individuals living in an urban area in a developing country place on basin protection when the
protection is designed to enhance the water supply for human consumption.
The Water Supply Service in Loja, Ecuador
Loja’s water supply and sewer system administration UMAPAL (Unidad Municipal de Agua
Potable y Alcantarillado) provides and maintains the city’s potable water and wastewater
services. Potable water prices are based on the volume of water consumed according to five use
categories: residential (84.9 percent of costumers), commercial (11.9 percent), industrial (0.04
percent), government (0.8 percent) and senior citizens (2.3 percent). According to UMAPAL’s
records, the average price paid by all consumers in Loja is about $0.18/m3. Residential
households which account for the majority of the consumers pay $0.13/m3 and industrial
consumers pay about $0.89/m3, the highest tariff, or price, among all the user categories. In
2006, UMAPAL provided water services to 24,587 households in Loja (NCI, 2006).
The “El Carmen” micro-basin covers an area of about 1,000 hectares and the “San
Simon” basin has an area of about 600 hectares. The two micro-basins have an average altitude
of 2,500 m above sea level, a maximum altitude of about 3,400 m above sea level and an average
annual precipitation of approximately 1,400 mm. Water from these two micro-basins account for
43 percent of the city’s water supply.
The “El Carmen” micro-basin has a population of 82 individuals living in 14 households,
and the “San Simon” micro-basin has a population of 210 individuals living in 40 households.
Over time, human activities in both basins have adversely affected water quality and increased
the risk water can be dependably supplied to Loja. For example, Benavides and Solano (2005)
found a variety of coliforms in water samples taken from the “San Simon” creek. The coliform