, collection of the water rates and customer services.
The sewerage systems were improved in 7 cities, thereby increasing the percentage ofthe population served. However, wastewater is still discharged without being treated.
Hence, effect in improving the hygienic environment is limited.
2.1.1

Water supply and sewerage sector in the four eastern Prefectures
The four eastern prefectures have a population of 1,200,000 people (430,000 in
urban districts and 770,000 in rural areas: 2006 projection by the Statistics Bureau:
about 20% of the total population of El Salvador) and 87 cities. Many of the cities are
small in size with a population of approximately 5,000 on the average. ANDA
delivers its water supply service in 47 cities that have a comparatively larger
population.2
ANDA primarily depends upon deep wells for the source of its water supply
and, in part, upon springs. The water is chlorinated and stored in water distribution
tanks for distribution. In the eastern Prefectures the areas blessed with affluent sourcesof water supply are rather limited. Conversely, many areas do not have water sources.
16 cities are equipped with sewerage systems, but wastewater is not treated. That is,untreated wastewater is discharged into swamps or rivers in the suburbs. Domesticnight soil is not necessarily discharged into sewers in general although gray water fromkitchen and bathroom is discharged into sewers. Night soil is treated in a long-drop
toilet in many houses.
2

ANDA supplies water in 149 cities out of 262 cities in the nation.

3

The ex-post evaluation report stated that the percentage of a population that hasaccess to safe water increased by 12~29%, that there was an upward trend in the
consumption of water per person and that the percentage of a population that has accessto sewerage system by 3~17% during the time from 1992 to 1999. It argued that thisproject had evidently contributed to these improvements, but a degree of the
improvements could not be discerned. This field survey revealed that the number ofhouseholds connected to the service of ANDA increased by 8.7% in four years from2002 to 2006 (4.9% in urban districts and 70.1% in rural areas), and water consumption
increased by 19.9%.3
Table 1: Water supply and sewerage services of ANDA in the four eastern Prefectures(2006)
Usultán

San MiguelMorazán

La Unión

Total of theeastern
Prefectures

Population (in thousand)

303

476

156

264

1,199

The number of cities

23

20

26

18

87

No. of cities served by ANDA

21

12

4

10

47

No. of cities receiving sewerage service
from ANDA
No. of cities included in this project (watersupply/sewerage)
Percentage of population receiving watersupply service from ANDA
Percentage of urban populations connected
to ANDA’s water supply systems
Water production of ANDA’s water supply
systems (one million m3/month)
Consumption of water supplied by ANDA
(one thousand m3/month)
Water consumption per capita of watersupplied by ANDA (m3/month)

7

4

2

3

16

18/2

11/2

4/2

8/1

41/7

84.8%

57.0%

21.1%

69.2%

62.6%

30.7%

48.9%

16.1%

29.1%

37.8%

NA

NA

NA

NA

3.02

721.8

1,017.5

64.6

267.0

2,070.9

6.7

8.3

6.1

4.7

7.0

Source: ANDA Statistics Bulletin 2006

2.1.2

Project’s effect and its affecting factors in each city
The project’s effect was analyzed based upon the data on population, water
consumption and the number of households connected to water supply system/seweragesystem in 1994 (before the start of the project), in 2001 (after the completion of the
project) and in 2006 (most recent) in each city. The following table shows thetransitions in the water supply and sewerage indicators in the target 41 cities.
3

The data which could be directly compared with the data of the time of ex-post evaluation were notavailable.

4

Table 2: ANDA’s water supply and sewerage indicators in each target city of the project
1994

2001

2006

Water supply system (41 cities)
Water consumption (thousand m3/month)

504

701

801

No. of households connected (in thousand)

16.7

26.0

30.7

Water consumption per household connected(m3/month)

30.2

27.0

26.1

Percentage of population served

41%

NA

78%

No. of households connected (in thousand)

3.3

5.0

5.8

Percentage of population served

22%

NA

40%

Sewerage system (7 cities)

Source: Prepared based on the ANDA Statistics Bulletin: It contains some projected figures. The
percentage of the population served is an estimate based on the assumption that a household consists offour members.

(1) Water supply system
The main purposes of improving the water supply system under this project are
threefold; (a) to increase water production capacity, (b) to expand the areas served, and(c) to improve water distribution systems.
a. To increase water production capacity
To increase the water production capacity, 33 deep wells were constructed, springwater intake facilities were constructed and the existing deep wells were remodeled orstrengthened under this project. It was confirmed that the project produced a sufficienteffect (in terms of increasing water production capacity) in 17 cities according to thedata on water consumption from 1994 to 2001. On the other hand, a significant
increase was not observed in water consumption in 10 cities due partly to the fact that a
new well did not supply adequate water (or a well is not used for some reason) or thefact that a water intake amount from springs did not increase.
Water consumption increased by 39% in 41 cities during the seven years from 1994
to 2001 due primarily to this project. Currently, it is projected that approximately 40%
of water consumption in the 41 cities comes from new wells and springs constructedunder this project, and about 40% comes from the existing well facilities where pumps
were remodeled or strengthened under this project. Thus, in all likelihood the projectcontributed to water production by some 30% in the whole eastern Prefectures.
Since 2001, it is observed that water consumption has decreased in 12 cities (watercoming from deep wells in 4 cities and from springs in 8 cities.) The main reason
presumably lies in the fact that the intake facilities of wells and springs have not been5appropriately managed or operated. There is a tendency in which the levels ofgroundwater have been lowering in the eastern Prefectures, which likely affects thedecreases in water production.

A well constructed in the city of Santa
Elena

Spring water intake facility in the city ofNueva Esparta (not properly maintained)b. To expand the areas served
Under this project, water supply pipes to the end users were laid down for about
30km in total in 17 cities, thereby connecting the pipes to presumably about 2,000
households. It was confirmed that in 12 cities the size of population served by watersupply had increased nearly as had been planned by 2001.
In the period from 1994 to 2001 the number of households served by water supply
increased by approximately 9,000 in 41 cities. This project directly contributed tosuch increase by constructing water supply pipes and indirectly contributed byincreasing the amount of water supply. The percentage of the population served bywater supply in 41 cities is estimated at about 41% as of 1994, and this project has
directly pushed up presumably by about 5 points. On the other hand, for the entire
eastern Prefectures, it is conjectured that this project has directly pushed up thepercentage of the population served by water supply by about 2%.
c. To improve water distribution systems
This project improved water distribution through constructing distribution water
storage tanks and laying or strengthening water distribution pipes in 13 cities. Judging
from increases in the amount of water supply and the population served by water supply,
it is considered that this project has effected in 9 cities.
6Based upon the above, it may be concluded in general that the project has yielded asatisfactory effect in 21 cities and an acceptable effect in 13 cities out of 40 cities.
There are 6 cities in which it has not brought about much effect primarily because of the
failure to secure water sources from deep wells and springs. There are some cases inwhich sufficient water production cannot be ensured due to defectiveness ordeterioration in water distribution facilities or a broken well pump at an early stage eventhough water sources are adequately secured.
(2) Sewerage systems
12 cities out of 41 cities are equipped with sewerage systems4. This project carriedout the following facility improvements in the cities:
・ Constructing sewer pipes to expand the areas served: 5 cities (connected
approximately 800~900 households)
・Moving the discharge point of sewage effluent by 200~1,000 m to the suburbs: 3 cities
・Constructing a manhole for inspecting sewer pipes: 1 city
The population connected to sewerage systems in the target seven cities increased
by approximately 1.5 times during the period from 1994 to 2001. It is conjectured that
this project has successfully brought about nearly the half of the increase and pushed up
the percentage of the population served by sewerage system in cities by 0.8%. At thetime of ex-post evaluation (in 2001), collected wastewater was not treated, and even
now wastewater is not treated. That is, the situation has unchanged. (Refer to thesection of impact.)(3) Factors affecting the project’s effectThis monitoring study revealed that the project plan had lacked sufficient
coordination with other projects in about one quarter of all cities. It confirmed that
there was a case in which the pump had to be replaced due to its deficient capacity only
a few years after the completion; there was a case in which a well was not in full use
due to underdevelopment of water distribution facilities or water production facilities;
there was a case in which enough water was not available even though water source had
been developed. The reasons are that medium to long-term viewpoint or acomprehensive viewpoint had not been taken and that surveys on the source of watersupply (in particular, groundwater) were not fully conducted.
4

According to ANDA, after this Ex-Post monitoring survey, a sewerage treatment facility was constructed at Puerto
el Triunfo, one of the targeted cities of this project in 2008.

7

Investments in the improvement of water supply systems under this project wereshort-term and partial in that it was implemented as emergency assistance to rehabilitateand strengthen as quickly as possible the antiquated systems that had been neglectedduring the civil war. Therefore, a lot of investment was continuously needed after theend of this project. It is assumed that the amount of investments including financial
support by IDB, etc. was 2.5 times of the input made under this project. Above all, in
the 17 cities included in the decentralization program of management assisted by IDB(to be discussed later), a lump sum was invested to improve their water supply systems.
With this fund, pumps and other equipment supplied under this project were alreadyreplaced by new ones to expand the capacity. With such continuous investments, inthe 41 target cities of this project, the amount of water consumption, the population
connected to the water supply and sewerage systems and the percentage of the
population served have greatly increased during 12 years from 1994 to 2006.
2.1.3

Present water supply and sewerage service and evaluation by residents
In this monitoring study we inspected the operation conditions of the facilities in
10 cities, carried out a questionnaire survey to 140 residents of four cities (one city per
Prefecture) and had interviews with the municipal government (mayor, etc.) in each of
41 cities. The main findings are summarized below:
・72 percent of residents are satisfied with the water supply service. The greatest
reason for dissatisfaction stems from the limited amount of water supplied and theduration of water supply followed by the collection of water rates and water quality.
・Sixty-nine percent of municipal governments are satisfied with the current watersupply service. On the other hand, there were some people who raised criticisms
about the fact that residents’ needs were not fully met due to the lack of sufficientinvestigations for the project planning/designed by ANDA and the fact that water
distribution networks were not properly operated. Thus, 15% expressed theirdissatisfaction.
・Wells are put to operate for 8~16 hours per day to store water in the distribution tank.
Because of the shortage of the amount of water, there are not many cities where thefacilities are operated for 24 hours. In many cities water supply to each district is
controlled by adjusting a valve by time of the day. In the majority of cities water is
supplied every day. On the other hand, in other cities water is supplied once in 2~4days. In the 4 cities where the questionnaire survey was conducted, approximately
30% of the residents are highly dissatisfied with inequality and difference in water8

pressure and duration of water supply depending upon district and short or inconstantduration of water supply.
・The water rates per household are $6.6 on the average. Dissatisfaction is widespreadover the water rates and the water rates collection system. Twenty percent of theresidents have a strong sense of dissatisfaction. The dissatisfaction is caused byinaccurate reading of the water meter or inaccurate estimate of used water amount,and marked inequality in the amount of water supply despite the fixed-sum contract
without meter.5 One factor to provoke users’ dissatisfaction is that responses togrievances about water leak and suspension of water supply are slow. However, it
seems that in 6 cities where the management has been decentralized for nearly 10
years such dissatisfaction has decreased to a great extent because the performance inthe collection of the water rates and response to claims has improved.
・In the cities where deep wells are used as water source residents give good ratings to
the quality of water, whereas users give low ratings in cities which use spring wateras water source because it contains dirt such as sand during the rainy season.6 Ourquestionnaire survey reveals that about one-third of the respondents have a sense of
dissatisfaction in the cities that use spring water as the source of water supply. In acertain city, many residents do not drink tap water and buy expensive bottled water
for drinking instead.
2.2 Impacts
2.2.1 Improvements in environmental hygiene
According to the survey carried out at the time of ex-post evaluation, 48% ofhouseholds benefited from rehabilitated water supply systems reported that there weresome improvements in their living and their half specified that there were improvements
in health and hygiene conditions. At the same time, 31% of the households benefited
from the project reported that environmental hygiene had improved.
According to the findings of the questionnaire survey conducted this time,
one-third of the residents who have gained access to the water supply service repliedthat the frequencies of washing hands and washing clothes have increased. Similarly,
two-thirds of the residents connected to sewerage system consider that their home5

In the eastern Prefectures 54% of users pay their water rates based upon the reading of water meter. Thirteen
percents of users have a contract based upon payment according to the schedules of rates, but the meter is broken.
As a result, they pay their water rates based upon their past records or the amount of water used by users in theneighborhood. The rest users, 33%, have a fixed-sum contract without meters. (as of fiscal 2006)
6
The Ministry of Health periodically carries out inspections on the quality of tap water nationwide and maintains
that 95% of samples of tap water delivered by ANDA pass the water quality criteria. That is, the quality of ANDA’s
water is more stable in comparison to the water supplied by other water supply systems which are under the
management of local governments or private enterprises.

9hygienic environment has improved due to the sewerage service.
According to the data from the Ministry of Health, the incidence of diarrhea
has decreased by 30% in the period from 2001 to 2003 in the eastern Prefectures, but it
has leveled off since then. It is estimated that the incidence of diarrhea in the eastern
Prefectures was 244 cases per 10,000 people in 2006. It was reported that it wasdifficult to indicate a quantitative impact on improvements in environmental hygiene
brought about by this project based upon health statistics such as prevalence of diarrhea
and parasite at the time of ex-post evaluation. In this survey we did not carry out asimilar analysis, either.
It is believed that this project has contributed to improving environmental
hygiene in urban districts in the 5 cities where 800~900 households were newly
connected to the sewerage system under this project. According to the questionnaire
survey, 20% of residents who are connected to the sewerage system think that theenvironmental hygiene of their neighborhoods has been improved. However, theimprovements in environmental hygiene are in fact limited in that there are houses ofwhich toilets are not connected to the sewerage system and all wastewater is discharged
into rivers without being treated. There were cases in which residents living in thevicinity of the discharge point of untreated sewage effluent complained about foulsmells. The ex-post evaluation report pointed out that the discharge of untreatedwastewater will no doubt inflict an adverse effect on environment. Even now
wastewater is not treated and the situation remains the same.7 On the other hand, inthree cities in which the point of discharge has been moved away to suburbs, it isreckoned that urban environmental problems such as foule smells and pollution havebeen slightly alleviated.

7

Hygiene problems have been removed from urban districts and dumped in the suburbs. As long as wastewater is
not treated, there will always be the possibility of polluting surface water and groundwater. Similarly, when toilets
are not connected to the sewerage system and night soil is made to infiltrate into the ground, groundwater may bepolluted. There is a possibility that pollutants may seep into drinking water though a broken point of water
distribution pipes. The city of Jocoro banned night soil from discharging onto roads by the Environment Ordinancestipulated by the city in 1998. Thus, each house is mandated to connect to the sewerage system as much as it can,whereby sewerage connection rate is high (70~75%) and almost all toilets are connected to sewerage. As a result,the quality of wastewater is very bad due to night soil. The city mayor seeks for fund sources to construct the city’s
own wastewater treatment facilities without depending upon ANDA.

10

A road newly equipped with sewer pipes
in Chinameca

Untreated sewage effluent in Santa Elena

2.2.2

Prevention of environmental pollution
In El Salvador including San Salvador, capital city, wastewater is not treated by
the sewerage system.8 In the backdrop against not treating wastewater, lie problems in
the legal system, finance and institutional capacity.
・The law regulating wastewater was stipulated in 2000 with a grace period until 2003.
The effluent quality standards which are under discussion are strict. As a result, theindustrial circles and governmental organizations raise strong oppositions, andeffluent quality standards have not been stipulated as of now. Furthermore, under
the circumstances in which there is no water law, that is, legal framework not fully
developed, it is difficult to apply effective regulations.
・ANDA does not have any financial reserves and is unable to construct wastewater
treatment facilities. Even if a treatment plant is built with financial support fromexternal sources, ANDA does not have funds to appropriate a budget for its operationand maintenance. ANDA is not sufficiently equipped with experience and technicalcapacity to plan and operate wastewater treatment system.
・The Ministry of Environment suffers from the scarcity of manpower and the lack of
capacity to supervise and monitor compliance with the regulations. Even if aviolator is fined, there is a high probability of continuing the violation at the cost of
paying the fine.

8

In El Salvador there are 5~6 sewage treatment plants constructed or rehabilitated with financial aid from Germany
and Spain.

11

As a result, many rivers in El Salvador are polluted by domestic wastewater.
In particular, the quality of river water has been deteriorated in the lower reaches of ariver from a heavily populated area. In the eastern Prefectures, it is reported that thequality of water of the San Miguel has been deteriorated.9
2.3 Sustainability
Summary of sustainability
The ANDA East Office lacks human resources and equipment, thereby being unable tofully carry out operation and maintenance. One factor is its system in which theheadquarters’ approval is required for budget and procurement. It is assumed that thedecentralization of management, which has been under way in some cities, will improve
the quality of operation and maintenance to a certain degree. The issue underlying agreat number of problems is the fact that the water rates cannot be raised to an
appropriate level without national parliamentary approval. It is difficult to solve suchproblems before the enactment of the water law.
2.3.1 Executing agency
2.3.1.1 Structural organizations of operation and maintenance(1) Legal system
In El Salvador the framework of legal systems is underdeveloped in the domain ofwater supply and hygiene. A pending issue is the stipulation of a basic water law.
However, there is no clear outlook about introducing the bill to the national parliament
from various political conditions of El Salvador. Under the circumstances, there willremain many issues such as coordination among related organizations, rationalization ofwater use, rationalization of the water rates, maintenance of public investment level andconservation of the water environment.
(2) Organization and operation/maintenance system of ANDA
At ANDA the power is centralized at the headquarters concerning the managementof budgets and planning, thereby limiting the powers of local offices. That planning,changing the plan and procurement take time to have approval from the headquarters
impedes the work efficiency of a local office. For instance, a local office can have
only an eight-month contract, instead of a one-year contract, with the businessconcerned with repair and connection work because of the time-consuming procedures
9“Diagnóstico Nacional de Calidad de Aguas Superficiales” Servicio Nacional de Estudios Territoriales/Servicio
Hidrológico Nacional

12

for the approval. What this means is that it is unable to have spare parts required for
repair work when necessary.
Since 2003 a local office has been reinforced as can be seen from the fact thatseveral engineers/technologists who have university-level technology were assigned to
the East Office to be engaged in planning/designing since five years ago. The
personnel system has been somewhat strengthened compared to the time of ex-post
evaluation. That is, the staff size of the East Office consists of 263 persons as ofDecember 2006. ANDA assigns its staff at each city’s system for operation,
maintenance and inspection of wells (pump and motor), tanks and valves. The East
Office visits the system once a month to replenish the chlorine sterilizing agent andinspect the system. However, it is not very efficient to centrally control water supply
and sewerage systems many of which are located in remote areas or mountainous areas.
In fact, as will be discussed later, the East Office is unable to operate and maintain themsufficiently due to its constraints in human resources and equipment.
(3) Decentralization program supported by IDB aid10
The systems in 24 cities out of the 41 target cities of this program are under thecontrol of the ANDA East Office. The systems of other 17 cities have been included in
the decentralization program and their management is under the control of four
companies. The systems of six cities were placed under the control of Tetralogia, acompany that assumes the operational responsibilities, as early as in December 1999.
Other three companies are entrusted with the management of eleven cities’ systems insuccession from 2007 to 2008. At present, they are in the process of transition withtechnical support from the East Office. The ANDA headquarters supervise thedecentralized systems.
Tetralogia, for instance, improved the performance of operation and maintenanceafter decentralization. That is, it has successfully established a fixed schedule of watersupply, increased the number of connections (legitimization of illegal connections),
systematically carried out preventive maintenance, increased the collection ratio of thewater rates and improved measures to address water leak (that is, shortened the time10
Decentralization program: Under the IDB project that was undertaken in 1998, ANDA has implemented thedecentralization program in which a local water supply system is locally controlled. That is, in this program ANDA
commissions the operation and maintenance of water supply and sewerage systems to a company established bymultiple city governments and representatives of residents and at the same time makes investments for the
improvement of facilities with the purposes of realizing efficient operation and maintenance from a closer point to thesystem through capacity development of operation and maintenance, changing (i.e. raising) the water rates anddelegating powers and securing sustainability by collecting invested funds through revenue from the water rates. In
reality, facility improvements and capacity development could be achieved with funds from IDB, but the water rates
could not be changed because the legal system has not been developed. Moreover, ANDA has not fully delegated its
powers. As a result, the initial purposes have not been fully attained.

13

until repair). However, the system of Tetralogia needs a large-scale pumping-up,
which costs a large amount of money. Thus, it is in the red financially. Tetralogia
receives financial supplementation from ANDA but is unable to reserve funds for
improving or expanding the systems.
2.3.1.2 Technical capacity of operation and maintenanceAccording to the ex-post evaluation report, under the project financed by IDB,
the process of operation and maintenance was clearly delineated as a component ofstrengthening institutional capacity. However, neither the result of investigations nor
the proposal had been put to practice because ANDA failed to recognize theirsignificance. For instance, as a result of moving staff members who had undergone
training to other sections, it became difficult for ANDA to strengthen its institutional
capacity. Despite continued efforts made by ANDA East Office to improve theoperation and maintenance capacity of its staff, there were reports of some employees
who quit the office for private companies with higher rewards.
The findings of our hearing to the ANDA East Office and our visits to checkthe operation and maintenance of facilities in ten cities demonstrate that the staff
members of the ANDA East Office are sufficiently equipped with basic knowledge andexperience required for the operation and maintenance of urban water supply andsewerage systems.
Rather, a greater constraining factor on operation and maintenance is the dearthof personnel and equipment/supplies of the East Office. The following difficulties
were confirmed concerning the operation and maintenance of facilities by the East
Office.
・There are 157 wells in the eastern Prefectures. Their preventive maintenance andrepairs were under the management of one company. Due to the procedures for
procurement, there are 3~4 months out of one year for which there is no contract.
During that time, a team (consisting of 4 persons) of the ANDA East Office takes
direct responsibilities for preventive maintenance and repairs. However, since itdoes not own a crane, it must rent it from an external source. Due to budgetary
constraints, it is unable to carry out sufficient maintenance/repair works. The
frequency of preventive maintenance is less than one-third of the plan. Thus,
troubles often take place, which, in turn, makes the team busy, thereby having little
time for preventive maintenance.11 An inventory of spare parts runs short and it
11

It had been planned for 2007 to carry out preventive maintenance 314 times a year on 157 wells. However, it was

14

takes time to go through the procedures for receiving approval for procurement fromthe headquarters, it is unable to do repairs promptly.
・ANDA’s operating budget covers the repair expenses to fix troubles of wells(plugging-up of a screen and damaged casing pipe, etc.) but does not coverpreventive maintenance costs. The inspection and maintenance of the intake
facilities of spring water are not carried out. It is considered that the lack ofmaintenance work of water source reduces water production.
・Four teams (one team consisting of 7~8 persons) take responsibilities of repairing
water supply distribution networks. There are many water distribution pipes thatwere laid forty years ago. That is, there are many places of water leak to which they
can fully tend. The East Office believes that it would need to increase the numberof teams by 2~3 times in order to deal with the leak problem properly. It does nothave water leak detectors. In addition, due in part to the scarcity of personnel, it is
impossible to fully carry out maintenance to prevent water leak. There is one teamthat repairs sewer pipe networks, but it is often the case that it is unable to do proper
repair work without having equipment including heavy machines.
・Database has not been created for inventory information on the existing systems andthe records of the past maintenance works in the computer. It is, hence, difficult toanalyze information necessary for the planning of operation and maintenance.
Since 2005, Luxemburg has been implementing an aid project for the East
Office. So far, it provided technical training and investment for water supply in rural
areas, supplied computer equipment to the administrative section of the East Office, andbuilt the management system of clientele. In the future, it is planned to create databasefor the existing 48 systems including GIS, procure water leak detectors, and teach how
to use them. On the other hand, JICA plans to implement a technical cooperation
project with the chief aim of developing the capacity of ANDA to address the issue of
non-revenue water control measures at the request of the government of El Salvador.
2.3.1.3 Financial status in operation and maintenance
It is reported in the ex-post evaluation report that ANDA showed a red-ink figureamounting to 3~4 million dollars in 1999 and 2000, but moved into surplus of 41
million dollars in 2001.
Although ANDA receives subsidies from the government, it shows a red-ink
done only 99 times.

15

figure consecutively in the past three years. The water rates do not cover production
costs, but under the present legal system it is necessary to have an approval from thenational parliament for changing the water rates. They have been left untouched since
1994 due to political reasons.12
Table 3: Revenue of ANDA (in million dollars)
2005

2006

2007

Gross revenue

252.4

262.2

311.1

Business income (Income from water charge)

67.5

74.1

84.7

Other revenues (Note)

184.9

188.1

226.4

Gross expenditure

258.5

280.5

318.1

Production & sales costs

49.4

54.3

59.3

Personnel costs

18.9

19.5

21.8

Other costs (See the note.)

190.2

206.7

237.0

Balance
-6.0
-18.3
-6.9
Source: ANDA Annual Report
Note: Other revenues and other costs include transfers between the headquarters andlocal offices (approximately 155 million dollars in 2006). Thus, the actual gross revenue
and gross expenditure are much smaller than indicated in this table.

The trend of the budget for operation and maintenance of the East Officecannot be so simply analyzed because a budget for the system to transfer to thedecentralization program has been added to the budget of the headquarters in succession.
The operating budget drastically dropped in comparison to the time immediately after
the completion of the project and has been declining gradually for the past three years.
The budget for operation and maintenance was extensively cut down due to constraints
in the national budget in 2006, and was increased to the same extent in 2007. As
stated above, the East Office has neither enough personnel nor equipment such as
vehicles and heavy machines for operation and maintenance. That is, the scarcity ofthe budget imposes a great constraint.

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In recent years the connection charge and some service charges, which do not require a parliamentary approval,
were raised although the water rates per 1m3 have not been raised.

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Table 4: Actual budget for operation/maintenance of
ANDA East Office (in thousand dollars)
MaintenanceOperation

Total

2000

750

3,500

4,250

2001

1,200

5,500

6,700

2002

1,750

5,500

9,500

2003

1,755

3,363

5,118

2006

449

3,189

3,638

2007

2,449

3,037

5,482

Source: Responses of ANDA to the questionnaire (From 2000 to 2002, at the timeof ex-post evaluation and after 2005, at the time of this survey)

When the decentralization program was introduced with financial aid from IDB,
the initial purpose was to collect the water rates in proportion with the unit cost of watersupply which differs by system, thereby aiming at reserving investment funds toremodel or improve the facilities in the future. However, because the legal system has
not been fully developed, it is not possible to establish differentiated tariffs inaccordance with different costs of each system, thereby being unable to raise the water
rates. As a result, Tetralogia is inevitably in the red under a system in which it puts
pumps to full use. Although ANDA compensates the deficit, but there are no cohesiverules about financial shares. There is no reserve as investment capital, either.
2.3.2

Current operation and maintenance
ANDA stated in its annual report that there were 3,828 repair cases for watersupply systems and 802 repair cases for sewerage systems during 2006. There wereroughly 4,000 complaints about water leak of public water pipes, out of which only lessthan 60% were tended to. In the same year the rate of non-revenue water was 27.8%
nationally, whereas in the eastern Prefectures it was 31.2%. The percentage of thehouseholds equipped with water meters was 57% in 2002, which increased to 64% in
2006. In the eastern Prefectures also it increased from 40% to 54% during the same
period.
Six cities out of the ten cities that we visited for this study had participated in thedecentralization program ten years ago and received investments. In these cities thefacilities in general have been maintained in good conditions and we did not find big
problems in particular. On the other hand, in other four cities, including two cities thatwere added to the decentralization program recently, the maintenance of their facilities17

is not satisfactory. Although the facilities are in operation, there were many cases ofdamage in the building, distribution tank and its preventive fence. ANDA believes,based upon its experience in the decentralization program, that the decentralization ofmanagement indeed improves maintenance. However, it is considered that it will taketime to build a system and develop human resources for the program. The
abovementioned result of our field study endorses this statement.
The result of our site visit, the fact that a massive amount was additionally invested
and what was told in our hearing made to ANDA all obviously indicate that there is anumber of motors and pumps, which had been installed under this project, were
replaced by new ones. Main causes that shorten the life of a motor can be traced tofrequent stops because it is not a 24-hour operation, the lack of preventive maintenanceand voltage fluctuations.
3. Conclusions, Lessons learned and Recommendations
3.1

Conclusions
This project importantly contributed to the improvement of water supply systems
and sewerage systems in the eastern Prefectures, with the help of additional investments
after its completion from other donors. Nonetheless, there remain a variety ofchallenges in terms of the operation and maintenance of the systems in local small cities.
That is, there is still a lot of room for improvements. The decentralization program ofthe system that has been carried out under the auspices of IDB in some cities has beenyielding a good effect, but it has limitation in funding. In order to solve these
problems, it is essential to change the water rates proportionately.
3.2 Recommendations[For the government of El Salvador and ANDA]
・It is necessary for the government of El Salvador to stipulate the basic water law,
thereby establishing an appropriate schedule of water rates and developing a modern
legal framework so that the conservation of water environment can be enhanced bywastewater treatment.
・It is vitally important to alleviate financial constraints to solve a variety of issues
accumulated in the sector of water supply and sewerage systems. The key lies inchanging the water rates. The government of El Salvador should raise the water
rates as quickly as possible to an appropriate level and give flexibility to the current
nationally uniform schedules of water rates based upon logical reasoning without
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being influenced by political affairs.
・ANDA is required to address the following issues in order to improve the planning,
operation and maintenance of local water supply and sewerage systems.
➢To delegate authorities in terms of budget, planning and procurement to the local
office that is closest to the site and users (residents and city government: theheadquarters focus on macro-level budget and planning, developing the capacity of
local offices, and monitoring evaluation.)➢To design medium and long-term and comprehensive plans for each city
➢Proper maintenance and management of water sources: to carry out surveys onwater sources➢To reduce the rate of non-revenue water➢To improve the operation of water supply systems that have a limited water source(particularly the control of water distribution)➢To strengthen the operation and maintenance system (specially of equipment) at
the East Office➢To promote decentralization that makes it possible to improve the operation andmaintenance of systems; Note that there is room for improvement concerning
cooperation system between an entrusted organization and ANDA (in particular,
financial aspect)➢To select cities that have top priority and investigate and formulate a plan to
introduce a sewerage system for those cities➢To carry out activities to educate and disseminate information about the importanceof wastewater treatment and toilets being connected to sewer pipes
There are many problems to be addressed in the water supply and sewerage sector.
However, a considerable amount of additional investments has been injected after thecompletion of this project. Hence, it is not necessary for JBIC to follow up the projectin specifics.
3.3 Lessons Learned
・In order to keep the sustainability of water supply and sewerage services, it is essential
to have a schedule of water rates which is logically decided without being influenced
by political affairs and also to have a mechanism to secure funds continuously for theoperation and maintenance and repairs and expansion of the facilities.
・It is believed that especially for the infrastructure project in local cities performance
will improve if an office that is closest to the infrastructure scattered in local small
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cities designs a plan and executes the plan and it takes responsibilities for the operationand maintenance of facilities by eliminating the excessive centralization of authorities
in its management.
Comparison of main plans and achievement
Item
OutputImprovement of watersupply and seweragesystems
Duration
Project costs
Foreign capital
Domestic capital
Total
ODA loans out of the total

Plans

Plans executed

34 cities

Improvement of watersupply system: 41 cities
Sewerage system: 7 cities

March 1993 ~October 1996

February 1995 ~December 2000

¥ 3,509,000,000¥ 399,000,000¥ 3,908,000,000¥ 1,210,000,000¥ 3,418,000,000¥ 781,000,000¥ 4,199,000,000¥ 1,191,000,000

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