Opportunity for Dutch Water Sector Collaboration in El Salvador
El Salvador is experiencing considerable challenges in its drinking water management. These issues reached crisis level early this year when an unusual algal bloom affected the Lempa river, one of the most important drinking water sources in the country.
In January, a Rapid Response Team (RRT), consisting of representatives of IHE Delft, TU Delft and the Stockholm Environmental Institute, visited El Salvador to conduct a rapid assessment. The RRT compiled a findings report indicating the key areas for action in the short term and providing recommendations for long term water management in the country. Following up on this initial diagnostic-oriented mission, EL Salvador intends to identify the technology and expertise that local authorities and entities need to tackle these challenges.
Acknowledging the expertise of the Dutch water sector and considering it a potential key partner in solving these issues, the Embassy of El Salvador in the Netherlands is reaching out to the Dutch water sector through the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP) to invite organisations with the right expertise to collaborate in implementing these short and long term initiatives. To coordinate this request for Dutch water expertise, NWP has published a public call for private and public organisations and NGOs to express their interest in learning more about upcoming opportunities to collaborate with El Salvador.
Areas of expertise required:
- Short term
- River algae bloom management
- Environmental planning consultancy
- Monitoring, modelling and optimisation of water systems
- Nature-based solutions for reservoir pre-treatment
- Long term
- Waste water technologies and water treatment
- Drinking water technologies
- Integrated water resource management
- Financial consultancy for public projects
- Storm water management, rural and urban
- Water governance capacity building
Registration for this public call can be submitted via this form by 20 March. In the next few weeks, registered organisations will be invited to an online information session to learn more on the Rapid Response Team’s findings, meet a representative from the Embassy of El Salvador and discuss how to move forward.
For further details and/or questions, please contact NWP Project Officer Latin America, Noortje Pellens at n.pellens@nwp.nl.
From left to right: Gerald Corzo Perez (Senior Lecturer/Researcher in Hydroinformatics at IHE Delft), Gaetano Casale (Manager Liaison Office at IHE Delft), Bianca Nijhof (Managing Director at NWP), Agustin Vasquez Gomez (Ambassador of El Salvador in the Netherlands), Noortje Pellens (Project Officer Latin America at NWP), Janett Tapia (Project Manager Urban Resilience at NWP).