AQUELIA JOURNAL / COLOMBIA
Colombia water quality: understanding the 2024 IRCA.
The official water-quality risk index helps describe monitored supplies. Its period, reporting coverage and urban–rural breakdown are essential to interpretation.
A dated, verifiable snapshot
The INS national report for 2024 gives a supplier IRCA of 7.4, classified as low risk, and records 36,280 supplier samples. This is an aggregated index for that reporting year, not an analytical result for every tap.[1]
Reporting coverage matters
Of the supplier samples, 82.7% were urban and 17.3% rural. These percentages describe the sampling distribution, not the population or the share with unsafe water. A national figure should therefore be read alongside its local breakdown.[1]
Look for the municipal breakdown
The Ministry of Housing provides consolidated municipal IRCA data separated into urban and rural areas, including a 2007–2024 workbook. This offers a way to move beyond a national headline and check the locality relevant to a project.[2]
What to take into a local conversation
Record the municipality, supplier, zone and period before comparing values. Keep the index distinct from a concentration of a particular substance and from a household-level laboratory result. Use the 2024 report as a dated reference and check subsequent information from the relevant supplier for a present-day project.
The key to reading it
IRCA is a risk index. A value of 7.4 does not mean that 7.4% of people or taps have unsafe water.
EVIDENCE YOU CAN CHECK
Sources and documents.
- 01
Instituto Nacional de Salud · Colombia
Informe Nacional de Calidad del Agua para Consumo Humano · 20242024 · pp. 33, 35 - 02
Ministerio de Vivienda, Ciudad y Territorio · Colombia
Calidad del agua para consumo humano · IRCAMunicipal urban/rural data · IRCA 2007–2024
Sources consulted on September 15, 2026. Original writing and translation. Data is attributed to its publishers and does not establish the performance of Aquelia equipment.