Latin America: water crises require bold investments and strategic alliances, IDB president says

“Latin America is facing multiple water crises with far-reaching consequences for health, food security, renewable energy sources and export competitiveness,” says Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

“In Latin America, water is more intimately linked to development than any other region of the world,” Moreno said during a multimedia presentation, Latin American Solutions to the Water and Sanitation Crisis, presented at the Development Congress of the International Water Association (IWA) [1].

Even though Latin America is in a position to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals for access to safe water, around 85 million persons in this region still lack a water connection to their homes and 110 million lack access to proper sewage.sewerage system.

The IDB is working with several governments to create climate change mitigation plans and help build infrastructure that can resist more severe weather.

[1] IWA Development Congress, 15-19 November 2009, Mexico City

See also: IDB fact sheet – Water: a threatened resource in Latin America and the Caribbean, 17 Nov 2009

Related news:

• Central America: water conservation alert, Source Weekly, 19 October 2009
• Bolivia, Haiti: IDB, Spain provide US$ 139 million for water and sanitation, Source Weekly, 17 Nov 2009

Related web sites:

• IDB – Water & Sanitation
• Spanish Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean
• FEMSA Foundation

Contact: Federico Basañes, Chief, IDB Water and Sanitation Division, e-mail: federicob@iadb.org

Source: IDB, 16 Nov 2009

Keywords

• Latin America & Caribbean
• Financing
• Water resources management
• Water supply