The Bogotá Environment Secretariat and the CAR signed an agreement to optimize the treatment plant, with an investment totaling $250 million.
On Monday, the Bogotá Department of the Environment and the Cundinamarca Regional Autonomous Corporation (CAR) signed an agreement to expand and renovate the El Salitre wastewater treatment plant (PTAR).
According to environmental authorities, this will optimize and improve the plant’s operations, resulting in proper wastewater treatment and disinfection of the Bogotá River.
According to Environment Secretary Susana Muhamad—who signed the agreement alongside CAR Acting Director Néstor Guillermo Franco, the Bogotá Water and Sewer Company, and representatives from the Engativá and Suba communities—the plant will serve to improve water quality in the region.
«We want to make it clear that the administration is committed to working in partnership with environmental organizations and citizens to protect wetlands; we are committed to expanding protected areas in a thoughtful manner; and we are working to create ecological connectivity, which is what the city needs,» Muhamad explained.
For his part, the acting director of the CAR, Néstor Guillermo Franco, stated that the project «is secured thanks to the corporation’s own funds, the commitment and support of the World Bank, with which a loan of nearly 250 million dollars was secured for the treatment plant’s optimization works.».
The project is expected to upgrade the plant to secondary treatment and increase its capacity from four cubic meters to eight cubic meters, which—according to the Bogotá Water and Sewerage Company— is essential for treating the 100% of wastewater from the Salitre River basin, which is crucial for the remediation of the Bogotá River.
