Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Issues at El Faro

Water Wars

By: Jaume Delclos, Federación Española Ingeniería sin Fronteras and Sasha Radyuk, ANPED

In 1997 the World Bank imposed the privatisation of the water system in El Alto-La Paz and in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, as a condition of its financial aid. Two years later, control of the water of Cochabamba was given to the company Aguas del Tunari. The management of Aguas del Tunari provoked a popular uprising in the city, supported by the irrigating farmers and other users of the countryside, which became known as the “Water War”. The slogan of the war was “Long live our traditions. Water is our cause. Let privatizers die.” The Regional Federation of Irrigating Farmers of Cochabamba had been in conflict with the Municipal Drinking Water Service in 1992, when this company decided to sink deep wells in the farming areas surrounding the city. Thus, the alliance arose between irrigators and the suburban population.

A Human Right

Universal access to basic water and sanitation services is a social requirement and a moral imperative. Throughout history, public authorities have been in charge of the capture, transport and distribution of water for domestic use and irrigation. It can be said that the water supply has been a civilizing milestone in human development.

One of the fundamental reasons for the failure of this policy in recent years is that private capital and the market economy, apart from seeking profitability, cannot meet the challenges of globalisation in an inequitable world, and the problems of the poorest and weakest are unlikely to be solved through market forces. “[For some], requiring families who earn $100 per month to pay $20 for water may be 'a proper system of charging,' but the thousands of people who filled the streets and shut down Cochabamba last week apparently felt otherwise,” argued Oscar Olivera, one of the protest leaders in La Paz. The problems of the poor have increased enormously with the elimination of rural social structures, massive migration to big cities, overexploitation, pollution and the deepening crisis of aquatic ecosystems, with the consequent problems of access to drinking water and the aggravation of the food crisis.

Direct privatisation of basic water and sanitation services, or privatisation masked by “public-private collaboration” models, has generated serious governance problems. In these conditions, political directors have often signed contracts that leave the poorest neighbourhoods and sectors defenseless, while priority is given to ensuring profits for the private operator.

Victory for the Masses, Defeat for the Poor

Returning to Bolivia, in March 2000, there was a massive rejection of privatisation by the population. The squares, avenues and main roads of the city were filled with people protesting, calling for the cancellation of the contract granting the concession to Tunari. The city of Cochabamba was occupied by the army, but public resistance was so strong that on 9 April, after two deaths and many suffering in the suburbs without drinking water, the government cancelled the contract with Aguas del Tunari. "Without water there is no life so really it is life that the company is depriving the people of El Alto," stated Julian Perez, advisor to the Federation of El Alto Neighbourhoods.

Although the indigenous populations around Cochabamba confirmed their traditional water rights, the structural problems in the capital were not resolved, nor was water redistributed to the poorest residents of the suburbs (mostly immigrants from rural areas). However, the population was now conscious of their collective right to a vital resource that cannot under any circumstances be considered a commodity. They had fought for this resource and had seen what the power of solidarity could do. “During the water struggle here in Cochabamba,” Olivera recalled in 2004, “They warned us of all kinds of dire consequences if we took on the foreign water companies. But it hasn't happened. Four years later the sky hasn't fallen in! We've still got water.”

If you would like to learn more about public water management and other issues at El Faro, visit www.elfaro2008.org.