With Inter-American Development Bank funding, Abt Associates developed a multi-sectoral management plan for the Government of Nicaragua designed to improve human health, well-being, and water quality in the southern watershed of Lake Managua. The Lake Managua Watershed Management Program included plans for:

• Control of industrial effluents and pluvial drainage from the south watershed above Managua
  
  
• Wastewater treatment and management of solid waste
  
  
• A comprehensive sanitation program to combat malaria

The Program also included a plan for institutional strengthening and the design of a regulatory and administrative framework for its own implementation. An implementation timetable was developed that provided for monitoring of essential indicators of recuperation. This extensive feasibility study conducted by Abt Associates provided the basis for a loan of approximately $50 million to be provided by the Inter-American Development Bank and other sources to the Government of Nicaragua to implement the watershed management plan.