This report identifies opportunities and challenges for local financing of water utilities in Peru and suggests recommendations for removing barriers and creating incentives for scaling-up local financing to local water utilities. It was developed with an understanding that meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in water and sanitation in Peru will require scaling up local financing for the sector and that efficiency and effectiveness can be enhanced by greater involvement of local institutional investors and other parties. This joint study exposes many of the barriers to local private financing facing the urban water supply and sewerage (WS&S) sector in Peru. In short, the majority of local water utilities cannot meet credit rating and governance standards required to access private financing. Consequently, loans from financial markets are rare. These findings are probably not specific to Peru. Accordingly, there is great value for central governments to undertake similarly detailed studies to identify the obstacles preventing access to local financing unique to their country's WS&S sector. | Este informe identifica oportunidades y retos para el financiamiento local de las Empresas de Agua (EPS) en Perú y sugiere recomendaciones para eliminar las barreras y crear los incentivos que permitan expandir el financiamiento local a las EPS. Fue desarrollado partiendo de la premisa de que el logro de los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio en Perú, en materia de agua y saneamiento, requerirá la expansión del financiamiento privado al sector; asimismo, que es posible incrementar la eficacia y la eficiencia de las EPS por medio de una mayor participación de inversores institucionales locales y otros actores.

Stream water quality is controlled by the interaction of natural and anthropogenic factors over a range of temporal and spatial scales. Among these anthropogenic factors, land cover changes at catchment scale can affect stream water quality. This work aims to evaluate the influence of land use and seasonality on stream water quality in a representative tropical headwater catchment named as Córrego Água Limpa (Sao Paulo, Brasil), which is highly influenced by intensive agricultural activities and urban areas. Two systematic sampling approach campaigns were implemented with six sampling points along the stream of the headwater catchment to evaluate water quality during the rainy and dry seasons. Three replicates were collected at each sampling point in 2011. Electrical conductivity, nitrates, nitrites, sodium superoxide, Chemical Oxygen Demand (DQO), colour, turbidity, suspended solids, soluble solids and total solids were measured. Water quality parameters differed among sampling points, being lower at the headwater sampling point (0m above sea level), and then progressively higher until the last downstream sampling point (2500m above sea level). For the dry season, the mean discharge was 39.5ls⁻¹ (from April to September) whereas 113.0ls⁻¹ were averaged during the rainy season (from October to March). In addition, significant temporal and spatial differences were observed (P<0.05) for the fourteen parameters during the rainy and dry period. The study enhance significant relationships among land use and water quality and its temporal effect, showing seasonal differences between the land use and water quality connection, highlighting the importance of multiple spatial and temporal scales for understanding the impacts of human activities on catchment ecosystem services.

The evaluation of the quality of the water used for irrigation in agriculture is of great importance for the environmentand human health. The continuous use of contaminated water causes pollution to soil and cultivated crops, causing variousdiseases associated with consumption of contaminated vegetables. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the qualityof irrigation water of three water bodies: artesian wells, cacimbas (kind of graves that collect water from swampy lands) andstreams, used in the Nova Esperança Agricultural Community, located between a peripheral urban area and a native forestin Manaus - AM. Potentially toxic metals (PTM): Cd, Cu, Co, Fe, Ni, Mn and Zn were evaluated using atomic absorptionspectrometry by flame and bacteriological analyses (total and faecal coliforms) by filter membrane method. The results showedhigh levels of total and faecal coliforms, 89,3% in water samples collected in the three water bodies, as well as high levels of TPM, especially Cd and Pb extremely toxic. Statistical tests showed the influence of the seasonal period on the average concentrations of the PTM and there is not meaning difference of these contaminants on the different water bodies during the period of this study. = A avaliação da qualidade da água utilizada para a irrigação no meio agrícola é relevante tanto para o meio ambiente, quanto para a saúde humana. O uso contínuo de água contaminada acarreta poluição ao solo e às culturas cultivadas, transmitindo doenças por meio do consumo de hortaliças contaminadas. Desse modo, objetivou-se com esse trabalho avaliar a qualidade da água de irrigação de três corpos hídricos: poço, cacimba e igarapé, utilizada na Comunidade Agrícola Nova Esperança, localizada entre uma área urbana periférica e uma floresta nativa na cidade de Manaus – AM. Foram avaliados os metaispotencialmente tóxicos (MPT): Cd, Cu, Co, Fe, Ni, Mn, Pb e Zn, utilizando espectrometria de absorção atômica por chama e medidas bacteriológicas (coliformes totais e fecais) pelo método de membrana filtrante. Os resultados indicam altos índices de coliformes totais e fecais, 89,3% nas amostras de água coletadas nos três corpos hídricos: poço, cacimba e igarapé da área de estudo, assim como elevados níveis de MPT, com destaque para Cd e Pb extremamente tóxicos. Os testes estatísticos mostraram que há influência do período sazonal sobre as concentrações médias dos MPT e que não existem diferenças significativas destes contaminantes, entre os diferentes corpos hídricos, durante todo o período estudado.

El agua residual urbana depurada proveniente de la planta depuradora de Orgiva (Granada) puede ser utilizada, sin restricciones, para el riego de la mayoria de los cultivos, ya que su contenido en sales, elementos toxicos y solidos en suspension es escaso. Su aporte, en un experimento de invernadero, al sistema suelo-planta provoco un aumento de la conductividad del extracto de saturacion del suelo y de los niveles de Na y B en suelo y planta, aunque ellos no resultaron perjudiciales para un cultivo de tomate.

We studied the total nitrogen (TN) concentration, the total phosphorus (TP) concentration, and the TN/TP ratios in 12 reservoirs located in the southern Iberian Peninsula, to study the influence of land-use in the reservoir watershed on the trophic status of these systems. The TN/TP ratios indicated limitation by P or co-limitation depending on the system. Only the percentage of agriculture areas significantly classified the reservoirs by their P and N concentrations, while the percentage of urban areas also grouped the reservoirs by their N contents, according to the univariate tree regression analyses. We found a positive relationship between the percentage of agriculture areas and the trophic state of the reservoirs, according to the Carlson index (TSI), that indicates a deterioration in water quality in the reservoirs induced by agricultural activity. | Se examinan los contenidos de nitrógeno total (NT), fósforo total (PT) y las relaciones NT/PT, en 12 embalses del sur-este de la Península Ibérica, con objeto de indagar en la influencia del uso del suelo en las cuencas de captación sobre el estado trófico de estos sistemas. Los embalses mostraron relaciones NT/PT que indican limitación por P o co-limitación según el sistema considerado. Según los análisis de regresión en árbol univariados efectuados, sólo el porcentaje de áreas cultivadas clasifica significativamente a los embalses por sus contenidos en P y N, mientras el porcentaje de áreas urbanas agrupa, además, a los embalses por los contenidos en N. La relación positiva encontrada entre el porcentaje de áreas cultivadas y el estado trófico de los embalses, cuantificado según el índice de Carlson (TSI), indica un deterioro en la calidad del agua en los embalses inducido por la actividad agrícola.