- by Emily Joiner.

On June 10, 2008, the Natural Resources Committee of Ecuador’s Constituent Assembly approved articles making the right to water a fundamental human right. This decision will now be debated on the floor of the Assembly as the delegates decide whether to officially recognize water as a constitutional right. Throughout the Constituent Assembly process social organizations nationwide have formed coalitions with the intention of helping each other reach policy goals. During this process, the Observatorio Ciudadano de Servicios Públicos, a Guayaquil-based NGO, has established itself as an authority on water rights.

In August of 2001, municipal authorities in Guayaquil, Ecuador, turned water and sanitation services over to Interagua, a subsidiary of Bechtel corporation. The concession contract was written for a 30-year period, and it was the result of the municipal water company’s need to comply with the terms of a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank. The Observatorio Ciudadano de Servicios Públicos was founded in 2005 at a critical moment for Guayaquil’s consumers. That summer a Hepatitis A outbreak affecting at least 85 children led to a multi-party investigation of water quality that produced conflicting results. Interagua was never officially sanctioned. The Observatorio also investigated such contractual violations as repeated temporary shut-offs of residential water services, the 32,000 permanent cut-offs of services to families unable to pay due to age or disease, and a marked failure to extend and rehabilitate services to poor sectors of the city. Meanwhile, the environment is also suffering from a lack of effective disposal of sewage waste. At long last, Interagua was fined $1.5 million in August of 2007 by regulatory body ECAPAG for failing to complete its minimal contractual goals for the first five years of the contract even after a year-long penalty-free extension. 

Interagua’s actions have resulted in 103 law suits accepted in Guayaquil’s Supreme Court, and approximately 2,000 citizens have formally presented complaints in the Public Defender’s Office. What remains to be seen is whether Guayaquil’s court system can transfer decisions in favor of citizens’ claims into action on the part of the water company. With this concern in mind, the Observatorio has also lodged a complaint with the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman branch of the World Bank Group, which is charged with mediating a resolution between citizens and the company.

With its multi-dimensional strategy the Observatorio is changing the way in which water services are handled in Guayaquil. Pressure on behalf of individual citizens’ cases is creating immediate solutions for families. Work in national politics helps to create a judicial framework for guaranteeing water services to all Ecuadorians, and international actions help hold Interagua accountable. Winds of change are at work in Ecuador, and the Observatorio is taking the lead in making potable water and basic sanitation accessible for everyone.

[The author is Independent Researcher, the Observatorio.]