The city of Guatemala is the central core of socio-economic activities of the country, and has a population of 2.1 million and an area of 1,100 km2. This area can be divided into the Motagua River Basin on the Caribbean Sea side and the Maria Linda River Basin on the Pacific side, both suffering from poor water environment. Untreated domestic, industrial and agricultural wastewater is almost freely discharged into the public water domains due to absence of appropriate legal controls, resulting in the water environment devastation. The Lake Amatitlan, which is a resort area for inhabitants of the Metropolitan area, is also being polluted by wastewater from the southern part of the Metropolitan area.

The Government of Guatemala has been making efforts to mitigate the above water environment problems. In 2000, the government established the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), which was given missions to plan and execute policies concerning the water environment management; especially, for water purification of Lake Amatitilan and conservation and improvement of the water environment. However, since MARN is a young institution with insufficient capacity and technical know-how, its efficiency could not meet its expectations.

This capacity development project has been undertaken to improve public policy and regulations on water environment conservation in the metropolitan area, covering a wide area that includes 9 municipalities.