wastewater

Wastewater in Bogotá includes domestic sewage, greywater, industrial effluents, and stormwater runoff entering the city’s combined drainage network. Bogotá’s main wastewater-treatment facility is the El Salitre Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), operated under the Bogotá River Restoration Programme. After its expansion, the plant deals approximately 7 m³/s of wastewater (equivalent to around 600000 m³/day) (AKTOR/CEPS Consortium, 2020).

Wastewater that is not captured or fully treated enters the three main urban tributaries—Salitre, Fucha, and Tunjuelo rivers—which flow into the Bogotá River. Historically, a large proportion of Bogotá’s wastewater was discharged untreated into these rivers, a pattern the treatment plant upgrades aim to reverse (World Bank, 2023).