Water crisis in El Salvador

The fundamental issue as to whether water is a human right or a commodity to be sold is global.  It has been the central issue of the environmental struggle in El Salvador which faces a water crisis due to the use and abuse of exorbitant amounts of water by global and domestic industries such as:

  • metallic mining, primarily cyanide extraction gold mining, and by multinational corporations by their pollution of the water they don’t use in production; 
  • the Coca-Cola Company with its plant in Nejapa, El Salvador, producing multiple brands, including Sprite, Fanta, Schweppes, Dasani, Smartwater and Minute Maid; 
  • the sugar cane industry; 
  • developers of large shopping malls, golf courses, and housing projects for the wealthy; and
  • the agro-chemical promotion of uncontrolled use of toxic pesticides. 

 

While these industries monopolize large amounts of water, the poor often go without water for days at a time and, when it does become available to them, they may have access for just a few hours.  In addition, over 90% of surface water in El Salvador is polluted.  If significant action to protect water is not taken soon, it is estimated that within the next 80 years El Salvador will run out of water.

Although a “General Water Law” seeking to protect water as the vital resource that it is and to ensure its equitable distribution was first introduced in 2006 by the leftist political party, Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), it has yet to pass. The General Water Law would, among other goals, define and protect water as a human right, as well as ensure universal access for the population and integrate community consultation into national decision-making regarding water usage.

The right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party is instead proposing a “Comprehensive Water Law,” which would bring corporate entities into the management of the country’s water system. Since the right-wing’s proposal, protests in rejection of their proposal have been near-constant. Despite these protests, the right-wing parties obtained a supermajority in the legislature following the 2018 elections and moved forward quickly in taking steps to pass their bill without success.  Despite the right-wing parties’ efforts, opposition to their bill remains strong, with numerous entities, including the Catholic Church, taking public positions against the proposed law.

This struggle for the right to clean water has been central to the mobilization of the social movement in El Salvador.  U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities’ partner organization in El Salvador, CRIPDES (Association for the Development of El Salvador) has a long history of defending the people’s right to water.  CRIPDES is a member of the Water Forum which works against the privatization of water.  The organization’s response to the government’s first attempt to privatize water in 2007 led to mass demonstrations and the arrest of 13 CRIPDES leaders who were then charged under anti-terrorist laws modeled after similar US laws. The size and scope of the mobilization and international solidarity forced the government to cease privatization efforts and drop all charges.   CRIPDES is also a key member of the Mining Table which led a decade-long struggle against cyanide extraction gold mining, making El Salvador the world’s only nation to sign a complete ban on metallic mining.  This ban is understood as critical in the struggle to protect El Salvador’s water.

 

Water coming solely from the spring

 

Annotated bibliography

Link to an AJ+ video describing the issues around the water struggle, making note of the dangers of the work for environmental activists and discussing the poor’s lack of access to clean, predictable water.

Al Jazeera. Youtube video. How El Salvador is Creating Climate Refugees. 27 January 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg7lHKT7yME

 

Link to a blog post from CISPES describing the Bukele’s government’s response to water issues, including the problem with contaminated water in San Salvador in early 2020, with a discussion of the privatization issue and the influence of developers, multinational corporations, and international agreements on the government’s approach. Places this discussion in the setting of the struggle for water rights.

Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador. Blog post. Dirty Water, Dirtier Profits: An Update on El Salvador’s Fight for Clean Water. 20 February 2020. http://cispes.org/article/dirty-water-dirtier-profits-update-el-salvador’s-fight-clean-water

 

Link to blog post by Sister Cities discussing results of the survey evaluating the first 100 days of Bukele’s government conducted by the University Institute of Public Opinion of the Central American University (IUDOP). Notes that access to water and the safety of the drinking water in the nation are important issues to the Salvadoran people, according to the survey.

El Salvador Solidarity. Mario Guevara. Blog post. Water and migration, the failed subjects of the popular president Bukele. 18 October 2019. https://www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org/water-and-migration-bukele-factum/

 

Link to an article in National Geographic, describing the lack of access to water both rural and urban poor face. Highlights the problems inherent in drawing up a comprehensive approach to managing this resource given the competing narratives provided by the poor, environmentalists, the business community, and developers.

Gies, Heather. Once lush, El Salvador is dangerously close to running dry. National Geographic. 2 November 2018. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/11/el-salvador-water-crisis-drought-climate-change/

 

Link to article in The Guardian that notes that ES has the region’s lowest water reserves, and describes depletion due to commercial exploitation.  Describes intersection of climate crisis, increased urbanization, and the gang problems in exacerbating these problems. The article warns that ES will run out of water by 2100.

Lakhani, Nina. Living without water: the crisis pushing people out of El Salvador. The Guardian. 30 July 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jul/30/el-salvador-water-crisis-privatization-gangs-corruption

 

Link to an article from the journal Global Affairs Review, a project of NYU’s Center for Global Affairs, that argues that the water issue in El Salvador must be looked at through a gendered lens. In particular, it points out the unpaid labor of women involved in the gathering of water from remote sources, the risk of violence that may occur, and the problems of hygiene for women when water is not accessible for toileting. Also includes a discussion of the importance of including women’s voices in the discussion of water management at the community level.

Lobo, Jessica. Water, Women and El Salvador: The Struggle and How to Help. Global Affairs Review. May 2020. https://gareviewnyu.com/2020/05/04/water-women-and-el-salvador-the-struggle-and-how-to-help/

 

Link to a blog post that examines the water crisis in ES from a development lens, and includes references to issues with privatization, climate change, and scarcity. Offers some suggestions from other nations and contains links to other research.

London International Development Centre. Streisand Neto. Why Is Water Scarcity Such a Problem in El Salvador? 13 March 2019. https://lidc.ac.uk/water-scarcity-el-salvador/

 

Link to a video presented at this organization’s virtual 2020 Common Ground Country Fair by members of the El Salvador Sistering Committee. Interesting discussion about how women organizing in El Salvador created momentum for a national water law stating that water is a human right.

Maine Organic Farmers. Youtube video. Water is Life: Feminism and environmentalism. 11 September 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwXLinZwG68&feature=emb_title

 

Link to a blog post on Panoramas, run by the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Latin American Studies. Offers a short overview of the many environmental challenges facing El Salvador, including water scarcity, deforestation, and overfishing.

Panoramas. Rachel Bierly. Blog post. Environmental Issues in El Salvador.9 September 2019. https://www.panoramas.pitt.edu/health-and-society/environmental-issues-el-salvador

 

Link to blog post on Upside Down World, a news aggregator, describing the fight for a just law covering water by social movements and environmentalists and resisting privatization of this resource. Describes the differences between the General Water Law advocated for by the social movement and the Comprehensive Water Law that ARENA supports.

Portillo, Yesenia. Water Wars: El Salvador Social Movements Resist Water Privatization. Upside Down World. 30 June 2018. http://upsidedownworld.org/archives/el-salvador/water-wars-el-salvador-social-movements-resist-water-privatization/

 

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