Community Standpipes: social rights, daily struggle

Juan Berhau, FFOSE, Federation of Civil employees of DARES and Carlos Holy, NETWORKS, Earth Friends Uruguay

May 2003

In Uruguay, water service was not considered a problem when it was publicly run. However, beginning with the takeover by a private company in the department of Maldonado, and the resulting exclusion of the poorest sectors of society from access to potable water, the defense of the community standpipes has become the banner of those who suffer in their own sweat and blood the consequences of private sector management of water.

Beginning in 1992 Uruguay came to understand the reality of experiencing the privatization of water and sanitation services in the department of Maldonado, located140 km. to the east of Montevideo, the capital of the country.

The decision to privatize the water in Maldonado was made by the authorities responsible for the management of the water resources (Administracion de las Obras Sanitarias del Estado ,OSE) and the municipality (Intendencia Municipal de Maldonado , IMM). This decision followed the political thinking and ideology of the Executive authority which is shaped by agreements (the IMF Letters of Intent, for example) signed with the international financial institutions.

There was never any formal public consultation with the affected population or any attempt to ascertain the public‚ position. Although it is true that some groups with influence (the hotel industry, the large landowners, foreign tourists and political sectors) made it a priority to lobby in favor of the privatization of these services, the majority of the population of Maldonado was not only not consulted, but in many cases expressed publicly their rejection of the privatization proposal.

Two companies took part in the privatization: in the city of Maldonado the private operator is URAGUA (subsidiary of the Spanish company Aguas de Bilbao) and in the beach zone (on the Atlantic coast) the private operator is Aguas de la Costa (subsidiary of the gigantic multinational, Suez). In the city of Maldonado the majority of the population is composed of workers that live there permanently while the beach zone has a strong component of property-owning tourists (who live there 3 or 4 months during the summery season) and by some permanent residents, the majority of whom are very wealthy.

Due to the differences in these two populations, the reactions to privatization have been somewhat different. In the beach zone the complaints of the population have centered on the quality and price of the water. The motto of the neighborhood organization is ‚Water Yes, Robbery No!” [ 4 ]. In the poorer areas of Maldonado the action of the neighborhood organizations has centered on the fight to defend the community standpipes.

The community standpipes were installed in different zones around the country by the public water and sanitation ministry (OSE), to assure that potable water was available in areas that lacked piped water to households. The cost of the community standpipes (whose installation is the responsibility of OSE) is assumed by the municipalities.

In the two zones of Maldonado where the private companies operated, their first action was the elimination of the community standpipes as a strategy to achieve growth in the number of household connections in these zones.

In the wealthier beach zones, the private companies managed to remove the community standpipes without problems, but in the poorer areas people remained outside of the piped water network due to the high cost of a household connection charged by the private companies.

The solutions of the inhabitants of the two zones have been based to some extent on their socio-economic situations: while some have excavated their own artesian wells (with some degree of insecurity, since the legalities of ‚self-supply” of water are unclear) others have chosen to develop a system of rainwater harvesting as their primary source of supply. This strategy has been adopted by a group of families who occupy land located close to the tourist-residential zone. The success of these options has been somewhat determined by the natural terrain features of the surroundings, since the estates count on space sufficient for wells or to install these pluvial drainages.

On the other hand the reactions in the city of Maldonado have been different. The private concessionaire began with the elimination of the popular taps in many of the poorer zones.
One of them was the District San Antonio III, an establishment located to the north of the city of Maldonado.

In the District San Antonio III there are about 90 families, 60% of which have women as single heads of the household. The community standpipes supply not only these residents, but also neighbors from other districts where community standpipes have been closed or families who are unable to afford piped water.

Norm Bentin is one of the members of the commission and a local activist due to the conditions of his life. He runs a snack shop for the children in the neighborhood and comments that in spite of counting on the community standpipe the diseases and problems of hygiene are many due to the lack of clean affordable water. Norm realized that not until he received the news that it was going to be closed did he perceive the importance of having a community standpipe.

In the interior of San Antonio III water connections have been made informally by the neighbors, by designing a network of pipes running from the community standpipe. “Management” is thus in the hands of the neighbors, but in terrible conditions because the water often runs irregularly.

The example of the neighbors of Maldonado, and the differences in the socioeconomic conditions they face, illustrates the necessity to incorporate the vision and the situation of the sectors that are most directly and urgently affected by the privatization and the modifications in the management of water services. There needs to be community involvement in the planning and management of water services to ensure an egalitarian and sustainable plan for this essential resource.

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NOTES
[ 1 ] DARE: Administration of Sanitary Works of the State.
[ 2 ] IMM: Municipal Intendance of Maldonado.
[ 3 ] International Monetary Fund, Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank.
[ 4 ] Liga de Fomento de Manantiales