Argentine Water Customers vs. Suez

Residents in Argentina’s central province of Cordoba rallied yesterday to protest a 200 percent increase in water rates. The hike was passed in December to subsidize debt from the French company that controls Cordoba’s water utilities. Marie Trigona has more from Buenos Aires.

Throughout the week, local organizations, environmentalists, and residents organized road blockades in protest of the 200 percent rate increase and privatization of water. Suez, the French group controlling Cordoba’s water utility, threatened to pull out of Argentina last year because of a government-mandated freeze on water rates. The provincial government agreed to forgive the company’s 19 million-dollar debt as an incentive for the company make long overdue investments in infrastructure. Local resident groups are pushing for the government to annul the Suez-Aguas Cordoba contract and have proposed that users and employees form a public cooperative to manage water services. Hundreds of residents participating in the march say they will boycott Suez by not paying their water bills. Suez will soon install over 15,000 water meters to control and restrict water consumption. The company has said that users who do not pay their water bill will have their service cut.