Is Water a Human Right? Salvadoran Communities Say YES

Ana Luisa Najarro’s neighbours include some of the world’s largest corporations. Down the street from her house, giant drinks manufacturers have set up a series of factories and warehouses, bottling water and fizzy drinks for distribution across the country and export across central America.

Coca-Cola is here, bottled by a subsidiary of SABMiller, the world’s second-largest brewer. A Mexican juice multinational has also moved in, as has a large bottled water company.

Millions of dollars are made by major beverage businesses in Nejapa, an expanding industrial area in El Salvador near where Najarro lives. But despite living down the road, and on top of one of the country’s largest aquifers, she says she struggles every day to find enough clean water to drink.

Companies in Nejapa deny that their presence has made things worse for local communities.

But Iris Arévalo, a doctor in Nejapa, says the distribution of resources in the area is anything but fair. “It is not possible that these scarce resources don’t go to the people; water is vital to the communities,” she says. “Families need water to live, to survive, for their health. However, the companies need it for mercantilism, to sell and get profit. This is the big difference.”

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE