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WaterSeverity: Moderate

Páramo ecosystems and Bogotá's water supply

Most of Bogotá's drinking water originates in high-Andean páramo ecosystems that are sensitive to land use and climate change.

Bogotá · Colombia

01 · The problem

What is happening

Páramos are high-altitude Andean grasslands and wetlands whose mosses, soils and plants such as frailejones store and slowly release water. Bogotá draws much of its supply from páramo areas including Chingaza. Colombia has delimited páramos and restricted mining and agriculture within them by law, but they remain vulnerable to cattle grazing, potato farming, fire and warming temperatures. A drought linked to El Niño led Bogotá to introduce water rationing in 2024.

Moderate severity. Material effects on people or ecosystems; actively managed. Severity is descriptive editorial metadata summarising documented effects. It is not a measured index or a score.

02 · Causes

Why it is happening

  1. 01

    Agricultural expansion

    Potato farming and cattle grazing encroach on páramo land.

  2. 02

    Mining pressure

    Mining interests have historically targeted páramo areas.

  3. 03

    Warming and changing rainfall

    Higher temperatures and altered rainfall stress high-mountain ecosystems.

03 · Impacts

Who and what it affects

  1. 01

    Water supply risk

    Degraded páramos regulate water less effectively, especially in dry periods.

  2. 02

    Biodiversity loss

    Páramos host many endemic plant species.

  3. 03

    Rationing during drought

    Low reservoir levels can force supply restrictions for millions of residents.

04 · Solutions

Documented approaches

  1. Legal protection of páramos

    Colombian law restricts mining and certain agriculture within delimited páramos.

    Expected effectLimits the most damaging land uses.

  2. Water funds and payment for ecosystem services

    Water users fund conservation by upstream communities.

    Expected effectAligns downstream water security with upstream stewardship.

  3. Demand management

    Tariffs, awareness campaigns and rationing during drought.

    Expected effectReduces consumption when supply is stressed.

Explore an illustrative What-If

05 · Key indicators

What can be measured

No reliable quantitative indicator is included for this issue. TerraLens shows figures only where a credible source supports them — consult the sources below for current data.

06 · Sources

Where this comes from

  1. [1]Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales (IDEAM)Government of Colombiaideam.gov.co(opens in a new tab)
  2. [2]Parques Nacionales Naturales de ColombiaGovernment of Colombiaparquesnacionales.gov.co(opens in a new tab)
  3. [3]Acueducto de Bogotá (EAAB)Empresa de Acueducto y Alcantarillado de Bogotáacueducto.com.co(opens in a new tab)

Links open the publishing organisation's site. Some point to the publisher's main page, where the named report or dataset can be found.

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