Plumbing the Rights, Part 2 - Governing the Right to Water

Is access to water a human right? According to the United Nations it now is. And yet more than a billion people still go without a safe regular supply. But it is one thing to recognise a right, quite another to apply it to poor communities who cannot afford to pay the bills. The United Nations World Health Organization wants governments to take responsibility to guarantee their people affordable water. As Changing Currents counts down to the 3rd World Water Forum in Japan, Earth Report visits Bolivia and the USA to find out why people are taking to the streets to claim their rights.

The Water Warriors of Cochabamba

In the spring of 2000 the Bolivian city of Cochabamba became the scene of a violent confrontation between the government and its citizens. The clash was over a basic element needed for human survival - water. Cochabamba's shantytowns are not fitted with pipelines so inhabitants must rely on trucks to bring in their water supply. This is expensive and means that the poorest of the poor end up paying the most for water. This is a system that can not endure an increase in water prices.

The poorest country in South America, Bolivia is heavily dependent on foreign investment, usually from the major development agencies such as the World Bank. Throughout the 1990s, donor governments put pressure on the development agencies to do a lot more to support privatisation, believing it to be the route to attracting foreign investment. So, in 1999 the Bolivian government gave a concession to a private company for a 40 year management of the Cochabamba water supply. The company, Aguas del Tunari, part-owned by the US company Bechtel, was guaranteed a 15% annual profit from the deal. But problems soon emerged.

Within a few months water rates increased dramatically. The company said the majority of the cost was intended to fall on to the wealthiest users but local inhabitants and activist groups had other views, saying that families had to pay up to a quarter of their income for water. People took to the streets in three days of demonstrations, becoming known as the "water warriors". Security services were sent in by the government and after the conflict escalated, martial law was eventually imposed on the city. However, things got more out of control and a local television station captured images of soldiers firing live rounds into a crowd. A 17 year-old boy was killed by a gunshot to the face.

In an attempt to end the crisis, the government annulled the contract with Aguas Del Tunari. The conflict made headline news around the world. The inhabitants had taken on an international company and – so far as they were concerned – had defeated privatisation of a public asset.

Cochabamba's water is now back in the hands of the state controlled public utility called Semapa, which has laid hundreds of metres of new pipelines into some of the poorer areas of the city and says attempts have been made to involve the community more in the decision making process. For now though, thousands of Cochabamba's residents continue to rely on the tankers for their daily access to clean water.

Turning off the Taps in Motor City

It is not just in water-scarce developing countries where people have no access to water, and it is not just private companies which cut access. Detroit is surrounded by 20% of the world's fresh water yet, according to the city's Water and Sewage Department, 40,000 different addresses in the USA’s motor capital have had their water cut off over the last year. Unlike Cochabamba, the water department is publicly owned.

Once the booming heart of the motor industry and birthplace of motown music, Detroit today is like a ghost town. The advent of computers and robots has created mass unemployment and the city is now home to some of the poorest families in North America. Maureen Taylor of Michigan Welfare Rights says that the majority of these people are without water because they are unable to pay their water bills. The new director of the Detroit Water and Sewage Department justifies the 'cut-offs' by saying that the department cannot survive unless the people pay.

Under the UN Comment on the right to water governments are obliged to make water affordable and not cut people off. Protesters in Detroit are demanding these rights and want better management of their water resources. But will their voices be heard by the right people? Maryann Machaffey, President of Detroit City Council, agrees that clean water should be a right but says putting government tax money toward it is a very tough idea to sell in America. With so many people living below the poverty line - the question arises – if the poor can't pay for themselves, who is going to pay for them?