Regulator: 34% of water not apt for consumption

Thirty-four percent of Colombians receive water that is not apt for human consumption, Evamaría Uribe Tobón, head of the country's residential public services regulator (Superservicios), said. Uribe made the announcement during a presentation of the waterworks sector. She added that last year, of every 100 pesos transferred by the national government to municipalities, 61 pesos went to water and sewerage works, versus 70 pesos in 2003. Regarding investigations, 573 were conducted in 2004, up 237% from the previous year; penalties last year reached 1.794bn pesos (US$776,000). The majority of penalties were for not submitting rates information (30.9%), followed by non-submission of financial tax information (13.7%) and water quality (10%).