Rights on the edge: the right to water and the peri-urban drinking water committees of Cochabamba

摘要

This thesis examines how constitutional reforms relating to the right toudwater in Bolivia have affected water provision in peri-urban Cochabamba.udThis multi-sited ethnography explores how the right to water has framedudreforms to the Bolivian water sector, how and why the right to water hasudbeen contested in Bolivia, the impact of reforms to the water sector onudperi-urban water committees and emerging challenges and opportunitiesudfor sustainable water provision in peri-urban Bolivia.ududIt demonstrates that despite the high profile role played by Bolivia inudadvancing the right to water at the international and national level, inudpractice the right to water continues to be a fairly nebulous concept.udThere is a disconnect between Bolivia’s international stance on theudhuman right to water and national reforms around the right to water. Thisudthesis contends that the right to water is a banner under which the waterudsector has been reformed since the election of Evo Morales in 2006.udEven though the constitution states that everyone has the right to water,udin practice water often continues to be provided through communityudproviders such as drinking water committees (DWCs), largely due to theudfailure of municipal water provision. Reforms and policy have focussed onud(re)nationalising the sector and establishing new institutions to regulateudand develop diverse water providers such as peri-urban DWCs.ududThrough detailed ethnographic examination of peri-urban Cochabamba,udthe thesis demonstrates that activists and community-water providers inudrural and peri-urban areas have contested reforms linked to the right toudwater. They have contended that reforms have the potential to undermineudcommunity water systems, and furthermore, that the state has failed toudguarantee basic human rights and service provision. To date, the stateudand non-state initiatives to enhance the sustainability of DWCs haveudfocussed on certain elements of sustainability, specifically protecting theudaquifer and enhancing institutional sustainability of DWCs. By drawing onudthe experience and development of one DWC, this thesis also exploresudfurther elements that present challenges and opportunities to enhanceudsustainable water provision in peri-urban areas, namely building equitableudaccess, and the reconciling of local power relations.