El Salvador’s water crisis – The Guardian

The Guardian recently wrote an article about the danger of having the private sector involved in the water supply system.

“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. We are all going to suffer because the water is going to be more expensive and we are also not going to have water for basic fundamentals.

“That always affects the poorest people most,” he added.

In May, the country’s right-wing Arena party retook control of the national assembly and quickly made moves to put water under the control of the private sector. In June, right-wing politicians introduced a proposal for an “integral water law” which would create a governing body to regulate water, approve permits for water use and establish taxes and tariffs.

The five-person body would include one representative elected by the president, two representatives from the National Association of Private Enterprise (Anep), and two from an association of municipal governments (Comures) in which Arena currently has greater representation.

Arena officials deny the law would privatise water. The party’s candidate in the 2019 presidential elections, Carlos Calleja, has even declared himself against its privatisation.

But activists say despite their public denials, politicians are still advocating policies that will lead to privatisation.

Read the entire article here

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