Today is world water day, another internationally recognized day gone unrecognized in the US for the most part. We turn on faucets and the water comes out at a relatively inexpensive rate, or even better we purchase water - maybe it is even delivered to our doorsteps.

There have been two distinct times in my life when water positioned itself at the forefront of my consiousness, waking me up with the realization that it is undoubtedly the most powerful force on the planet and most vital resource for life as we know it. While planning and packing for Burning Man and other camping trips especially in the desert, seeing with my own eyes the volume of water I consume to meet my most minimal needs for such a short time period is always thought provoking. Living in rural India where I was provided with one bucket of water a day - deciding how to ration, save, and spend my buckets was an awakening expereince as well. These were times I became most strongly present to the vital relationship I have with water. I feel this realization has inspired and helped create a strong foundation for understanding the political-economy of water today.

For more on World Water Day:

www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/index.html

In the world today there have been many protests around water issues, hopefully some will be covered in the mainstream media tomorrow. Here are a few articles in the not so mainstream news, there are many many more, and of course it's important to not forget the stories never told in between the lines:


ECUADOR:
Pressure to Make Water a Public Good
Kintto Lucas

QUITO, Mar 21 (IPS) - World Water Day will be marked Thursday in Ecuador by protests against the privatisation of water, the construction of dams, and the mining industry, and by demands for the new constitution to recognise access to water as a basic human right.

Activists see the cancellation of the privatisation of water in Quito, announced last week by Mayor Paco Moncayo, as a victory.

The process of privatising the administration of the city's water supplies, which began in 2004, was reported and criticised by the Quito-based magazine Tintají, which along with various urban and indigenous social organisations created the Coalition to fight the move.

After several protest demonstrations were held, the city government temporarily suspended the public tender, and last week finally decided to cancel it.

"The arguments put forward by the Coalition in Defence of Water were solid. After several meetings, evaluations were carried out which showed that the concession was unnecessary," said Moncayo.

But according to Coalition activist Rosa Rodríguez, only one battle has been won.

"We have information about a plan to put water services out to tender in a rural area of Quito and in other parts of the country," she told IPS. "That's why the constituent assembly that will be installed within a few months should draft a constitution that declares water a fundamental human right and prohibits its privatisation."

On Apr. 15, Ecuadorians will elect the members of a constituent assembly, which will rewrite the constitution. A similar process is underway in Bolivia, which is also governed by a left-leaning administration.

"We have to uproot the view held by neo-liberal governments that saw water as just another kind of merchandise. Water is the source of life, and the state can and should guarantee sustainable management of this public good," Rodríguez argued.

In late 2004, Uruguay became the first country in the world to introduce a constitutional amendment declaring water resources a public good and prohibiting the privatisation of water and sewage services.

At the same time that authorities in the public water company, Empresa Municipal de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado (EMAAP-Q), were organising the push for privatisation, they covered up studies that found high levels of arsenic in the drinking water in several outlying Quito neighbourhoods, which are home to around 60,000 people.

Two EMAAP-Q employees who carried out the studies in early 2006 demanded that the company take corrective measures. When the employees insisted, they were laid off.

It was not until six months later, when news of the incident reached the public, that the EMAAP-Q directors urged people in those areas not to drink the water.

Although the authorities have promised to find a solution to the problem, nothing has been done yet.

Over the past year, the movement in defence of the public administration of water has grown in areas where hydroelectric dams are under construction or in the planning stage.

In the west-central province of Los Ríos, the construction of the Baba hydropower dam, which will divert water to other agricultural areas, has triggered a conflict with local farmers opposed to the project.

The Water, Land and Life organisation, which represents small farmers who will be affected by the dam, protests that the aim is to divert the waters from the province of Los Ríos to an area in the neighbouring province of Guayas where the land is owned by large agribusiness interests from the city of Guayaquil.

The "hidden purpose" of the project "is the privatisation of water, and we will not permit that: water belongs to everyone," the organisation said in a communiqué.

For over a year, small farmers in the area have been holding protests, some of which were cracked down on harshly by police.

But the movement has enjoyed a measure of success: the Environment Ministry has not yet issued an environmental permit for the project.

In the northern province of Carchi, the U.S.-owned Current Energy company was granted a 50-year water concession on the Apaqui River to build a hydroelectric station.

Local farmers complain that they will no longer have access to the river water for irrigation, nor will people living in the area be able to take their drinking water from it. The farmers said hydroelectric projects should respect biodiversity, and should "contribute benefits to the communities that lend their water for energy production."

The Apaqui project is the first of 19 hydroelectric stations planned on several rivers in Carchi province.

"Energy has become a highly profitable business for private transnational corporations that take over river basins in Third World countries, privatising the water. In our country this has already given rise to serious social problems, conflicts and ecological damage," Ricardo Buitrón of the environmental group Acción Ecológica (Ecological Action) told IPS.

Scarcity of water, poor administration of supplies, and sanitation problems in many countries remain serious hurdles standing in the way of reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by the international community in 2000, which include halving the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.

In the Amazonian province of Morona Santiago, in southeastern Ecuador, a similar conflict has been smouldering since August 2006, when social and community organisations held a province-wide strike lasting five days, to protest the second phase of the Hidroabanico hydroelectric dam and huge mining projects in the area.

The campaign against the Hidroabanico dam is led by the Provincial Assembly for the Defence of Life, Nature and National Sovereignty.

Hidroabanico is related to the Canadian mining company Corriente Resources and its Ecuacorriente subsidiary, with which it signed a letter of intent for the sale of energy in March 2006.

The activities of Hidroabanico -- whose first phase is already producing electricity -- and Ecuacorriente are affecting the water sources of nearby indigenous Shuar communities.

According to Buitrón, the 1998 constitution paved the way for growing private control over water resources by establishing that water use belonged to the state or "to those who acquired the rights to it."

Article 249 states that water for drinking or irrigation and other services related to its use are the responsibility of the state, which may directly or by delegation transfer them to mixed or private companies, by concession, partnership, capitalisation, transfer of stock or any other contractual means.

Social, environmental, indigenous and small farmers' organisations that have been mobilising in defence of water in this country are lobbying for the new constitution to establish that water is essential for life, and that access to drinking water and sanitation are fundamental human rights.

They also want surface and underground water, except rainwater, to be state-owned, and water for drinking and irrigation to be public services provided directly and exclusively by the state.

On Thursday Mar. 22, the organisations will be holding a march in Quito to mark the end of the different activities carried out throughout this week in celebration of World Water Day. (END/2007)


WORLD WATER DAY-KENYA:
Holes in the Legal System, Leaks in the Pipes
Joyce Mulama

NAIROBI, Mar 22 (IPS) - Kenya's capital, Nairobi, takes its name from a Maasai word meaning "place of cool waters". In parts of the city, however, this term is less descriptive than ironic -- as demand for water is outstripping supply.

The Athi Water Services Board (AWSB), a governmental body that manages water provision in Nairobi and surrounding areas, says demand for water currently stands at 337,487 cubic metres daily, while only 248,000 cubic metres is reaching consumers.

Worse, demand is set to increase to 573, 871 cubic metres per day by 2015; 728,229 cubic metres daily by 2020 -- and over a million cubic metres per day by 2030, according to a new report by AWSB: 'Water Supply and Sewerage Services: Demand Forecast for Nairobi City 2005-2030'.

The challenge of stretching water supplies ever further is coming to the fore Thursday, as countries around the globe mark World Water Day -- this year under the theme of 'Coping With Water Scarcity'.

But, getting water to all who need it in Nairobi is complicated by the fact that current laws fail to acknowledge informal settlements, and thus impede proper planning in the matter of water provision to these areas. Government figures indicate that about 75 percent of Nairobi's population of some 2.6 million lives in sub-standard and informal housing.

If this problem is overcome and water provision laid on in slum areas, another difficulty may present itself in the form of unhappy water vendors. "The water vendor phenomenon in the slums is a result of the ineffectiveness of the formal water provider," says Patrick Owuori, a service planning engineer at the AWSB.

"They will sabotage your service. They will try to fight off the government, which they view as a competitor. They will try to prevent the government from stealing their business. It is market warfare."

Daniel Makau is one of the vendors in question. "I have been making between 58 and 72 dollars per month from selling water. This has kept me and my family going," he told IPS.

Makau is chairman of the Maji Bora Kibera (Clean Water Kibera) umbrella body for water vendors in Kibera, a 700,000 strong informal settlement located a few kilometres south-west of Nairobi -- and reportedly the biggest slum in sub-Saharan Africa. About 500 vendors are registered with Maji Bora Kibera; they sell water to residents of the settlement at a cost of three cents per 20 litres.

While this price might appear negligible to some, it is too high for many residents of Kibera, where unemployment is rife. "I use about 40 containers (20-litre jerry cans) per month with my family of five. This is not sufficient, but if I want more I have to spend more, and I do not have this money," one of these residents, Linus Sijenyi, told IPS.

According to the World Health Organisation's website, at least 20 litres of water should be provided to every member of a household daily. This equates to 3,000 litres a month for a family of five, rather than the 800 litres Sijenyi uses, by his own estimates.

The price of water in informal areas is also high relative to the cost of this commodity elsewhere. A study published last year using data from the Nairobi-based African Population and Health Research Centre, 'The Place of Cool Waters: Women and Water in the Slums of Nairobi, Kenya', notes that people in informal settlements pay about eight times more for water than those living in wealthier areas.

According to the report, slum dwellers pay approximately three to thirty cents for a 20-litre jerry can of water, depending on the availability of the commodity. People in areas that are more upmarket pay a standard rate of some 1.7 dollars for 10,000 litres of water -- or less than one cent for every 20 litres.

The study notes further that the water sold to people in slums is not always clean.

In yet another irony, vendors are also held partially responsible for the water shortages in informal settlements that they make their living from. Most get their supplies through illegal connections to water pipes, at a cost to consumers elsewhere.

"We are aware the connections have been causing an artificial shortage of water in the slums, and we are addressing the matter," says Mildred Ogendo of the Nairobi Water company, contracted by the AWSB to expand provision of water services in the city.

The firm has invited water vendors in informal settlements to legalise their activities through applying for new connections, for which a monthly fee will be charged.

But, "Some of the vendors do not want order because water is a hefty business in slums. This is our greatest challenge," notes Ogendo.

Up to 50 percent of water goes unaccounted for in Nairobi, something also ascribed to leakages. Many of the capital's water pipes were laid down before independence in 1963, and are showing their age.

Authorities have started assessing the state of equipment used to supply water, but until their efforts result in regular supplies of potable water to all in the city, residents like Sijenyi will be left scratching their heads at the present state of affairs.

"If you see where the water pipes pass through, you wonder how we can still be alive after drinking the water. The pipes pass through the sewers. Sometimes they are punctured and the sewage seeps into the pipe, mixing with the water. This is the water we drink and use for cooking," he says, pointing to a nearby pipe that is lying in a sewer, and sprinkling water in all directions.

Notes Amina Mustafa, coordinator of Ushirika wa Usafi Kibera (Association of Cleanliness in Kibera), "Because of such conditions, diseases like typhoid, cholera and diarrhoea are very common here in Kibera."

But illness or no, water must be obtained from somewhere -- so certain Kibera residents are making use of the pipe near Sijenyi. In fact, queues of people with jerry cans are waiting to draw water from it. (END/2007)

WATER:
Services in Public Hands Gaining Popularity
Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Mar 22 (Tierramérica) - Publicly supplied water costs consumers 50 percent less than water controlled by private firms, and management could be more efficient, say activists and local authorities. With that argument, they are doing everything they can to stop the expansion of foreign companies in the water sector.

Successful examples in cities of Argentina, Brazil, Ghana, Japan and Venezuela, among others, where water and sanitation are in the hands of the national or local government, are the banner waved by those who believe that nobody should be treating this essential resource as a business.

But the cases of water privatisation are in the minority worldwide, and it is in state hands where most of the water distribution problems emerged -- now affecting millions of people.

Silvano da Costa, president of Brazil's National Association of Municipal Sanitation Services; Julián Pérez, leader of the Federation of Neighbourhood Councils in the western Bolivian city of El Alto; and André Abreu, delegate from France's Danielle Mitterrand Foundation, are just some of the staunch defenders of publicly controlled water services.

The three, in attendance at the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico City, Mar. 16-22, said in conversations with Tierramérica that the privatisation of water, much touted in the 1990s, was a failure worldwide.

As an alternative, they are pushing for better public management through associations of governmental agencies, non-governmental organisations and communities.

Many activists see it as a positive step that this issue is being debated at the World Water Forum, because in the previous meetings they say it was practically ignored.

The Forum is organised by the World Water Council, created in the mid-1990s by representatives of the business, academic, scientific and civil society sectors, and came under fire for what has been seen as its pro-privatisation stance.

Unlike other economic sectors that were transferred almost entirely to private companies in developing countries in the 1980s and 1990s, there were no dramatic shifts in water services. Worldwide, 90 percent of water and sanitation services remain under government administration.

And under these conditions, the problems in distribution continue. Of the planet's 6.5 billion inhabitants, 1.1 billion do not have adequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation services.

The United Nations report, "Water, a Shared Responsibility", suggests that private participation should not be ruled out, and warns that governments subject to budget restrictions and strict regulations would have a hard time posing an alternative for resolving deficient management of water services.

"We defend public service in everything related to water, but not just any service. It has to be one that improves, that shakes free from ‘bureaucratism' and is open to monitoring and to community participation," said the Brazilian sanitation association leader Da Costa.

At the Water Forum, Da Costa presented 20 cases of successful water administration by Brazilian municipalities, exclusively under the control of those local authorities, and in some cases with direct participation by communities. In most of these cases, the population has 100 percent coverage of water and sanitation services.

One of the most celebrated cases in Brazil is that of the southern city of Porto Alegre, where, under a model of public control and with citizen participation, water services reach the homes of most of the population.

"It's true that there are many cases of poor management and deficiencies in the public sector," but the approach is to work on those problems and turn them around, not turn over the services to private companies, said Da Costa.

"The public service of water cannot be a business, because it is a basic necessity, and it has been made clear that privately run services are costly and bad," he added.

According to his own studies of costs per cubic metre of water, Da Costa says that when it is privately managed it costs 50 percent more than when it is controlled by the state.

Many other examples of successful state water management were considered during a meeting held in parallel to the World Water Forum.

Activists pointed to the efforts since January by environmentalists in Argentina's northeastern province of Santa Fe to ensure that the state-run Aguas Santafesinas operates efficiently. The provincial government recently rescinded the concession for water services it had given the French company Suez.

In Ghana, the independent but state-owned Ghana Water Company works with the northern town of Savelugu. It provides water in bulk to the residents, and they are in charge of distribution, establishing rates, and management -- a model that activists say is worth repeating elsewhere.

They also highlighted efforts in Venezuela by several communities and public water management agencies to work together to define plans, carry out improvements, and designate funding.

Another example among many is Japan, where the public water system is highly efficient. The companies are not limited to working only in their home territory, but are deployed through cooperation and technology transfer to help the countries of the developing world.

According to Abreu, of the Danielle Miterrand Foundation, private water management turned out to be so inefficient even in France, where private firms supply 80 percent of the services, that many cities began to "municipalise" water and sanitation.

This has already occurred in the cities of Cherbourg, Grenoble, Neuf-Chateau and Varages.

The French activist agreed with Da Costa that when water is publicly managed it costs half what private firms generally charge.

Pérez, head of the federation of neighbourhood councils of El Alto, Bolivia, lamented the existence of "a general policy of discrediting the public sector in water management" and that this attitude has led to privatisation.

"Through our experience in Bolivia, we realised that the private company doesn't meet its objectives and is corrupt," he said. "There is no privatisation model that is on the side of the poor."

In 2005, in the wake of widespread mobilisations and protests against high costs and poor service, a decree by the Bolivian government suspended the Suez corporation's contract in El Alto. However, through legal manoeuverings, the firm continues operating to date.

"We hope that in a couple months Suez will leave Bolivia forever," said Pérez.

(*Diego Cevallos is an IPS correspondent. Originally published Mar. 18 by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme.)