Why Bogotá Should Worry About Its Water

Waterfalls descend to a large reservoir surrounded by forest.
The Chuza River flows into the Chuza Reservoir in Chingaza National Park, Bogotá's main source of water. John Vizcaino/Reuters

Why Bogotá Should Worry About Its Water

  1. LUCY SHERRIFF
 JUN 13, 2018
Colombia’s capital depends on a unique ecosystem called páramos for its water supply. Environmental advocates warn that the páramos are now threatened by climate change and other factors.
Colombia’s capital Bogotá relies on a unique ecosystem called páramos for its water. The tropical plants and moss in the páramo act like a sponge, trapping moisture from the foggy air, storing it in the soil during the dry season, and releasing it gradually.
One páramo, in Chingaza National Park east of Bogotá, provides the city with 70 percent of its water. The remaining amount is from the páramos named Sumapaz, to the south of the city, and Guerrero, to the north.
Chingaza’s water is naturally filtered by the páramo, meaning that it needs minimal filtering for human consumption. It is stored in the Chuza Dam; from there, it flows through an underground aqueduct to the San Rafael Reservoir, located in the municipality of La Calera. In case of drought or other incidents, the reservoir holds enough water to supply the capital city for three months.
Although the ecosystem, which is only found in Central and South America, has quenched the thirst of the people of Bogotá for decades, it is now under threat due to farming, coal mining, and climate change. And according to environmental advocates, there’s no back-up plan.
A general view of Bogotá. The 11 million people in the metropolitan area depend on the páramos for water. (Henry Romero/Reuters)
“An increase in temperature will generate changes in the structure and composition of the fauna and flora in the páramos,” said Patricia Bejarano, the land-use planning manager at Conservation International Colombia. “When this happens, it will put the availability of water at risk. To date, there are no other options to provide Bogotá with water.”
Colombia is one of the most water-rich countries in the world, with nearly 50,000 cubic meters (or 1.8 million cubic feet) of water available per person, per year. But according to the OECD, because of a mismatch between where the population is concentrated and available water, more than one-third of the urban population already lives under water stress.
“It’s worrying how highly vulnerable the páramos are,” Bejarano said. “If action isn’t taken now, the consequences will be incredibly difficult. And it’s not something the citizens of Bogotá are even aware of.” Bogotá has 8 million residents and 11 million people live in the urban area.
But Empresa de Acueducto y Alcantarillado de Bogotá (EAAB), the public authority in charge of Bogotá’s water supply, said there is no cause for alarm. When asked what the future of Bogotá’s water looked like, spokesperson Maria Fernanda García replied: “It looks fine.”
“We have various systems of reservoirs that are used to regulate the sources,” she told CityLab. “These are used to supply water for the city, so in terms of quantity, we are not worried.”
In answer to whether the levels of water in the páramo had decreased in recent years, García said “no,” and added: “We cannot extract a bigger volume of water from the reservoir than what the water basin produces.”

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