ECLAC’s Natural Resources Division organized the workshop “Development of capacities to promote investments in the drinking water and sanitation sector, with a circular economy approach” with the support of UNPDF, GIZ and Aguas Andinas.

Last Tuesday, January 31, 2023, the workshop “Development of capacities to promote investments in the drinking water and sanitation sector with a circular economy approach” was organized at the El Trebal de Aguas Sewage Treatment Plant. Andinas, a company that supplies drinking water and sanitation to Santiago de Chile. The Workshop was organized within the framework of the projects “Potable Water, Sanitation and Renewable Energies in El Salvador, Mexico and Panama” (UNPDF) and “Transformative reactivation: Overcoming the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic” (GIZ), and was organized in conjunction with the Regional Water Dialogues of Latin America and the Caribbean 2023.

The day began with technical presentations by ECLAC specialists, after which a space for exchange and dialogue was opened to share experiences and challenges recognized by national authorities.

On behalf of ECLAC, Dr. Silvia Saravia Matus began by presenting ECLAC’s circular economy approach for the drinking water and sanitation sector. Throughout her intervention, she shared more details of the ongoing projects financed by the United Nations Fund for Peace and Development and the German Cooperation that seek to promote principles of circularity to gain energy efficiency on the one hand and recovery waste for another. Diego Fernández and Alfredo Montañez, official consultants of ECLAC’s Natural Resources Division, presented the methane recovery opportunities, focusing on the study carried out by ECLAC published in 2022. Likewise, Pedro Chavarro, official consultant of the Natural Resources Division, presented a vision of the energy use of the drinking water and sanitation sector, highlighting the energy intensity of the sector and a roadmap on how to transform it through better planning and investment. in key stages of the purification and sanitation process. To close, Professor Antonio Santos, an expert in nutrient recovery issues as a circular economy option for wastewater treatment, participated.

Presentations can be found and downloaded at the following link.

Next, the representatives of the drinking water and sanitation authorities, from El Salvador (ANDA, ASA) and Panama (IDAAN and CONAGUA), presented the specific contexts of their respective countries, the current situation and their capacity building needs. . The authorities emphasized issues such as investment in infrastructure, energy efficiency, innovation, but also issues such as monitoring, regulation and visualization of water prices to advance towards the goals of SDG 6. These needs will be consolidated in a diagnosis and training material in order to Promote investment plans in the drinking water and sanitation sector under a circular economy approach for the entire region.

The workshop ended with a presentation by Aguas Andinas. The different processes and functions of the Mapocho-Trebal biofactory were exposed, and the circular economy approach in the treatment of wastewater, such as methane recovery, which the company is carrying out, as well as the distribution of sludge to improve the floors. The company is a pioneer in implementing the principles of the circular economy, as well as raising green bonds to finance infrastructure projects and improvements.