of lands under irrigation while promoting and coordinating irrigation projects. plamar identified 209,419 ha's under cultivation that had drainage problems; however, regions under irrigation (169,302 ha) did not show evidence of drainage nor salinity problems. the lack of adequate infrastructure to quickly drain large amounts of water has caused flooding problems in the southern coastal regions. hydropower beginning in the 1970s, guatemala became heavily invested on hydropower with the construction of large hydroelectric dams. the chixoy hydroelectric project provides about 15% of the country's power. as of 2013, hydropower accounted for 47% of guatemala's total electricity generation, with oil, diesel and biomass-fired plants accounting for the rest. the national institute of electricity (inde) (el instituto nacional de electrificacion) encouraged the private sector to build over 1,000 megawatts (mw) of new hydropower in guatemala. additionally, inde constructed the following projects: 340mw chulac, 130mw xalala, 135-mw serchil, 69mw oregano, 60mw santa maria ii, 59mw camotan, and the 23mw el palmar. in 2008, guatemala was either planning or constructing about 25 hydroelectricity plants throughout guatemala totaling approximately 2500 mw. legal and institutional framework ministries segeplan (secretaría de planificación y programación de la presidencia) is the presidents planning and programming office. water resources are a focus of this office. segeplan elaborates diagnostic information of water and formulates tools for planning the integrated management of water resources. this takes into account prior efforts with the objective of coordinating, complementing, and assuring that governmental efforts favor the proper management of water resources. the secretaria de recursos hidraulicos de la presidencia de la republica was established in 1992 in response to droughts resulting from el nino. the aims of the agency were to establish a coherent policy for water resources, to formulate and develop the national hydraulic plan, to coordinate the planning and construction of hydraulic facilities for public use, and to evaluate and approve plans, programs, and projects relating to the use of national resources. the agency also represented the state for the international organizations specializing in national resources to coordinate studies, strategies, or projects of social benefits. service providers empagua (empresa municipal de agua) is the municipal management of guatemala city’s water authority, responsible for water administration of the growing metropolitan population, and for rain and sanitary sewerage, and sanitation. infom (instituto de fomento municipal) is the institute of municipal development and is in charge of water sector policies and strategies for implementation, as well as coordination of technical and financial assistance with other institutions that execute drinking water and sanitation programs and projects. amsa (autoridad para el manejo sostenible de la cuenca y del lago de amatitlan) is the authority for the sustainable development of the amatitlan lake and watershed. research institutes insivumeh (instituto nacional de sismologia, vulcanologia, meteorologia e hidrologia) is the national institute of seismology, volcanology, hydrology, and weather. this government agency is responsible for conducting research and development in flood control efforts. cooperation with el salvador and honduras a map of guatemala. the upper watershed of the lempa river is shared by guatemala, el salvador, and honduras, as outlined in the trifinio plan, which was established and signed by the aforementioned countries to address economic and environmental problems in the lempa river basin, and foster cooperation and regional integration. the trifinio plan or treaty sought to provide a more viable and effective alternative to unilateral development thereby concentrating on greater multinational integration. the trifinio region covers an area of about 7,500 km2 in the border areas of honduras, guatemala, and el salvador. the region is made up of 45 municipalities whereby 22 belong to honduras within the departments of ocotepeque and copán, 15 are situated in guatemala corresponding to the departments of chiquimula and jutiapa, and 8 are in the departments of santa ana and chalatenango in el salvador. in the early stages of the trifinio plan’s development the commission studied three international river basins. in 1987 they developed a new plan involving the lempa river basin, the ulúa river, and the motagua river. the motagua and ulúa rivers were eventually dropped, leaving the lempa river as the trifinio plan’s primary focus. multi-lateral assistance the central american water resource management network (cara) was initiated in 1999 with the backing of the united nations development program (undp) to build capacity in hydrogeology and water resource management throughout the central america region. the emphasis is on groundwater reflecting a greater than 80% dependence on groundwater for water supply throughout the central american region. member countries include costa rica, nicaragua, guatemala, el salvador, honduras and bolivia with additional support from canada and mexico. the world wildlife foundation (wwf) in collaboration with local partners, is developing a water fund to finance responsible watershed management in guatemala’s sierra de las minas biosphere. known as the 'water fund', water users which include bottling companies, distilleries, hydroelectric plants, and paper processing mills are showing their awareness that water is a strategic resource whose conservation must be planned for the long term, by making significant financial contributions towards environmental services in the region. the fund is meant to encourage short-term investments to optimize industrial water use as a means of reducing effluents to the motagua and polochic rivers. the world bank is implementing the $85 million project aimed at improving the capacity of the country to respond to and recover from flooding caused by tropical storms and hurricanes. the project is scheduled to conclude in 2012. the development objective of the catastrophe development policy loan deferred draw down option project for guatemala is to enhance the government's capacity to implement its disaster risk management program for natural disasters. this objective will be achieved by supporting policy and institutional reform in the following aspects of disaster risk management: i) improving risk identification and monitoring; ii) increasing disaster risk reduction investments; iii) strengthening institutions and planning capacity for risk management; and iv) developing risk financing strategies. the inter-american development bank has three ongoing projects under implementation and many more that have been completed since 1961. one particular project underway focuses on improving access to potable water for rural communities. the $50 million project was designed to benefit at least 500,000 new rural consumers. families will have easier access to safe drinking water, which will improve their health and save them time and effort spent on carrying water from remote sources. the program finances the construction of water and sanitation systems for individual communities or groups of communities with an average of 900 people. each community will make all key decisions related to their respective projects, selecting the system that best suits their needs and capacity. autonomous water associations were established by the residents of each village and serve to manage the services, and cover operation and maintenance costs by collecting tariffs from users. unicef supports water and sanitation projects, and typically implements short–term projects, including systems with pipelines less than 3 kilometers, manual pumps and school sanitation in very vulnerable communities of four municipalities of huehuetenango, two municipalities of quiché, and two in chiquimula. unicef emphasizes the technical strengthening of municipal governments and advocacy to influence the government to assign greater funding for water and sanitation. non-governmental organizations: catholic relief services (crs): its water and sanitation component supports integrated interventions based on the national basic model for water and sanitation. crs has a presence in the following departments: san marcos totonicapán, sololá and chiquimula. project concern international (pci): pci carries out projects in water and sanitation under its food security program, with financial support from usaid and breed love. pci has a presence in the departments of huehuetenango and chiquimula. care: until 2006, care implemented water and sanitation projects in the southern part of huehuetenango, san marcos, sololá, quiché and alta verapaz. most of its funding for water and sanitation comes from usaid’s food security program. care is still supporting the rehabilitation of water systems and sanitation in the departments of san marcos and sololá from hurricane stan with a diverse funding base. bi-lateral assistance: spanish government united states agency for international development (usaid) japanese agency of international cooperation (jica) swedish agency for international development (sida/asdi) dutch cooperation agency (snv) european union (eu) importance of wetland sites in guatemala laguna lachuá. wetlands are key areas for their ability to consistently supply drinking water, treatment of wastewater by natural anaerobic and aerobic processes, offering water and fertile soils for agriculture and food production, absorbing floods after heavy rainfall and tidal surges during oceanic storms, and water storage in periods of droughts. the ramsar convention on wetlands came into force in guatemala october 26, 1990. guatemala presently has 7 sites designated as wetlands of international importance, with a surface area of 628,592 hectares. ramsar sites in guatemala: eco-región luchuá, alta verapaz: 53,523 ha manchón-guamuchal: 13,500 ha parque nacional laguna del tigre mr: 335,080 ha parque nacional yaxhá-nakum-naranjo: 37,160 ha punta de manabique, izabal: 132,900 ha refugio de vida silvestre bocas del polochic izabal: 21,227 ha reserva de usos múltiples río sarstún izabal: 35,202 ha (source: ramsar 2009)