But that 2015 success now seems under threat after the Salvadoran national assembly recently took steps activists believe will lead to the privatisation of the country’s water supplies.
Water everywhere for profit in Nejapa, but few drops for local people to drink | Claire Provost and Matt Kennard Read more “They are fragile ordinances, so the companies [are] looking for a way to avoid the local councils having stronger ones,” said Santiago Rodríguez, a pastor with the Salvadoran Lutheran church who works in Nejapa and the surrounding areas.
“The danger is that the local ordinances are weakened even more.” El Salvador is one of the most water-stressed countries in Latin America; according to the environment ministry, 95% of the country’s surface water is contaminated.
Water scarcity has caused conflicts, pitting residents against companies like Coca-Cola, multinational mining company OceanaGold, and large-scale sugar cane producers.
About 42% of rural El Salvador has access to suitable drinking water, and many still have to travel hours to reach it.
For more than a decade, environmental activists there have been fighting for legislation to protect water sources and ensure residents’ rights to clean water.
Water scarcity always affects the poorest people most Andreu Oliva, university rector “What we are going to have is a country that has less and less drinking water and that has a higher percentage of contaminated water,” said Andreu Oliva, the rector of Central American University José Simeón Cañas.
“Water is going to be scarce for everyone.
It’s protected and defended.” Luis González of the Salvadoran Ecological Unit said the alliance had become one of the country’s largest protest movements in recent years.
They say other laws and reforms proposed by right-wing representatives – including one which would give the private sector more control over the National Administration of Aqueducts and Sewers (Anda) – will also lead to privatisation.

Water scarcity has grown to be an alarming issue in current global affairs.
In 2011, 41 states around the globe have experienced some kind of water stress whilst 10 of those countries were close to depleting their supply of renewable fresh water.
Lack of access to safe, sufficient and affordable water sources has a detrimental effect on the health, dignity and prosperity of billions of people.
Seeing the significance of the aforementioned, the United Nations recognised water as a human right and thus a common public and environmental good, not longer than a decade ago.
It is often opposed by those who view water as a commodity which has to be priced to be used in an an efficient and sustainable way.
Unfortunately, water services are no exception.
In the latest decades, water privatisation has become a new opportunity for lucrative investment.
Willem Buiter, Citigroup’s top economist, emphasised ‘the water market will soon eclipse oil’.
The ‘new water barons’ — the Wall Street mega-banks and billionaire tycoons— are buying up water all over the world at an unprecedented pace.
Anti-water privatisation campaigns and protests have occurred all around the world.

Meanwhile the citizens, including women, are experiencing several problems such as inaccessibility to water, sickness due to bad water quality, etc.
Meanwhile the citizens, including women, are experiencing several problems such as inaccessibility to water, sickness due to bad water quality, etc.
Meanwhile the citizens, including women, are experiencing several problems such as inaccessibility to water, sickness due to bad water quality, etc.
Meanwhile the citizens, including women, are experiencing several problems such as inaccessibility to water, sickness due to bad water quality, etc.
Meanwhile the citizens, including women, are experiencing several problems such as inaccessibility to water, sickness due to bad water quality, etc.
Meanwhile the citizens, including women, are experiencing several problems such as inaccessibility to water, sickness due to bad water quality, etc.
Meanwhile the citizens, including women, are experiencing several problems such as inaccessibility to water, sickness due to bad water quality, etc.
Meanwhile the citizens, including women, are experiencing several problems such as inaccessibility to water, sickness due to bad water quality, etc.
Meanwhile the citizens, including women, are experiencing several problems such as inaccessibility to water, sickness due to bad water quality, etc.
Meanwhile the citizens, including women, are experiencing several problems such as inaccessibility to water, sickness due to bad water quality, etc.

Because of the drought, the Decatur Livestock Market has seen almost twice the number of cattle being brought in.
Conditions are forcing ranchers to sell their cattle too soon and is costing them thousands.
“A good cow was bringing $1,300 to $1,400 just a few months ago,” said cattle rancher Jody Henderson.
Water is also drying up.
Martha Shafer normally waits until October to sell her cattle at a good price.
Ranchers make allowances by leasing other land, but moving to greener pastures isn’t an option this year.
It’s been worse.
“It’s the same situation we’re fixing to get into, but we got a little time if we get rainfall.
“Guess I have to take into account I love doing cattle, love doing horses,” said rancher Jessica Bearden.
It’s all about bringing in well fed cattle to get the best price for the ranchers who need the rain.

I’ve been fascinated for years about our access to fresh drinking water, and I see a trend coming that will eventually lead to a declaration of “privatized water.” Once water becomes “privatized,” it will no longer be recognized as a civil right.
When this happens, I won’t be around any longer, but my grandchildren and their progeny may still be here when a gallon of water may have the same value as a week’s work.
Water is not a foodstuff, but it is a necessity.
You can live for weeks without food, but your life can end in a matter of days without drinkable water.
If potable water is not delivered by your local community, there is no alternative worldwide, except for occasional river and spring water or well water.
In the absence of potable water, supermarket water may become overly expensive.
For the past half century or more, water has been an essential “right” in many communities in the U.S. and in others around the world.
However, that “right” doesn’t bother people who see water only as a profitable commodity.
It has become common to see international corporations buying up water rights around the world.
John H. Schultz Providence

We know when private companies take over our water systems, rates often go up and service often worsens.
Now, there’s another danger we’re fighting: officials hiding important information about access to the human right to water in our communities.
A new suit we filed today in New Jersey illustrates why water privatization is a dangerous threat to the most vulnerable communities and is potentially a means to hide the devastating effects of policies like water shutoffs.
Public water officials have a duty to keep certain information—like the number of residents who have had their water shutoff for non-payment—accessible to the public.
In Camden, we submitted an open records request to the city for this data.
But since Camden’s water is now privately managed by New Jersey American Water, the city claimed they didn’t have the information and to contact the water company.
In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit for New Jersey, we’re suing Camden in order to force New Jersey American Water to release details on water shutoffs in the city.
“New Jersey American Water profits from controlling what should be a public service.
But We Can Save It.
While we will continue to fight for safe, clean and accessible drinking water for all using any means necessary – including taking it to the courts – you can take action today by urging your congressmember to support the WATER Act, legislation that would fully fund our public water systems and keep them from becoming prey to the advances of Wall Street and private water companies like New Jersey American Water.

Many farmers in East Gippsland have sold off half their herds as they continue to battle extreme dry conditions.
"The Millennium Drought we could tick over, but water’s such a big issue now that our place up in the high country, we’ll probably totally de-stock in the next six weeks if it doesn’t get any run-off rain," he said.
"We’ve actually cleaned out 24 dams, we’ve sold 15 per cent of the dairy herd, 25 per cent of the beef herd, and the rest of the beef herd is on agistment in New South Wales.
Our family sent cattle to Queensland in the 1890s and my cattle are in New South Wales today.
To get a sense of just how bad it is, Mr Nixon said people only needed to look at the number of cattle being sold at the Bairnsdale saleyards.
He said more awareness was needed of the drought conditions farmers in the region were going through.
"There’s no declaration of drought as there used to be, so a lot of farmers might be unaware that they can apply for these drought concessional loans."
Dairy farmer Royston Nettleton is Mr Nixon’s neighbour and said he would be applying for a loan.
"Even if we get a lot more rain now we still aren’t going to get enough run-off to fill the water supplies, so I think a lot of people in the hill country will have to reduce their stock numbers.
Heading into winter, Mr Honey said locals were not feeling confident about the season ahead.

Recognizing this progress and applying criteria explained below, a blue-ribbon panel created by Mayor Bill Peduto recommended that PWSA remain a public authority but with a thorough reorganization and crucial change in governance.
We are at a crossroads, as the mayor and city council consider our proposed changes.
While the panel did not receive such a proposal, which reportedly never got to the point of negotiation, we were aware of this option, as well as other options that could put the water system into the hands of a private company.
Privatization is a legitimate option and was considered.
Private companies tend to be more efficient than public agencies providing the same service; the discipline of the market and the competition it brings demand it.
A study by Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit that opposes privatization, compiled water rates of the 500 largest community water systems in the country and found that, on average, privately owned water utility service costs households 59 percent more than public water service.
When the panel conducted an analysis of the options, we decided from the perspective of the public PWSA serves that, after public health and safety, there are four criteria of overarching importance for the future success of the water system: independence from political control, public accountability, public trust, and a governance and management structure to make improvements durable.
The panel’s recommendation is to keep PWSA public, build on the progress that’s been made during the past year, remove operational barriers to continued improvement and change the authority’s governance so that it has a board of directors free of political influence and focused solely on creating a world-class water and sewer utility committed to providing safe drinking water at affordable rates for the citizens of Pittsburgh and surrounding communities.
Now is the time to summon the political will to make these long-overdue changes in the way PWSA is governed and operated.
We believe this is the best course of action for PWSA, its customers and the city, and we urge the mayor and Pittsburgh City Council to pursue this path.

An Indonesian Supreme Court ruling has ordered Jakarta to end one of the world’s largest water privatization schemes, and the capital city is now scrambling to take control of its waterworks.
Jakarta’s water utility was privatized 20 years ago in the last years of the Suharto military dictatorship, when the former president awarded contracts to two joint ventures, one of which included his son’s company.
The coalition won its case in the Jakarta District Court in 2015, but it took two more years for the Supreme Court to uphold its constitutionality.
The prevalence of such wells is one reason Jakarta is one of the fastest-sinking cities in the world.
Thames Water partnered with Suharto’s son’s company.
But Suharto did not award those contracts in a vacuum. The World Bank had been strongly encouraging the government to privatize its utilities at the time.

Changes To America’s Infrastructure Could Make Our Tap Water Unaffordable.
Now they say it got lead and stink in it (New World Water) Fluorocarbons and monoxide Push the water table lopside Used to be free now it cost you a fee Those are lyrics to a song that is 18 years old, yet prescient as ever.
In 1999, Mos Def’s “New World Water” described the dystopian, greed-driven trends in the government’s treatment of the planet and its citizens.
Referencing many of the hot-button issues popular today in discussions about climate change, the rapper now known as Yasiin Bey also touched on the privatization of the global water supply, co-opting a human right into a for-profit service.
In 2017, the state of America’s infrastructure – including its water systems – remains substandard, and with a presidential administration with apparently no regard for Earth’s rising temperatures or poor Americans’ access to clean drinking water, we have a tragic case of art imitating life on our hands.
Trump is expected to submit his official plans for the nation’s infrastructure – buildings, roads, utility supplies – this fall.
Along with things like crumbling bridges and rotting foundations, the nation’s infrastructure responsible for bringing millions of Americans tap water will likely be addressed in the literature.
Directly overseeing the organization’s Water for All campaign, Grant is critical of any politician who supports the privatization of America’s tap-water systems and warns that “it seems like the Trump administration is putting forward a plan that relies heavily on privatization of our essential infrastructure.” Inherently troubling about such a position is, of course, that privatizing infrastructure means that the bottom line becomes more important than public good – precisely the kind of ethical dilemma that led to the human-rights disaster in Flint.
“It’s a myth when you talk about privatizing infrastructure assets like water systems, and think that it’s going to reduce the cost of the service — it doesn’t, you pay more when private companies take over water systems.
They want to use their water systems as cash cows to pay for other government services,” she warns.