Servicios de Abastecimiento y Saneamiento - La Tribuna del Agua

SERVICIOS DE ABASTECIMIENTO Y SANEAMIENTO
INCLUSION OF INTEREST GROUPS
IN THE SANITATION OF BASINS:
CASE STUDY – RIVER BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA
Jorge Enrique Pizano Callejas
ABSTRACT:
Recognizing responsibilities, participation
and the interests of bodies and different interest
groups plays a fundamental role in the collective
and structured construction for the environmental
and ecological recovery of water bodies. In Latin
America, as in many other developing areas
water bodies have suffered a serious deterioration
as they have been used as recipients for dumping
municipal sewage. This situation has awoken the
interest of various parties who, on an individual
basis, have undertaken actions to improve the
environmental conditions within their own orbit:
among others, political, legal, regulatory, punitive,
engineering, education, citizen participation, research
and funding topics.
The interest in environmentally recovering the
river Bogotá in Colombia – of strategic importan-
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RESÚMENES
ce at regional and national levels and because of
its size as it runs for 375 kilometres and a surface
draining area of 5,695 square kilometres – led to
the formulation of the “Sanitation of the river Bogotá”
project. This project organised the various
bodies and re-examined the participation of the
communities within the framework of social and
economic co-responsibility through actions that
strengthen and promote recognition, evaluation
and integrated participation to make possible project
of this scale.
KEYWORDS:
Sanitation of basins – river Bogotá, environmental
and ecological recovery, organisation of
bodies and community, all-embracing recognition,
evaluation and participation.