Right to Water May Soon Be Law in Ecuador!

Making water access law

Ecuadorans won a major victory on July 25, 2008, when provisions to enshrine the human right to water were approved for Ecuador's new draft constitution, which will be put to a national vote in September. Also approved were provisions that prohibit the privatization of water assets and cancel excessive water bills that many Ecuadorans incurred after water services were privatized in 2000.

If voters adopt the new constitution, these provisions will place Ecuador at the forefront of the global human-right-to-water movement, as access to water as a human right is legally protected in only a handful of countries.

Mi Cometa, UUSC's program partner, played a significant role in achieving this victory. But for water-rights activists in Ecuador, it has been a long struggle.

Water safety

When UUSC began working with Mi Cometa two years ago, the fight for water access was centered around Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil, which had suffered a massive outbreak of hepatitis A in June 2005 as a result of poorly administered water services. The privately owned water company, InterAgua, a subsidiary of the U.S.-based Bechtel Corporation, was distributing infected water to Guayaquil schools and polluting local water resources.

We supported Mi Cometa as they took legal measures to hold InterAgua accountable, fighting for clean, safe, and affordable water for all Guayaquil residents. In July 2007, InterAgua was fined $1.5 million dollars for its failure to comply with its contractual obligations.

Water rights

Over the last year, a democratically elected body in Ecuador called the Constituent Assembly has undergone a process of rewriting the national constitution. Ecuadoran citizens will vote on the draft constitution on September 28, 2008.

Community organizers and leaders from Mi Cometa and its partner, Los Observatorios Ciudadano de Servicios Publicos, lobbied as private citizens to impact the Constituent Assembly. In that role, they educated the public on water issues, involved youth, and lobbied those who would be active in drafting the parts of the constitution that related to water. Through these efforts, they helped push through the draft that enshrines the right to water as a human right.

The human right to water is not currently regarded as an inalienable right, although UUSC and its partners are working hard to make it so. While the United Nations Economic and Social Council adopted water as a right in 2002, most countries have not implemented this in their own national laws, and equitable water access is still limited in many parts of the world.

If Ecuadorans vote in September to approve the newly drafted constitution, water will become a "fundamental and inalienable human right" in Ecuador.

Mi Cometa also succeeded in ensuring that the new draft constitution includes the provision prohibiting the privatization of water assets and services. This is of particular importance, as it was the privatized water provided by InterAgua that had caused serious health problems in the community of Guayaquil in the first place.

InterAgua, the corporation responsible for the hepatitis A outbreak, lobbied firmly against the provision — but grassroots organizations like Mi Cometa and Los Observatorios proved more powerful, ensuring the water provision was included.

Trailblazers

UUSC continues to select program partners in its Environmental Justice program that are at the forefront of the struggle to ensure that all people have access to water, particularly low-income groups.

In two recent major successes, UUSC's program partner in South Africa, the Coalition Against Water Privatisation, won a landmark case against Johannesburg Water, whose mismanagement of water services in low-income, black neighborhoods led to deplorable living conditions for many; and our partner in Tanzania, the Tanzania Gender Networking Program, helped the win a major claim against the British corporation Biwater, which had failed to provide adequate water after securing a privatized water concession in Dar Es Salaam in 2003.

Alongside our partners, UUSC uses a strategy that combines community organizing and the strategic use of legal actions to ensure that water is available to all communities, in the United States and around the globe. Along with our partners, we celebrate this latest victory in Ecuador!

Learn more about our struggle here.