In October, Colombians will elect mayors and councilors for the next four years. This decision will also influence public services and one of the reasons for this to happen has to do with Law 142 of 1994, which sets the rules of the game for the rates paid by citizens for aqueduct and sewerage services.
The rule also stipulates the conditions under which subsidies are delivered for these public services. And at that point that the people elected can have an important role, since these subsidies are the power of the municipalities or districts that process them through agreed projects that go through the councils of each locality.
However, the law sets maximum limits. For stratum 1, the maximum allowable value of the subsidy is 70%; for stratum 2, 40% and for stratum 3, 15%. Stratum 4 pays a full rate, that is, it neither has a subsidy nor makes a contribution. Lastly, strata 5, 6, commercial and industrial do not receive subsidies and, on the contrary, contribute to the subsidies of the lowest strata.
“The amount of the subsidy determined by each municipality is applied to the fixed charge and is applied exclusively to basic consumption. Let us remember that this basic consumption is what satisfies the essential needs of a family, which in the case of Medellín is 13 cubic meters per month”, explains Ángela Isaza Berrío, a professional from EPM’s Water and Sanitation Commercial Department.
The basic consumption in Colombia is classified depending on the altitude above sea level: at a lower altitude the norm says that a family needs more water to satisfy its basic needs. For example, for an average altitude below 1,000 m asl, the basic consumption is set at 16 cubic meters. For an average altitude between 1,000 and 2,000 m asl, the basic consumption is set at 13 cubic meters and for an altitude above 2,000 m asl it is set at 11 cubic meters.
Funds and municipalities
Isaza explained that one of the main responsibilities of the municipalities in relation to aqueduct and sewerage rates is to create solidarity funds for subsidies and maintain a correct stratification of the properties: “In addition to covering with the local budget the shortage that occurs in what is collected from the contributions of strata 5, 6, commercial and industrial and what is required for the subsidies”, he explained.
It is worth remembering that the municipal councils and the mayor or mayoress of each municipality have the power to create, through municipal agreements, the percentages of subsidies and contributions that will be applied in each term and that these agreements can be in force between one and five years. .
In Medellín, for example, Agreement 49 of 2021 is in force, which increased the aqueduct and sewerage subsidy for stratum 1 from 60 to 66% and from 12.5 to 15% for stratum 3. The values for stratum 2 were not modified in that Agreement because they were already at 40%, the maximum allowed by law.
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