This event is the 13th version of a series of Latin American symposia of anaerobic digestion which have taken place in different countries and which are supported by the International Water Association – IWA and by its group of specialists in anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion has been worldwide conceive as a sustainable technology and with a large development, which has allowed the treatment, recovering, and valuation of wastes and residual waters, including from the transformation of recalcitrant pollutants to the use of energy. In Colombia, anaerobic digestion has been fundamental for the development of the country because it has given the basis for a basic sanitation in rural zones and has marked the guidelines for the treatment of domestic and industrial residual waters, and currently the management and proper disposal the sludge.