The Allocation of Water Resources in the Bogotá Savanna Region: Case Study.

The Bogotá Savanna is a fertile Andean plateau located in the central region of Colombia. It is an important agricultural region, and the most industrialized and densely populated area of the country. In this region, human consumption demands most of the available water; the development of the agricultural, energy, and industry sectors is highly dependent on water availability. Water scarcity is prevalent in some rural areas of the region and becomes more severe during the months of January, February, July and August. Therefore, decisions related to water allocation are of the large economic importance. Since the sixties, a series of regulations and institutional arrangements were devised to allocate water among the different users in this region. However, the efficiency, transparency and equity of those institutional mechanisms and regulations leave much to be desired. This is case study illustrates this situation by applying the analytical framework of the World Development Report (WDR) 2003.