The program for modernization and strengthening of Water Management – PROAGUA II – supports the implementation of an ambitious reorganization process in the Peruvian water supply and sanitation (WSS) sector.

The “Modernization of Water Management Act” (Ley de Modernización de los Servicios de Saneamiento Nº 30045) and the establishment of a new sectoral organization OTASS (Organismo Técnico de Administración de los Servicios de Saneamiento) make up the basis of the process.

WSS companies which do not comply with certain performance requirements, will be put under a transitional administrative body (Régimen de Apoyo Transitorio, RAT) in order to improve the service situation.

AKUT and its partner COMO Consult GmbH have been contracted to work in three compontents of PROAGUA II:

1. Implementation of the “Modernization of Water Management Act”
2. Improvement of performances of WSS through the transitional administrative body (RAT)
3. Improvement of wastewater treatment management in WSS companies

Timeframe of the project will be 4 years.

As part of the World Bank project “Faecal Sludge Management: Diagnostic Tools and Guidelines for Service Delivery in Poor Urban Areas” AKUT was commissioned in May 2014 with the implementation of surveys related to faecal sludge management in Lima, Peru. These surveys are part of a worldwide investigation that takes place in five cities on four continents.

This involves conducting a household survey (720 households) and focus group discussions, collecting and analysing faecal sludge samples and undertaking and documenting transect walks and field observations.

The project runs until September 2014.

Since October 2013 AKUT is active on behalf of GIZ in Brazil within the German Climate Technology Initiative (DKTI). The project takes place until September 2015 and promotes the energetic use of biogas in the wastewater sector.

The project supports the Brazilian energy planning authority EPE (Empresa de Pesquisa Energética) in the analysis of the biogas potential in Brazil, as well as in the identification of successful biogas business models for and barriers to the economic utilisation of anaerobe technologies, so that this information can be used for key stakeholders in the biogas sector. Throughout of the project four pilot and demonstration projects will be initiated.

Information on energy demand and gas potential of the systems is required in order to improve energy efficiency and the energetic use of biogas in sewage treatment plants. To determine the biogas potential and to develop proposals for future wastewater treatment projects a measurement campaign at ten selected wastewater treatment plants will be carried out.