Why Can't the U.S. Guarantee the Most Basic of Human Rights -- the Right to Clean Water?

The prime obstacle to guaranteeing a human right to water in international law has been the U.S. federal government, which also, by the way, opposes human rights to food and housing.

It is this somewhat surprising political dynamic that makes AB 1242 by California Assemblymen Ira Ruskin, D-Los Altos, so significant. The legislation, which establishes the right of every Californian to have clean water for basic human needs, passed a key state Senate committee in early July and may just be heading toward Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk this fall.

The concept of a human right to water is a hot topic at the United Nations and in international circles. Multinational companies are beginning to endorse the concept, with PepsiCo making a proclamation supporting the human right to water this past March.

What does a human right to water really mean? AB 1242 is a great first step, but the one-page bill is short on specifics.

"The language included in AB 1242 is typical of that used by organizations and campaigns around the world declaring a legal human right to water," said Jeff Conant, International Research and Communications Coordinator for Food and Water Watch, one of the sponsors of the state legislation. It is up to state and local agencies to figure out how to "operationalize" this compelling concept.

"In a capitalist system, scarcity creates value," Conant explained. "But when it comes to water, scarcity causes death." He went on to say "the market is good for allocating some things, but it is not good for others. We are not anti-corporate per se but are just trying to balance out the market fundamentalists."

Society appears to be facing a global crisis in water supply as 1 in 6 people -- more than 1 billion humans -- do not have adequate potable water to meet their most basic survival needs. These facts have spurred efforts to enshrine the human right to water at the United Nations and in the national constitutions of South Africa and Ecuador.

Jonathan Kaledin, director of the Nature Conservancy's global freshwater program, observed that the "human right" to water was a hot topic at the World Water Forum held In Turkey this past spring. "Personally, I think it is a fundamental right -- we can't live without it. But how we get there is a Rubik's Cube."

Water may become the next oil, but is even more important since it is our most basic and needed resource, he said. Due to government subsidies over the past few decades, the U.S. has a first-rate water infrastructure. Because of grants for waste-water projects, these services were priced artificially low. Kaledin noted that when gasoline prices are above $4, people buy hybrids. When the price is low, they buy SUVs. "Water is undervalued and priced incorrectly. We need to reach a balance in order to send the right market signals, but also include safety nets to address social-equity issues," he concluded.

A Crisis in California

The California legislation was introduced in response to conditions in the Central Valley that are much more common in the developing world. Here, where undocumented Latino farmworkers make up a large share of the population, safe, affordable and clean water is hardly a given. In these communities, more than 90 percent of drinking water is sucked from contaminated groundwater.

In Delano in Kern County, the water is undrinkable altogether, yet poor residents pay between $20 and $45 per month for it. All told, more than 150,000 California residents lack safe water for drinking, bathing and washing dishes; even more have water service disconnected because they cannot afford to pay their water bills.

The question of how to implement such a human right to water policy is a good one; there is no agreed-upon checklist for recognition of implied or new human rights in international law. The prime opponents of AB 1242 -- California public water agencies and municipal utilities -- worry that they will come up short on the revenue side if this law requires them to provide water for free.