Latin America: Why There's a Water Crisis in the Most Water-Rich Region

The 16th commemoration of World Water Day came and went in March with little fanfare. Francisco, a retired construction worker in El Salvador, didn't have much to celebrate anyway. When I spoke with him on the poor outskirts of San Salvador last December, water had not come out of his faucets for months. Despite making minimum wage, or about $161 a month, he still dutifully pays his $7 dollar water bill every month. "I keep paying the bill, because if my service is disconnected, then I'll have to pay even more to get it reconnected," he reasons.

Until the water company decides to fix the neighborhood's water pump, Francisco and his neighbors not only pay a useless water bill, but they are also forced to buy barrels of water from a tanker truck for an additional $1.50. "We don't have any other choice," he explains. "We have to have water."

Water troubles like Francisco's are common throughout Latin America, but the region's citizens are increasingly joining together to do something about it, channeling their frustration into action. Social organizing around water rights is not new in Latin America, but with growing problems of access and contamination, these movements have gained greater urgency, strength, and focus.

One of the most famous victories of this growing upsurge occurred in Uruguay, where organizations successfully organized a national referendum on water rights. In 2004, the Uruguayan government's negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) threatened to put the water system under private management. But the citizens' campaign forced the government to adopt a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing management would remain in the hands of the state and declaring water access a human right. Similar amendment efforts on the right to water have now emerged in Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Mexico.

The Problem With Water

The state of the current world water crisis is well documented: 1.2 billion people are without access to safe water, 2.6 billion are without access to sanitation, and nearly 2 million children die every year because they don't have access to an adequate supply of clean water.

With the most annual rainfall of any region in the world, the water crisis in Latin America is particularly perplexing. Latin American countries face many of the same problems as countries with chronic fresh water shortages. And less than 20 percent have access to adequate sanitation systems.

So why do so many people lack access to clean water, when water abounds in the region? In 2006, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reported the answer clearly: "The scarcity at the heart of the global water crisis is rooted in power, poverty and inequality, not in physical availability."

And since Latin America has one of the most inequitable income distribution rates in the world, water access in the region is equally skewed. What's more, a 2006 World Bank study shows average water bills in Latin America are the highest of all regions in the developing world.

Poor people bear the brunt of problems associated with water contamination and "scarcity." Additional studies have found the poor pay more for clean water, spend more time and effort collecting water, and are much more likely to suffer health problems from contaminated water.

The UNDP report adds, "People suffering the most from the water and sanitation crisis -- poor people in general and poor women in particular -- often lack the political voice needed to assert their claims to water." Yet the water movements brewing in Latin America are beginning to make their collective political voice heard.

Movements: Turning the Tide?

Water activists hope building national and regional movements will help protect and preserve water resources for future generations. Juan Camilo Mira works for an organization called Ecofondo in Colombia. Mira and his partners have organized a nationwide campaign to hold a national referendum on the right to water.