Social movements say: no to the privatization of water in El Salvador

We want to express our deep rejection of the "Integral Water Law" proposal presented in mid-June by the National Association of Private Enterprise (ANEP) before the Legislative Assembly and supported by ARENA and other right-wing parties.

We consider that its contents are intended to implement a model of privatized management, where the priority for the use of water will be commercial above the human rights of people and nature. This proposal creates an autonomous authority where ANEP decides the fate of water in the country; it eliminates watershed based management and thus it virtually excludes community participation. The proposal eliminates the priority of supplying water the to the population, establishing a single permit for public and private users, with equal terms for all users and charging equal fees or fees for the use of water to all users regardless of whether for domestic or commercial consumption.

 

For these reasons, as representatives of the organized social movement, we reject the proposed Integral Water Law, but, convinced of the urgent need for El Salvador to have a General Water Law, we have launched the campaign FOR MY HUMAN RIGHTS, FOR PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY BASED MANAGEMENT ... We say: NO to the PRIVATIZATION OF WATER.

This campaign has as its central objective to promote the approval of a General Water Law that guarantees at least the following points:

• FIRST, public and community management, ie, the water authority must be exclusively conformed by public institutions that guarantee the current local water management systems in rural communities;
• SECOND, there are clear mechanisms for the effective participation of the population;
• THIRD, effective mechanisms are created to protect and recover priority watersheds and critical areas.
• FOURTH, ensure the priority of domestic consumption of the population and the sustainability of ecosystems, through the creation of differentiated permits for rural and urban populations, commercial and public entities;
• And FIFTH, the creation of a distribution regime funded by the State, and fees from the public and companies who utilize water to ensure sufficient financial resources are available to invest in equitable use, protection and water recovery measures in the country.

The campaign will have two main lines of action, the first being the legislative pressure to deputies and deputies, through the follow-up to the sessions of the Committee on Environment and Climate Change, pickets and various public activities at the legislative assembly and other official offices in the country;  a second strategy will build social pressure on through a petition against water privatization signed by the population and delivered to right-wing deputies.

In defense of the human right to water, and community controlled public management ... social movements say: no to the privatization of water in El Salvador.

San Salvador July 4, 2017