United States Works to Reduce Water Pollution in Central America

By Nancy L. Pontius

Helping clean up Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua was the goal of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) team that visited Nicaragua in July at the request of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

"Wastewater, debris and agricultural runoff directly enter these lakes, which is a common problem in other areas of Central America as well as in the developing world," Al Korgi, EPA Region 4 international activities coordinator, told America.gov.

EPA's assistance, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), complements other USAID projects under the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). Under this pact, USAID and EPA provide technical assistance in five Central American countries - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua - plus the Dominican Republic.

"The environmental commitments of CAFTA-DR are fulfilled with support from the U.S. through the agreement between USAID and the Central American Commission of Environment and Development," Rubén Alemán, USAID's CAFTA environmental specialist, told America.gov.

USAID's Central America and Mexico program helps the region meet the environmental commitments of CAFTA-DR, reduce threats to biodiversity, and establish the groundwork for a healthy process of environmental development, Alemán said.

One arm of the program is USAID's wastewater management program, which:

. Helps the countries establish and strengthen their wastewater pollution-control standards.

. Assists water and wastewater laboratories in achieving international accreditation for data quality assurance (and obtaining results that will stand up in court).

. Develops operator-training materials for future wastewater-treatment plants. These plants will use biological treatment that is sustainable and appropriate for the tropical climate, Alemán said.

Each CAFTA-DR country has goals to increase the amount of domestic wastewater that will be treated by 2015, Alemán said. For example, El Salvador currently treats about 3 percent of its wastewater; it plans to increase treatment to 49 percent over the next seven years.

These nations are working with the United States to improve their environmental practices, according to EPA's Korgi. "Currently, a significant portion of industrial discharges into water bodies are not monitored or regulated," he said.

In addition, "throughout the region, solid-waste disposal and management is generally a challenge," he said. "However, a number of cities are making significant efforts to have adequate disposal facilities for solid wastes."

With heavy rainfall, soil erosion is also a concern. Poor land-management practices, like deforestation, can lead to landslides in areas with little vegetation, Korgi said. Eroded soil transports fertilizers and pesticides into water bodies, and carries contaminants leached from municipal and industrial solid wastes deposited in open dumps.

"CAFTA-DR environmental agencies have asked for help to tackle these difficult pollution problems," Korgi said.

MODEL CENTRAL AMERICA WASTEWATER TREATMENT REGULATION

EPA is helping the countries to strengthen their wastewater pollution-control requirements through a six-year effort to implement the Model Central America Wastewater Treatment Regulation.

Consistent wastewater-pollution regulations throughout Central America will provide a level economic playing field for all Central American businesses and investors, Korgi said, in addition to helping protect the environment.

Implementing the model regulation involves setting up a regulatory program based on the suggested template, but with modifications to realistically adapt to the needs of these countries, he said.

To control water pollution, EPA recommends that the countries:

. identify every entity that currently discharges waste into a water body and then monitor what is discharged;

. improve laboratory capabilities to accurately test discharges and water quality and obtain results legally admissible as evidence;

. develop a permitting program to control discharges;

. create a compliance infrastructure to enforce these permits;

. increase public participation; and

. improve watershed management, such as reducing agricultural runoff by planting vegetation to act as absorbing buffer zones before runoff reaches a lake.

Undertaking all these steps is an ambitious goal, Korgi said. Even though the countries have said this program is exactly what they need and they are making progress, it will take time to build this regulatory control structure.

Along the way, he said, difficulties must be overcome, including lack of communication, duplication of responsibilities between different government agencies, and limited staff and resources.

NICARAGUA

In Nicaragua, EPA offered suggestions for managing overlapping jurisdictions of different Nicaraguan government agencies as part of the agency's recommendations for watershed management, Tom McCully, EPA's senior adviser on international water affairs, told America.gov.

Lake Nicaragua, the largest freshwater lake in Central America, is an important part of the country's economy, one aspect of which includes plans to farm and export fish to the United States, Korgi said.

"Nicaraguans want to ensure that any exported fish meet USDA standards, as well as making sure fish are raised under national environmental standards," he said. "However, increased water pollution currently found in Lake Nicaragua could hinder this."

Use of Lake Nicaragua as a source of drinking water is another reason to continue progress on cleaning up the lake. Unfortunately, growth in population, trade and agriculture usually increases the potential for water pollution, Korgi said, which heightens the need for regulatory controls.

"The continuous involvement of the national health and environmental agencies, the private sector and other stakeholders is critical in the development of a coherent and sustainable approach to wastewater management," Alemán said.

Source: U.S. Department of State

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