Safe water in Colombia: notices, drought and what to store

Short answer. Colombia's National Health Institute (INS) rates the health risk of drinking water every year for each municipality, using the IRCA index, from "no risk" to "sanitarily unviable" ¹. Phaenyx found no national register of boil-water notices. Drought and hydrological alerts come from IDEAM ³. UNGRD asks households to keep sealed bottled drinking water, renewed every year, without a litres figure ².

How do I know if my tap water is unsafe?

Start with your municipality's IRCA score. The INS surveillance system SIVICAP produces the Índice de Riesgo de la Calidad del Agua (IRCA), which measures, as a percentage, the risk of disease from water that fails physical, chemical and microbiological standards ¹. The open dataset gives the annual average for every department and municipality, split into urban and rural areas, since 2007 ¹.

Each result carries a risk level: sin riesgo (no risk), bajo (low), medio (medium), alto (high) or inviable sanitariamente (sanitarily unviable) ¹. For 2024, the latest year published, 65 municipalities were rated high risk and 3 sanitarily unviable, out of 1,006 municipalities rated ¹. Check the rural column too: it can differ from the town ¹.

The IRCA is an annual average, so it is not an alert. Phaenyx found no national register of boil-water or do-not-drink notices: watch the announcements of your water operator and your municipality, and keep official alerts on (see our Colombia alerts page). To treat water yourself, see How to purify water and Emergency water filters. For notices, read What to do during a boil-water notice and Do-not-drink notices.

How much water should I store?

UNGRD publishes no litres-per-person figure. Its preparedness guide asks for drinking water in a large, hermetically sealed bottle, and suggests renewing it every year ². The kit should hold a reserve for at least 5 days, and include containers to store liquids such as rainwater and a small pot to boil water ². Details are on our Colombia emergency supplies page. To size your stock, see How much water to store per person per day? and Water storage containers.

Is Colombia short of water?

Not nationally. In WRI's Aqueduct 4.0 model, the population-weighted median of Colombian cities is "low" for current water stress and stays "low" in the 2050 business-as-usual projection, but drought risk is "medium" ⁴. These are city medians: some basins and towns sit above them.

IDEAM publishes forecast and alert bulletins, a daily interactive forecast and alerts report, hydrological forecasts and alerts (FEWS), and rainfall outlooks by department ³. Phaenyx found no national list of municipalities under water rationing. See Drought preparedness and No running water.

Private wells and floods

Phaenyx found no official Colombian guidance on testing private wells. If your household drinks from a well, see Private well emergencies. After a flood, do not assume tap or well water is safe; read Water safety after a flood. A household plan can keep your water stock, alert settings and local contacts in one place.

Frequently asked questions

How can I see the water risk rating for my municipality?

In the INS dataset "Calidad del Agua para Consumo Humano en Colombia" on datos.gov.co, which lists the annual IRCA and risk level by municipality, urban and rural ¹.

Does Colombia publish boil-water notices nationally?

Phaenyx found no national register. Follow your water operator and municipality.

How much water does Colombia recommend storing?

No quantity is given: UNGRD asks for sealed bottled water, renewed every year, in a kit that covers at least 5 days ².

Who issues drought alerts?

IDEAM, through its forecast and alert bulletins and hydrological alerts ³.

Sources

1. Instituto Nacional de Salud (INS), SIVICAP, on datos.gov.co — Calidad del Agua para Consumo Humano en Colombia — https://www.datos.gov.co/Salud-y-Protecci-n-Social/Calidad-del-Agua-para-Consumo-Humano-en-Colombia/nxt2-39c3 (accessed 2026-10-27; 2024 counts read through the dataset's API)
2. Unidad Nacional para la Gestión del Riesgo de Desastres (UNGRD) — Guía de preparativos ante sismo — https://portal.gestiondelriesgo.gov.co/Documents/Guias/Guia-sismos-digital-f%20%285%29%20%282%29.pdf (accessed 2026-10-20)
3. Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales (IDEAM) — Pronósticos y Alertas — https://www.ideam.gov.co/pronosticos-y-alertas (accessed 2026-10-27)
4. World Resources Institute (WRI) — Aqueduct 4.0 (water stress, 2050 projection and drought risk) — https://www.wri.org/aqueduct (accessed 2026-10-27)