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ETAPA's Tariff-Funded Protection of Parque Nacional Cajas (Cuenca, Ecuador)

Ecuador · Cuenca · See the Ecuador profile

Cuenca's municipal utility ETAPA has co-managed the ~29,000-hectare Parque Nacional Cajas — source of the rivers that supply the city's drinking water — since 2000, funded in part by a dedicated water-tariff surcharge on Cuenca's water bills.

ETAPA's Tariff-Funded Protection of Parque Nacional Cajas (Cuenca, Ecuador)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
ETAPA EP (Empresa Pública Municipal de Telecomunicaciones, Agua Potable, Alcantarillado y Saneamiento de Cuenca)
Period
{'end': '', 'start': '2000'}
Keywords
municipal water utility, páramo conservation, national park co-management, tariff-funded watershed protection

Context

The Tomebamba, Yanuncay, Mazán and Migüir rivers, which supply drinking water to Cuenca, Ecuador, all rise in Parque Nacional Cajas, a high-Andean páramo landscape of more than 230 glacially formed lakes covering close to 29,000 hectares. Ecuador's Ministry of the Environment holds formal authority over the park, but since 2000 has delegated day-to-day administration to ETAPA EP, Cuenca's municipal water, telecommunications and sanitation utility.

Activities

ETAPA funds part of this work through a dedicated share of Cuenca's drinking-water tariff, channelling water-bill revenue directly into protecting the recharge zone that keeps treatment costs down, rather than relying solely on general municipal budgets.

Results

The park's near-pristine condition helped it gain UNESCO Biosphere Reserve recognition in 2013 (as part of the wider Macizo del Cajas reserve) and Ramsar wetland status. Because Cajas also feeds the Paute River hydroelectric complex, which supplies a large share of Ecuador's electricity, the watershed's value extends beyond Cuenca's own tap water, though no quantified estimate of avoided treatment costs was found.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Funded through a dedicated share of Cuenca's water tariff rather than a large discrete capital programme — a moderate, ongoing operating cost rather than major infrastructure spend.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Delegated management has run continuously since 2000, a quarter-century-long arrangement, placing this in the long timeline band.
Staffing & skills
ETAPA EP (municipal water, telecoms and sanitation utility), Ecuador's Ministry of the Environment (formal park authority)

Conditions for success

  • formal delegation agreement giving the water utility direct management responsibility for its own source watershed
  • dedicated tariff surcharge tying utility revenue directly to catchment protection funding
  • near-pristine park condition supporting UNESCO Biosphere and Ramsar recognition

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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