BOLIVIA: President Evo Morales to ask the United Nations to make access to safe drinking water a basic human right

Record ID: 699604

  • Title: BOLIVIA: President Evo Morales to ask the United Nations to make access to safe drinking water a basic human right
  • Date: 23rd March 2010
  • Summary: PEOPLE WALKING WOMAN DRINKING WATER FROM A COMMUNAL CONTAINER LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (MARCH 22, 2010) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABLE WATER, JUAN CARLOS ALURRALDE, SAYING: "There is a lot of resistance to declaring water a human right in other countries. And it is mostly because a lot of states don't think they have the capacity or don't want to take on the responsibility to provide water for all their citizens." VARIOUS OF THE CITY OF LA PAZ AND SURROUNDING GLACIERS (3 SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ALURRALDE, SAYING: "In 2006 Bolivia created the first Ministry of Water on the continent. Thus its programs and aid budgets have led to a huge leap forward without precedent. The investments made to make potable water accessible between 2006 and 2009, in the first part of Morales' presidency, greatly surpass all that was previously done."
  • Embargoed: 7th April 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVAB0Z384IKVWB9ME019O4O5FJ24
  • Story Text: Marking World Water Day, Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Monday (March 22) he has decided to ask the United Nations to make access to potable water a "universal human right."
    Morales, known for his environmental advocacy, said the declaration would put political backing behind necessary actions to deliver safe drinking water as a basic service to the more than 1 billion people worldwide who do not have access to safe water.
    "Declare access to potable water and basic sanitation a universal human right so that states and the UN move forward in respects to this right and use progressive national and international measures to universally apply it," said Morales.
    In mostly indigenous El Alto, a sprawling lower-class satellite city north of the country's administrative capital La Paz, 9-year-old Orlando Lanchipa Guarachi collects water in these containers to bring back to his family's home.
    Despite recent government efforts to provide clean water to all citizens, it is estimated that 30 percent of Bolivians lack access to potable water.
    "We don't have water. Many of us struggle with water. Recently we have been sending the kids to school dirty because there is not enough water," The boy's mother, Alicia Lanchipa Guarachi told Reuters.
    "Right now we only have water Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday," Guarachi added.
    Global climate change and the El Nino effect have added pressure to Bolivia's short water supply as rain patterns have shifted causing long droughts and rising temperatures which are melting Andean glaciers that provide 40 percent of the drinking water in La Paz and El Alto.
    Current projections indicate most Andean glaciers will disappear in the next 30 years, threatening the livelihood of millions of people who depend on them for drinking water, farming and power generation.
    The executive director of Sustainable Water -an NGO that advocates the need for safe drinking water - Juan Carlos Alurralde says Morales' decision to bring this to the United Nations is an important step forward but says other governments, especially those of developed countries, need to do their part as well.
    "There is a lot of resistance to declaring water a human right in other countries. And it is mostly because a lot of states don't think they have the capacity or don't want to take on the responsibility to provide water for all their citizens," said Alurralde.
    Since coming to power in 2006, Morales has created a Water Ministry and listed potable water and other basic services, including electricity and telecommunication services as categories of human rights in a new national constitution enacted in 2009.
    "In 2006 Bolivia created the first Ministry of Water on the continent. Thus its programs and aid budgets have led to a huge leap forward without precedent. The investments made to make potable water accessible between 2006 and 2009, in the first part of Morales' presidency, greatly surpass all that was previously done," Alurralde added.
    Morales wants to see the Bolivian proposal debated in the second semester of this year's United Nation's General Assembly.
    He also added that he hopes the measure will be supported at an alternative world conference on world contamination and environmental rights to be held in Cochabamba, Colombia in April.
    Water needs in western Bolivia will only increase in coming years with the population in the La Paz region expected to double by 2050.
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