Harvard Review of Latin America

winter 2013

harvard review of Latin america

water editor’s letter by june carolyn erlick

ZocaloWater Facets Hed 26 pt

Zocalo deck 14 point one line By When I’m feeling a bit blue on dark winter days, words about water flow into my head: John Masefield’s “I must go down to the sea again” or the 23rd Psalm’s quiet rhythms, “He leadeth me beside still waters.” A walk down Riverside Drive or a stroll along the beach in Cartagena or Coney Island both calms and energizes me. The fountains of Antigua and Oaxaca remind me of time and timelessness. Although colonial in origin, they hark to life’s basic necessity: water. I’ve long thought this deep spiritual feeling about water was something particular to me. So it was quite a surprise when I discovered my Volume Xii No. 2 friend Marianne Kinzer (whose photoessay is on p. 36) felt the same way: David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies Now, I am thinking about Oaxaca again and its water. We went to a village in the mountains, where Director the mythical birthplace of the Mixtec people is said to be located: Apoala. It is a village in the Merilee S. Grindle

mountains around Oacaxa. There, a stream originates in a cave, and the first ancestors of the Mixtec Executive Director people were born.... I took a few photos of the stream emerging from the cave. A brook emerges Kathy Eckroad from the cave and later falls down to lower lying valleys. Above one of the two waterfalls here in Apoala—mythology tells us—the first human was born from a tree. This event is supposedly recorded ReVista in the Nutall Codex. I reflected on the importance of water especially for an agricultural society. The Editor-in-Chief tree is very much related to humanity as well. I regard stories like that as ancient knowledge of the June Carolyn Erlick importance of water of humankind. Copy Editor Anita Safran Like Marianne Kinzer, I’d spent months reflecting on the importance of water as I prepared Publication Interns this issue. Dams, hydroelectric power, water filters, territorial disputes over water, climate change, Jai Chowdhry Beeman Carlos Schmidt Padilla privatization, irrigation: how was I ever going to cover it all in one single issue of ReVista? Alicia Zamora John Briscoe, who directs the Harvard’s Water Security Initiative and has done extensive work Design on water management in Brazil, provided invaluable help as I shaped the magazine. He pointed 2communiqué me toward the future and the indispensable role of water in development. www.2communique.com It was not until I began reading Steven Mithen’s brilliantly written Thirst: Water and Power in Printer the Ancient World (Harvard University Press, 2012) that I could connect the powerful surge of P & R Publications water in the spiritual realm with the complicated world of water management. Mithen points out Contact Us that the lowland centers of the Maya population—the predecessors of those bubbly fountains— 1730 Cambridge Street were built in a landscape with little permanent water supply. First relying on natural accumula- Cambridge, MA 02138 tion of water in depressions, the Mayan people eventually used centralized planning to build Telephone: 617-495-5428 complicated hydraulic systems over wide swaths of land, Mithen tells us. Water management Subscriptions and Reader Forum included aqueducts, dams, channels, drains and reservoirs. Droughts and floods were a reality of [email protected] every day life, and both ritual and engineering were thought necessary to control them. Likewise, Website in Peru’s Machu Picchu, an icon of lost civilizations, the Inca gained sophisticated expertise www.drclas.harvard.edu/publications/ in hydraulic engineering. “[The Inca’s] military, political and cultural achievements ultimately revistaonline derived from the management of water,” Mithen observes. Facebook My former visits to the monumental Mayan ruins or Machu Picchu had evoked awe and ReVista, the Harvard Review of Latin America spiritual connections to a past that is only vaguely mine. Now, for me, those ruins connect ahead Copyright © 2012 by the President and to a world confronted with floods, storms and climate change. This fall’s Hurricane Sandy, with Fellows of Harvard College. ISSN 1541—1443 its flooding, brought a new aspect of water management to a city as developed as New York. It ReVista is printed on recycled stock. battered and damaged Santiago de Cuba—usually highly prepared for hurricanes. And only a few weeks later, torrential rains ravaged Panamá, the gateway between North and South America. This issue of ReVista is made Perhaps science and spirituality are not so far apart, I thought. Water is power and water is possible through generous life, and we cannot control it all. support of Sovereign/Santander harvard review of Latin america

winter 2013 Volume Xii No. 2

Published by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies Harvard University

in every issue

MAKING A DIFFERENCE Displacement by Maria Dieci 59

BOOK talk Colombia: Looking From Inside the 60 water Belly of the Beast A Review by Boris Muñoz Reframing War and Local Conflict 62 in Guatemala A Review by Deborah T. Levenson FIRST TAKEs The Political Geography of Water by John Briscoe 2 reader forum 64 The Struggle for Clean Drinking Water in Latin America 5 by Joseph B. Treaster the last word by Jai Chowdry Beeman 65 water management Grandmothers and Engineers by Rebecca McMillan and Susan Spronk 10 A River for Millions by Gonzalo Alcalde and Diego Espejo 15 Amazon Rivers by Luiz Gabriel T. Azevedo 18 online Investing in Latin America’s Water Factories by Nigel Asquith 21 Look for more content online at drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline. focus on brazil Water-friendly Cities? by Monica Porto 26 Climate Change and the Amazon by Philip M. Fearnside 30 Water, the Energy Sector and Climate Change in Brazil 32 by Angela Livino water rights Water in Oaxaca, Mexico Photoessay by Marianne Kinzer 36 From Water Wars to Water Scarcity by Emily Achtenberg 39 Al Son Del Río by Diana Lucía Duque Marín 42 Water Access by David Daepp 48

water quality On the cover 52 Cooperative Sanitation in Brazil’s Favelas by Susan Leal The cover of this issue on water shows a hydroelectric El Liquido Vital by David Gullette 54 dam in Brazil. Cover photo courtesy of Luiz Gabriel Todt Making Water Safe in Haiti by Linda Khachadurian 56 de Azevedo first takes

The Political Geography of Water

In a Changing Brazil By John Briscoe

“One must begin with water,” wrote the Janeiro, as well as this region’s many oth- institution, half-public, half-private, historian Fernand Braudel, because the er large and small cities. that is charting a new and promising provision of water services is one of the The availability of abundant water path for reconciling social account- foundations for civilization. People and is, however, just one part of a sup- ability and efficiency in Brazil and else- societies want protection from floods ply chain needed for a healthy urban where. The consistent and moderate and droughts; they want water to drink, life. Surveys in São Paulo have shown rainfall in this region has also under- to irrigate their crops and to produce the dynamic of challenge and response pinned the development of Brazilian clean energy. Brazil is a case in point and the hierarchy of demands for a biofuels, with entrepreneurial farmers for how one country has used water as growing economy. Fifty years ago, “clean and quality scientific research meaning a platform for economic development, water” was the highest priority for the that Brazil can rely on ethanol as the pri- with its successes, failures and current burgeoning favelas. This need was met mary source of energy for its transporta- challenges. A hydrological overlay cor- both through economic growth and tion network. responds closely, as Braudel might have political voice, only to be followed by At the other end of the hydrological expected, to broad economic regions. a demand for getting wastewater out and economic spectrum is the North- The South and Southeast, the eco- of the house and neighborhood. This east, where water has always been both nomic heart of modern Brazil, are blessed challenge, too, has largely been met, scarce and unreliable, giving rise to with abundant and consistent supplies of and the challenge for the cities is now endemic poverty and a paternalistic water. The country’s industrial develop- the drainage of storm water, treatment “culture of drought.” The great response ment was built on the basis of cheap (and of wastewater and improvement in the in this region—one followed, amongst clean) hydropower, mostly at a very large quality of rivers and estuaries. Accom- others, by President Lula—was migra- scale—the Itaipu Dam on the Paraná panying these efforts have been gradual tion away from hydrological-induced River produces more electricity than any changes in the institutions for managing suffering to the favelas of the Southeast. But attempts have also been made to use the ample waters of the São Fran- cisco, the one great perennial river of Provision of water services is one of the foundations the region, to build a water platform for civilization. Brazil is a case in point for how one for growth both within the São Fran- cisco Valley and in the arid hinterland. country has used water as a platform for economic Again the dominant feature has been development, a great achievement. Yet, as is always the capture of the large hydroelectric potential of the São Francisco, providing the case with water, many challenges remain. cheap and clean power to the regional economy. Efforts to use the waters of the river for agriculture within the val- other dam in the world. Over the lat- water. In the days of the 1950s “Brazilian ley have been persistent, but of limited ter half of the 20th century, most of the miracle,” the approach was state-driven benefit. Some successes with private economically viable hydropower in this and centralized. Much was accom- farmers irrigating high-value crops have area has been tapped. Hydropower does plished, but the water institutions were been offset by persistent failures of large not, of course, consume water, but rath- largely unaccountable and inefficient. public irrigation projects to kick-start er takes advantage of its flow. Thus, the Within the context of the maturing of the regional economy. Learning from regulated rivers of the South and South- the Brazilian economy, water institu- these successes and failures, Brazil is east also provided a reliable and abun- tions too have changed. The Brazilian now experimenting with new models of dant supply of water for the growing water utility SABESP, the fifth largest public-private irrigation partnerships, megalopolises of São Paulo and Rio de in the world, has evolved into a hybrid which, it is hoped, will bring dynamism

2 ReVista winter 2013 The map shows Brazil’s many rivers and regions, including the Amazon, home to the world’s biggest river.

for cheap, environmentally friendly transport of grains. Despite having two of the great river systems of the world (the Amazon and Paraná), Brazil ships only about 15 percent of its grains by river transport (in comparison to 60 percent for the United States). River transport, unlike roads, does not lead to deforestation and thus developing Bra- zil’s internal waterways is a high priority for the country. Panglossian as this picture is, two great unknowns and potential threats endanger Brazil’s water security. The first of these is the effect of land-use and vegetative changes. A big mystery is why the runoff of the Paraná River has increased by almost a third in recent decades. It is generally assumed that this must be due to land-use changes in its catchment, but there is little science to support this thesis. Loom- but also a broad-based distribution of the relatively even and consistent raining larger still are questions about the benefits. Beyond the basin, the great fall that waters these vast plains. potential impact on the hydrology of temptation has always been to see a The fourth great hydrological region the plains of changes in the Amazon pipeline from the São Francisco as the of Brazil is the Amazon, home to the forest because of both climate change solution to the endemic water insecu- world’s biggest river and largest forest. and deforestation. Every year about 12 rity of the arid areas of the Northeast. Until recently, the Amazon and its tribu- trillion cubic meters of water fall on the After decades of discussion, such a taries were primarily a barrier to devel- Amazon forest. About half of this runs pipeline is now being built, in an effort opment. But this is changing, because back to the ocean in the rivers, but the to find a new security equilibrium for of two big national drivers. The first is great forest re-evaporates half, and 6 the “drought polygon” to the north. the massive hydropower potential of the billion cubic meters (10 times the flow Necessary as the infrastructure is, the Amazon and its tributaries. Large as the of the Mississippi) gets blown onto the great challenge—yet to be squarely installed hydropower capacity of Brazil Andes, with the clouds then sweeping faced—is what software (allocation and is, twice this potential still exists in the down and raining on the plains of Brazil management instruments) will be put Amazon. Some early attempts to devel- and Argentina. Whereas rain in the into place to realize the promise of a op this power were disasters, with huge United States and Europe comes almost very large investment. areas submerged for little energy return. entirely directly from ocean-based The third great hydrological region As environmental concerns have risen evaporation, in South America it is this is the Center-West, a savannah once in Brazil, so designers have innovated, land-based evaporation which drives considered impossible to cultivate but with current-generation projects hav- the hydrological cycle. Whence a great now the heartland for the world’s larg- ing a footprint per unit of energy just question: what will happen to the est production of soybeans. Brazil’s 1/100th that of earlier projects (albeit hydrological cycle when, due to climate decades-long investment in agricultural at the cost of lower reliability of energy change and deforestation, the veg- research has been the key, but so too is supply). The second driver is the need etation of the Amazon region changes?

map by john briscoe and jai chowdhry beeman drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 3 water

What will be the impact on the great green sources of electricity (hydro and ethanol)? What will be the effect on Brazilian agriculture and even on the water-dependent cities? Last, of course, is politics. People looking from the banks of the Charles River in Boston may raise eyebrows at the “sustainability” of all of these achievements. And indeed the usual celebrities—from James Cameron to Bill Clinton—make the usual lofty state- ments about their opposition to dams in the Amazon, and the U.S. government finances international and local NGOs to build opposition to these priorities of a democratic government. But Brazil, like China and India and a growing group of middle-income countries, no longer have to bow at these altars—the Brazilian Develop- ment Bank is three times the size of the World Bank. At the end of eight years in office, President Lula had presided over extraordinary changes in his country, both in making (in his words) Bra- zil into “a normal country,” no longer subject to populist politics, and in consistent growth, especially for the poor. President Obama described him as “the world’s most popular politician.” And what was Lula most proud of? The first items in his farewell speech to the nation had to do with infrastructure, especially the hydro plants of the Amazon and the São Francisco inter-basin transfer. Building a water platform for growth and securing Brazil’s water-related security is indeed a great achievement, but as is always the way with water, successes give rise to new challenges which will test the ingenuity of the next generation of Brazilian political and scientific leaders.

John Briscoe is Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Environmen- tal Engineering and Environmental Health at Harvard University, where he directs the Harvard Water Security Initiative. He teaches undergraduate Above: Bathers enjoy the water in Olinda-Pernambuco in northeastern Brazil; a young man and graduate courses on water manage- gazes out at the water in Salvador da Bahia, also in northeastern Brazil. ment and development.

4 ReVista winter 2013 photos by Cristina Costales The Struggle for Clean Drinking Water in Latin America

By Joseph B. Treaster

For the last few years I’ve been taking cisely what parasites, bacteria and viruses population are going to make access to students from the University of Miami are in the water. It runs nicely through clean drinking water even more difficult. to the Galápagos Islands off the coast of pipes into many homes and businesses. More people will have to share the earth’s Ecuador. We study the environment and But it needs to be boiled to be safe to drink. finite water. The higher temperatures of the culture. We record the squeaky, hissy The unsafe drinking water there is part climate change are expected to bring lon- conversations of giant land tortoises and of a global problem. Throughout Latin ger dry stretches and more evaporation, the volcanic-black marine iguanas that America and the world, nearly 800 mil- alternating with heavy rains and floods. are found nowhere else. We swim with sea lion people live without safe, clean drink- Most places have not developed ways to lions and penguins. ing water, according to United Nations capture and store the rains and the flood- One thing we do not do is drink the agencies. More than three times more ing churns all sorts of harmful things water. people—2.5 billion—manage to survive into drinking water. The people on the island of Isabela, without a decent toilet, day in and day out. To deal with climate change, water which serves as our headquarters, live in People suffering from water-borne diseases experts say everyone needs to use less a kind of environmental paradise. Blue- take up about half of all the hospital beds in water, especially the farmers in Latin footed boobies and pink flamingos soar the world. And each year the diseases car- America and elsewhere. Experts estimate over the main village of Puerto Villamil, ried in water kill nearly two million people, that at least 70 percent of the world’s and little stubby, brown finches dart mostly children under five years of age. water goes to irrigate farm crops and through the mangroves and shrubs. Economies suffer. Women and girls nourish livestock. Much of that water But all too often the people in Puerto spend hours each day lugging water from could be saved through the use of drip Villamil and the hamlets in the highlands streams and lakes. People miss days at irrigation, which takes water directly to wake up with a serious stomach ache. It work. Children don’t go to school. Water quality sampling is an important is because of the water. As far as I know, In Latin America and elsewhere in part of making sure that water is safe for there’s been no conclusive analysis of pre- the world, climate change and increasing drinking. This image is from Brazil.

photo courtesy of luiz gabriel todt de azevedo drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 5 water

WATER AND SANITATION COVERAGE IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN From “Progress in Drinking Water and Sanitation: 2012 Update”Joint Report by UNICEF and WHO

NO. COUNTRY POPULATION POPULATION WATER SERVICE COVERAGE (2010) DISTRIBUTION (2010) Urban Rural Urban Population Rural Population Improved Static Improved Static (x 1,000 Hab.) Sources Sources Sources Sources 1 Argentina 40,412 92% 8% 98% 2% NA NA 2 Belize 312 52% 48% 98% 2% 99% 1% 3 Bolivia 9,930 67% 33% 96% 4% 71% 29% 4 Brazil 194,946 87% 13% 100% 0% 85% 15% 5 Chile 17,114 89% 11% 99% 1% 75% 25% 6 Colombia 46,295 75% 25% 99% 1% 72% 28% 7 Costa Rica 4,659 64% 36% 100% 0% 91% 9% 8 Cuba 11,258 75% 25% 96% 4% 89% 11% 9 Ecuador 14,465 67% 33% 96% 4% 89% 11% 10 El Salvador 6,193 64% 36% 94% 6% 76% 24% 11 Guatemala 14,389 49% 51% 98% 2% 87% 13% 12 Honduras 7,601 52% 48% 95% 5% 79% 21% 13 Mexico 113,423 78% 22% 97% 3% 91% 9% 14 Nicaragua 5,788 57% 43% 98% 2% 68% 32% 15 Panama 3,517 75% 25% 97% 3% NA NA 16 Paraguay 6,455 61% 39% 99% 1% 66% 34% 17 Peru 29,077 77% 23% 91% 9% 65% 35% 18 Puerto Rico 3,749 99% 1% NA NA NA NA 19 Haiti 9,993 52% 48% 85% 15% 51% 49% 20 Dominican Republic 9,927 69% 31% 87% 13% 84% 16% 21 Uruguay 3,369 92% 8% 100% 0% 100% 0% 22 Venezuela 28,980 93% 7% NA NA NA NA Latin America and the Caribbean 581,852 80% 20% 98% 2% 82% 18% the roots of plants. But drip irrigation is Manuel Rodriguez Becerra served as The poor often lack the ability to expensive, and farmers would probably Colombia’s first Minister of the Envi- bring pressure on political leaders. They need subsidies to convert from their wide- ronment years ago and has worked on are invisible from the steel and glass spread use of sprinklers. Indeed, much of environmental projects for the United skyscrapers of São Paulo and Buenos Latin America’s water is consumed by soy Nations. One of the first things he men- Aires. And even when governments and farmers and cattle ranchers in Brazil. tioned in an interview with me was the humanitarian agencies try to help get The situation in Latin America and the inequality in Latin America: “it is the water to the poor, they struggle with Caribbean is not as bad as in Africa and poorest of the poor who don’t have access logistics and coordination and with pro- India. But the United Nations reports that to clean drinking water,” he said by tele- viding solutions that fit in with the lives about 36 million people—more than all phone from Bogotá. of the people they are trying to help. the people in Mexico City, Bogotá, Lima Around the world, a lack of sanitary Lots of people are working on the and Buenos Aires combined—are living facilities—toilets—is a big factor in the water problem in Latin America from without clean, safe drinking water. unhealthiness of the drinking water. many perspectives, as you will see in It’s hard to say when things will get bet- Some people simply wade into rivers this issue of ReVista. But often they are ter for these people. The water problem in and streams where others get their working at cross-purposes. Some govern- Latin America, as in Africa and India, is drinking water. Cattle defecate in the ments and humanitarian organizations mostly a matter of poverty. It is not, as one same water. In Latin America, as in other dig wells. Some distribute purification United Nations agency pointed out a few parts of the developing world, many riv- tablets. Some install pumps. Still others years ago, that there is not enough water ers are choked with chemical and indus- believe the answer is to build big water to go around. That is especially true in Lat- trial waste. The Rio de la Plata, which treatment plants and lay down miles in America, which has some of the most sweeps past Buenos Aires, is one of the of water pipes. There are many kinds of bountiful water resources in the world. most polluted. projects, all useful. But for one reason or

6 ReVista winter 2013 first takes

SANITATION COVERAGE NATIONAL WATER SERVICES AND SANITATION COVERAGE Urban Population Rural Population Water Services Sanitation Improved Static Improved Static Improved Static Improved Non-Improved Sources Sources Sources Sources Sources Sources Installations Installations NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 93% 7% 87% 13% 98% 2% 90% 10% 35% 65% 10% 90% 88% 12% 27% 73% 85% 15% 44% 56% 98% 2% 79% 21% 98% 2% 83% 17% 96% 4% 96% 4% 82% 18% 63% 37% 92% 8% 77% 23% 95% 5% 96% 4% 97% 3% 95% 5% 94% 6% 81% 19% 94% 6% 91% 9% 96% 4% 84% 16% 94% 6% 92% 8% 89% 11% 83% 17% 88% 12% 87% 13% 87% 13% 70% 30% 92% 8% 78% 22% 85% 15% 69% 31% 87% 13% 77% 23% 87% 13% 79% 21% 96% 4% 85% 15% 63% 37% 37% 63% 85% 15% 52% 48% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 90% 10% 40% 60% 86% 14% 71% 29% 81% 19% 37% 63% 85% 15% 71% 29% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 24% 76% 10% 90% 69% 31% 17% 83% 75% 25% NA 100% 86% 14% 83% 17% 100% 0% 99% 1% 100% 0% 100% 0% NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

84% 16% 57% 43% 94% 6% 79% 21% another they often don’t fit together. You world, tap water is not safe to drink. No age were laid long ago underground in a get a little benefit for a while. Then the one has counted how many tens of mil- single trench, side by side. The pipes have project falls apart. The left hand doesn’t lions of people are in this situation. become corroded and sewage and drink- know what the right hand is doing. But the Centers for Disease Con- ing water intermingle. “The water in “The problem,” said Ban Ki-moon, the trol and Prevention in Atlanta says that Mexico City comes out of the treatment secretary general of the United Nations, people in the Galápagos and the rest of plants clean,” he said, “but it becomes in a speech at the World Economic Forum Latin America and, indeed, most of the undrinkable.” The same thing happens in in Davos, Switzerland, not long ago, “is developing world should not trust the Africa and other parts of the world. The that we have no coordinated global man- tap water. It can make you just as sick as water is clean when it leaves the treat- agement authority in the UN system or water from a polluted river. ment plant in Kampala, the capital of the world at large.” Water, climate change Charles Fishman, an expert on water Uganda, officials say. But a short distance and the global food problem share a com- and the author of The Big Thirst, a book from the plant, residents say, the water mon burden, he said: “there is no overall on drinking-water problems around the turns foul and must be boiled. Some of responsibility, accountability or vision.” world, moved to Mexico City from New the poorest people in Africa and in Latin The problem in Latin America and York. He and many of his neighbors in America survive on a few dollars a day. the rest of the world is worse than the the upper-middle-class Condesa neigh- They often choose not to spend money United Nations data suggests. By the borhood of Mexico City have running on fuel to boil drinking water. Some peo- United Nations standards, when peo- water. But, he said in an interview, “no ple develop immunities to the things in ple have water piped into their homes one drinks the tap water, even the people the water. But many are routinely sick. they are no longer regarded as lacking in the barrios, the slums.” In many places in Latin America, access to clean, safe drinking water. But Fishman said that in Mexico City, the running water is available for only a few in many parts of Latin America and the pipes that carry drinking water and sew- hours a day. That is almost a guarantee

drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 7 water

for health problems, said Alain R. Locus- tanker trucks deliver drinking water. who are required to pay for their water do sol, a water expert in Washington who The owners have political clout and don’t not pay, the company cuts them off. He worked for the World Bank for 25 years. want the government to come up with said that 50,000 low-income people in “Each time the pipes go empty,” he said in a less expensive way for people to get Medellín have been disconnected from an interview, “a vacuum is created. When drinking water. the municipal water system. the water starts up, it sucks in pollution.” Another complicating factor is that The World Bank often made contracting The medical costs of unclean drinking people sometimes don’t see anything with private water companies a condition water run into the billions for governments wrong with their water. They don’t for receiving loans. Locussol, the former around the world. That would seem to be demand improvement. The water often World Bank water expert in Washington, an incentive to clean up the water. But sparkles in the sunlight. Instead of blam- told me the trend is for public water com- getting local and national governments ing the water for their chronic gastroin- panies to contract out some of the work, to spend money on drinking water and testinal problems and dehydration, they but to retain control on policy and pricing. sanitation has not been easy. Sometimes tell visitors, as one man in a slum in East Latin America has made consider- there just isn’t any money, no functioning Africa told me, “That’s just the way it is able progress on drinking water. But it water system and no one to manage it. But in this place.” It’s the same in Managua has taken years to achieve. Twenty years equally important, water experts say, is and Mexico. ago, more than 65 million people in the that some political leaders apparently see In the 1990s, many governments in region were living without clean drinking more benefit in cutting ribbons at open- Latin America and other parts of the water—almost double the official United ing ceremonies for new hospitals than in world thought they might have a solution Nations number these days. dealing with the less glamorous business for the drinking water problem in the cit- But there is still a lot to do. Many of removing bacteria and parasites from ies. The pipes and pumps at the munici- countries are struggling financially. Ecua- drinking water. Sometimes it takes a lot pal water works needed replacing, so dor, the sovereign authority in the Galá- of money and time before any impact is the World Bank and many governments pagos, is among them. The drinking water seen—not always good on a short elec- agreed to sell or lease the water works in Puerto Villamil has been unfit to drink tion cycle of four or six years. Sometimes, to private companies. The private com- for years. What money there is, it seems, is in order to make improvements, the gov- panies would run the water systems effi- being spent for medical treatment. ernment needs to raise the cost of water ciently and people would get clean drink- One of the most attractive places in to homes and businesses. That is never ing water. But, it turned out, the private downtown Puerto Villamil is a modest, welcome. Political leaders know it can cost companies raised rates sharply and many white-washed masonry building over- them votes. So, often, they don’t increase poor people could not afford the water. looking the broad, sandy beach. It extends prices and don’t expand service or fix bro- The issue came to a head in Cocha- half a block to the main street, a wide ken pipes and pumps. bamba, the third largest city in Bolivia, avenue of hard-packed sand and volca- Selling high-priced water is a busi- about 350 miles east of the capital city nic gravel, illuminated in the evenings by ness for many people in the develop- of La Paz. Protesters took to the streets. street lamps fastened to weathered drift- ing world. In some places, hundreds of Bolivia withdrew its contract. Buenos wood poles. It is the town clinic. Aires also threw out the private company. It has a small staff of doctors sent out Flamingo in a lagoon in Puerto Villamil In Colombia these days, Becerra, the from mainland Ecuador for obligatory former minister of the environment, said government service. They treat some cuts that private companies are doing a good and bruises and work with commercial job of running the drinking water sys- divers who get into trouble staying too tems in the coastal cities of Barranquilla long in deep water, collecting sea cucum- and Cartagena, and that public compa- bers for Asian markets. But much of the nies are efficiently supplying drinking work, the doctors say, is treating sickness- water in Bogotá and Medellín. “Many es that come from drinking the water. people below the poverty line in Bogota get clean drinking water,” Becerra said. Joseph B. Treaster is a former reporter In Medellín, Javier Marquez, who has and foreign correspondent for The New campaigned against private operation of York Times. He holds the Knight Chair public utilities, said in an email that the in Cross-Cultural Communication at the Bogotá and Medellín companies give poor University of Miami. He edits The Miami people a basic supply of drinking water for Planet, http://www.themiamiplanet.org/, free. But he said both companies operate and teaches writing and global environ- a bit like private companies. When people mental issues.

8 ReVista winter 2013 photo by Ileana Oroza water management

How water gets to our homes and communities—water management—is a priority in Latin America. The challenge stretches across countries, race and social class, urban and rural communities. Here are some experiences in water management from all over the region.

n Grandmothers and Engineers 10 n A River for Millions 15 n Amazon Rivers 18 n Investing in Latin America’s Water Factories 21

photo by nicolás quendez water

Grandmothers and Engineers The Heads and Hearts of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Process

By Rebecca McMillan and Susan Spronk

A little known fact about Venezuela is and other popular organizations con- Engineers: Managing that grandmothers and engineers are at front two of the Chávez government’s the Water Cycle the forefront of the struggle to improve most daunting adversaries: bureaucracy Walking into Barrialito, in eastern Cara- access to water and sanitation in poor and corruption. cas’s Santa Cruz del Este, one is imme- neighborhoods. diately struck by the din of children Nancy la Rosa, Rosalba Ruíz, Floren- A tale of two cities: playing, dogs barking, buses zooming cia Gutiérrez, Petra Escalona and Sulay water, race and class and people chatting. It is August 28, Morales, all in their golden years, are Caracas’s water system is one of the most 2012, and we are accompanying Daniel working as spokespeople and organiz- complex in the world. Given the city’s Pereira, a young HIDROCAPITAL engi- ers of the technical water committees mountainous topography and the dense neer in his late twenties as he inspects (MTAs, mesas técnicas de agua) in the peri-urban barrios that climb its hill- some recent installations developed in low-income Caracas parish Antímano. sides, providing universal access to water cooperation with the local MTAs. Engineers such as Romer Malave and and sanitation is no easy feat. As we follow him through the circu- Daniel Pereira spend a few days a week Before the election of Hugo Chávez in itous alleyways and stairwells of the bar- walking through the neighborhoods to 1998, the Caracas water policy was highly rio, residents emerge from their homes inspect infrastructure and resolve prob- discriminatory. The city center and east- to join the tour. Greeting Ingeniero Dan- lems. This new relationship between ern middle-class suburbs, where most res- iel with a mix of stern frowns and big barrio (slum) residents and civil servants idents self-identify as “white” according to smiles, the community members com- has transformed water service delivery the recent census, benefited from high- pete as each tries to explain the intrica- in Caracas, an effective example of how quality public services, while the sprawl- cies of their water system to the special- popular power is built under the Chávez ing poor settlements of western Caracas, ist. One woman, frustrated because she administration. where most of the residents identify as had not had water that week, accuses The MTAs are an innovative experi- “mixed” race, developed informally in the her neighbor of closing the valve which ment in radical urban planning. Benefi- absence of attention from the state. allows water to reach her house. ciary communities map their own water No systematic, planned expansion of Most barrios operate on a water and sanitation needs to help to plan water networks existed in the popular cycle whereby households receive water state-financed infrastructure develop- sectors until very recently. In fact, in the at predetermined intervals. The cycle is ment. Because of heavy state investment mid-1990s Antímano and other popu- managed through an elaborate sched- in water and sanitation infrastructure lar parishes didn’t even appear on city ule of manually operated water valves. and this participatory methodology, maps. The settlement and its more than HIDROCAPITAL aims to train com- Venezuela now has 96 percent coverage 150,000 inhabitants were zoned as “green munity members to manage the valves; in potable water, one of the highest rates space,” even though many factories lined however, in Barrialito, the valves are still in the region. the highway that runs past the barrios. managed by the municipality. In other Beyond improving access to services, Infrastructure investments in the bar- cases, private contractors are responsible. the MTAs are seen as a driver of popular rios have developed in a piecemeal fash- This job is a source of local employment organization for political and economic ion, usually following the logic of clien- for community members and is also seen inclusion. The committees were one telistic networks of the government of the as safer for them, since outsiders may be of the first participatory initiatives pro- day. In many cases, neighborhoods have mistrusted in the barrios, where violence moted under Venezuela’s Bolivarian Pro- constructed their own illegal connections. and delinquency are perennial problems. cess, which aims to build a protagonistic The result has been what urban geogra- Through the MTAs, community mem- and participatory democracy as part of pher Karen Bakker describes as an “archi- bers and HIDROCAPITAL engineers the country’s transition towards “21st pelago”: incomplete, fractured water and have been able to regularize the water century socialism.” Despite impressive sanitation networks, and highly uneven cycles to make the service more predict- advances in service access, the MTAs service access within neighborhoods. able. Now that people know when water

10 ReVista winter 2013 water management

will arrive, they can plan to store enough water in government-issued tanks to last them until the next cycle. “Our pipes run along here,” explain community members at another point in the tour. Their pipes were installed illegally, and they are now seeking a formal connection. Exasperated, Daniel tries to make sense of the tangle of hoses snaking through the overhead trees. He then catches sight of a pipe pro- truding from the ground. “And what is that?” he exclaims impatiently. “Oh that’s nothing,” shrugs one resident, as he casu- ally pulls the loose pipe out of the ground and throws it away in an unsuccessful attempt to hide the evidence of a clandestine connection.

From protest to participation: the history of the MTAs Discontent with the water service reached its climax in the 1990s. At that time, many households in the barrios received piped water only every two months, if at all. Water protests occurred daily in Caracas. When Aristóbulo Istúriz was elected as mayor of Caracas in 1993, he proposed the MTAs as a way of channeling the frustration into organization for solutions. His strong commitment to public participation led him to appoint a change team to experiment with new forms of local governance. The team included Victor Díaz and Santiago Arconada, current and former Community Coordina- tors for HIDROCAPITAL, respectively. They spearheaded the implementation of a model of local-level parish governments aimed at overcoming the inertia of the municipal government in addressing the city’s most pressing problems. During the first parish assembly in 1993, Istúriz proposed the technical water committees, with the goal of improving the relationship between the community, the municipality, and the state water utility. Soon after, the first MTAs were born in the parishes of Antímano and El Valle.

Providing water to Caracas’s hillside barrios such as Antímano is no easy feat.

photo by susan spronk and rebecca mcmillan drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 11 water

These early experiments were so suc- accompanied by a significant redistribu- the communal council and the water util- cessful that when Chávez took office in tion of resources, as in Venezuela. ity and other government institutions. 1999, the leadership of HIDROCAPI- Two innovations set the MTAs apart They also attend community water coun- TAL set out to reproduce the experience as an innovative, radical case of com- cil meetings on behalf of their MTA. The across the city. They set up the utility’s munity management: its methodology community water council brings together community management office to insti- based upon the teachings of Paulo Freire, HIDROCAPITAL staff with MTA repre- tutionalize the relationship between and the community water council (con- sentatives from all of the sectors on the the utility and the technical water com- sejo comunitario de agua), the space same water cycle to manage the cycle and mittees. In 2001, the mesas became where multiple MTAs come together to plan solutions to water problems. national public policy. Today, there are interface with the water utility. an astounding 9,000 MTAs nationwide. Popular power: the The MTA methodology: community water council Public ownership and census, map, diagnosis It’s 5 p.m. on a Thursday and the traf- social control Through their participatory methodol- fic in Caracas is bumper-to-bumper. We Much of the debate in water politics has ogy, the MTAs attempt to break down the are in “El chino,” the large white Ministry focused on private versus public own- intellectual division between those who of Environment van, with Victor Díaz, a ership. But it is now recognized that plan and make decisions (the bureau- geographer by training who cut his politi- solutions to the water problem cannot crats and technocrats) and the citizenry. cal teeth in the student movement at the depend on this simple dichotomy. Most According to Santiago Arconada, a former Universidad Central de Venezuela in the utilities throughout the global South union activist and HIDROCAPITAL’s first 1980s, and is the current Community have failed to serve the urban and peri- Community Coordinator, the approach is Coordinator for the Metropolitan Region urban poor, regardless of who owns and based on popular educator Paulo Freire’s for HIDROCAPITAL. The occasion is the operates them. Consequently, the Red idea that “everyone has knowledge.” bi-weekly community water council meet- Vida, Latin America’s most important When a community starts an MTA, ing for the parish of Antímano. anti-privatization network, emphasizes they follow three steps. First, they draw Victor takes advantage of the trip to that the planning and delivery of ser- a map and conduct a census of the com- Antímano to catch up on some missed vices must also be democratic. They call munity. Self-mapping is a way of insert- sleep. Between dealing with an emergen- for citizen participation in the manage- ing the barrios into the political land- cy situation involving vandals in La Vega ment of urban water utilities as one way scape of the city. It also helps residents and fielding personal calls from com- of exercising social control. build a collective history of their neigh- munity members about everything from In Red Vida’s view, community service borhood, linking their history of margin- broken pipes to yellow water, he has had management is a way of changing deci- ality to political action. In cooperation a busy week. sion-making structures in urban plan- with the water utility, the community When he arrives at the community ning, as well as a strategy for empow- then diagnoses its water problems as a center, his energy levels are immediately ering the poor through experiences in springboard for project planning. restored. He greets community members organization and self-management. When the Chávez government intro- by name, mock-scolding those who have International development institu- duced the communal councils in 2006, missed recent meetings. Judging by the tions such as the World Bank have also they too adopted the MTA methodology. big warm smiles that spread across the advocated for participation in service Communal councils bring together 150- faces of the neighbors greeting Victor, the provision. But unlike the social move- 400 families in urban areas (around 20 affection is genuine and mutual. Romer ments’ demand for “water democracy,” in rural areas) to plan and execute com- Malave, a recent engineering graduate in which is ultimately about changing pow- munity development projects. his early twenties, oversees the water cycle er relations, the mainstream approach The technical water committees, as in Antímano. He arrived before Victor focuses only on improving service well as other community organizations and is chatting informally with a group of efficiency and does not place enough (land, sports and recreation, health, etc.) residents. A few of the attendees are com- emphasis on the need for heavy public have now been incorporated as working munity members who only show up when investment in networked infrastructure. groups of the communal councils. Each they have a particular problem. Many, This narrower vision usually limits communal council elects a group of voc- though, are elected spokespeople for their participation to fairly passive forms of eros or spokespeople who represent the sector’s technical water committee. Some consultation or “voluntary” labor con- MTA on the communal council. Given the of the older women have been working tributions for water projects, instead of dominance of women in the movement, with the MTAs for more than ten years. transferring real decision-making pow- most of these spokespeople are voceras. Victor opens the meeting with a lengthy er. Moreover, these initiatives are rarely The spokespeople act as a liaison between discourse on the importance of participa-

12 ReVista winter 2013 water management

Left above: An Antímano resident presents her problem to the Community Water Council. Some residents still experience periods of 21+ days without water. Right above: In the MTAs, everyone is an engineer. Barriolita residents explain their water problems to engineer Daniel Pereira. tion, which we suspect might be for the community members to discuss a prob- The limitations of the MTAs benefit of the gringa researchers in the lem further, reminding barrio residents While the utility is now more responsive room, and announces the plans for the not to abuse it. to communities, it is difficult to discern upcoming Fiesta de Agua. During the Fies- “I want to know when your water how much decision-making power the ta de Agua, the government delivers tanks arrives, so call me,” he says to one young MTAs have in practice. Government to communities, as well as funding for mother carrying a baby whose water bureaucrats in air-conditioned offices still projects solicited by the community. Victor did not arrive according to schedule. “It retain a high degree of control in select- insists that the communities must distrib- doesn’t matter what time it is.” ing and prioritizing community projects. ute the tanks according to need and not This rapport between the utility and Indeed, the MTA spokespeople in political affiliation. “Just because someone the community is a significant departure Antímano are skeptical of government is an escuálido [figuratively, rotten aristo- from the previous era, when the utility claims that there is popular power in Ven- crat, or opposition member], doesn’t mean staff would not even set foot in the bar- ezuela. While they support Chávez whole- they don’t deserve tanks. To act like that rios and as Victor put it, “plan everything heartedly, some of the women believe that would be counter-revolutionary.” from their air-conditioned offices.” many organizations have been usurped Following the address, one of the This improved relationship between by people who seek personal enrichment, spokespeople invites people to speak, state and citizen has translated into real as opposed to the well-being of the whole according to a list she compiled before the service improvements. In Antímano, community. “There are a few greedy peo- meeting. One by one, the participants— several major infrastructure projects ple who are screwing the whole process,” mostly women—stand up to describe the have been planned and implemented says Sulay, one of the revolutionary grand- water problems in their neighborhood. with community participation, reducing mothers, expressing her frustration. Sometimes, solutions are found dur- water cycles in some sectors from every Stories abound of corrupt construction ing the meeting. Usually, Romer, the two months to as little as every eight unions that have stolen money intended engineer, will schedule a time to visit days. Water service has also become for community projects or community affected households. Often, Victor gives much more predictable. organizations that hoard funds for them- his personal cellphone number to the However, challenges still remain. selves. (Although the incidents are new,

photos by Susan spronk and rebecca mcmillan (above left) drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 13 and Amauri Ribas (above right) water

most will admit that corruption is a very ment’s move to subsume MTAs within United States, it is too close for comfort old problem in Venezuela. At least now, the communal council. for many Chavistas. “politicians rob us less” since the oil wealth From an urban planning perspective, At an October 11 meeting of the com- is being channeled to the communities.) bringing the water committees to cooper- munity water council, the participants Moreover, the committees are con- ate with committees responsible for such cautiously celebrated Chávez’s victory. stantly butting heads with what one meet- things as land, housing, and electricity is But with the closest margin thus far, ing participant calls the “institutional very progressive. Moreover, it is part of a they know that they have a lot of work bureaucracy.” One sector is still waiting broader strategy that aims to build an alter- ahead of them. for a project that they’ve been pushing for native, participatory state in Venezuela. Like many popular organizations in since 2003. Despite persistent promises However, the result is also that the Bolivarian Venezuela, the MTAs find that water cycles will be shortened, some MTAs have lost their status as an inde- themselves torn between their firm com- sectors in Antímano still only receive water pendent, grassroots form of organiza- mitment to the Chávez government and their desire to denounce the negative elements of the process, such as the problems of bureaucracy and corruption. The MTAs in Caracas, Venezuela, are an innovative It is also unlikely that the MTAs have the autonomous capacity to survive a experiment in radical urban planning. Communities Chávez defeat. As Victor instructs the map their own water and sanitation needs to help MTAs, “If the opposition wins one day, I won’t be here anymore. A new govern- authorities decide on planning water infrastructure. ment will bring in different civil servants. This is why you need to learn to be autonomous.” every 21 days, for only 3 days at a time. “It’s tion. In practice, many MTAs in Antí- Victor’s statement strikes at the heart the bureaucracy’s fault,” says one elderly mano today consist of little more than of one of the contradictions of the Pro- woman, proudly donning a Chávez fanny- one committed spokesperson who acts cess: to what extent can popular power pack and red t-shirt. “That’s why things as community representative at the com- be decreed from above? don’t arrive.” munal council, plus a loose grouping of “No one is going to give us power,” Her statement points to a difficult people who attend meetings only when retorts the fiery woman with the Chávez balance that HIDROCAPITAL tries to they have problems. fanny pack. “We need to take it ourselves.” achieve: incorporating checks and bal- The mandated affiliation with the ances to ensure accountability, while also communal council also adds an addi- Rebecca McMillan is a graduate being flexible enough to respond to the tional layer of bureaucracy. “The com- student in the School of International needs of communities. The balancing act munal council won’t give me the papers Development and Global Studies at the does not always succeed. I need to work with the institutions,” says University of Ottawa. She was in Cara- But the problem of bureaucracy is not Nancy, whose repeated conflicts with her cas from August to October 2012 doing only a problem of inefficiency or exces- communal council have slowed her com- field research on the mesas técnicas de sive paperwork. Some are worried that mittee’s projects. agua and sanitation politics. imposing bureaucratic requirements on the community-based organizations is a The future of the MTAs Susan Spronk teaches international way of neutralizing their ability to orga- Amidst all of these problems, the Octo- development at the University of Ottawa. nize outside of official state-sanctioned ber 7, 2012, presidential elections and the She is a trade unionist and research asso- channels—a way of controlling the popu- recent illness of President Chávez have ciate with the Municipal Services Project lar organizations. plunged Venezuela into deep reflection (http://www.municipalservicespro- The rigid bureaucratic structures also on the future of the Bolivarian Process ject.org/). She is working on a project mean that the institutions are slow to and the role of popular organizations comparing local water management in evolve. As Santiago Arconada explains, within it. With 81 percent voter turnout, Bolivia and Venezuela that is funded the leadership of the water utility and Chávez received 54 percent of the popu- by the Social Science and Humanities the municipality are often reluctant to lar vote. But the main opposition candi- Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada. cede power to the communities, because date, Capriles Radonski, came in second it means giving up their own privileges. with a substantial 44 percent of the vote. The authors would like to thank SSHRC On a tour of Antímano, the women also While such a mandate would be consid- and the University of Ottawa for spon- expressed frustrations with the govern- ered a landslide victory in Canada or the soring this research.

14 ReVista winter 2013 water management

A River for Millions

Urban and Rural Lifestyles Meet in Peru By Gonzalo Alcalde and Diego Espejo

Seventeen–year–old Erika Ybazeta went ancient archaeological sites, traditional as well as other problems that rural to school in the small town of Santa Eu- cuisine and striking natural landscapes dwellers like Rony view with uneasi- lalia in the Peruvian highlands. The town have made this area a favorite weekend ness. Although armed with greater is less than an hour’s drive from Lima, destination for thousands of limeños, budgets, politicians in Santa Eulalia the coastal city of nine million that is the especially over the last decade. The town and the Huarochirí province have con- nation’s economic and political center. of Santa Eulalia, a rapidly growing urban centrated the provision of new services After graduating, Erika was only able to center, has experienced much unplanned on new urban dwellers and have tended find work doing subsistence farming on growth as a result of increased tourism. to forget the rural communities. For her family’s small parcels of land in the Erika’s father, Rony Ibazeta, is gover- centuries, the latter have considered nearby rural community of Cashahua- nor of Cashahuacra and the community’s themselves guardians of the river and cra. Thus, she is now part of what has political representative in the town of of the natural and cultural heritage been traditionally the main economic Santa Eulalia. Thus he has seen at first that are now sources of wealth for per- activity in the Santa Eulalia River basin. hand the dramatic surge in restaurants, ceived newcomers. Rather than an Modern life in Lima, Latin America’s riverside country clubs, and other places opportunity, many like Rony see tour- fifth largest city, would be unthink- frequented by people from Lima who ism as an antagonist that seeks to exploit able without the natural resources from escape the city’s gray skies and hectic pace. water resources for its own purposes, this Andean valley. Located in the prov- While tourism has brought growth without offering any direct benefits to ince of Huarochirí, it has been renowned and business opportunities for some in lifelong residents. among limeños for centuries for the town and surrounding areas, it has providing them with custard apples also led to water and waste pollution, The Santa Eulalia River from above (chirimoya in Spanish) and avocados, as well as many other fruits and veg- etables. However, few in the city are aware that the valley also provides more than half of their drinking water and 70 percent of their electricity, through hydroelectric power. Life for approximately 30,000 people living in the Santa Eulalia basin is very different from life in metropolitan Lima, despite the geographical proximity and close ties. Only 30 percent of rural dwellers have electricity; 92 percent don’t have access to water, and 69 percent have no sewerage. In two of the ten districts in the basin, more than three out of every four residents have unsatisfied basic needs in terms of housing, water and sewerage, education, and income. It is not entirely surprising, then, that economic opportunities for young people like Erika are few and far between in rural Santa Eulalia. Water supply and agricultural produce are not the only valuable assets for economic growth in the valley;

photo courtesy of gonzalo alcalde drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 15 water

An Integrated Water Resources Man- agement (IWRM) project implemented in 2012 sought to harmonize the interests of the different groups using the water from the river basin. However, the project did not yield the expected results. Without competent leaders formulating clear objectives for dialogue, such initiatives generally fail. Communi- ties in different parts of the basin have had little experience in coordinating their activities, and there is a significant lack of trust among various rural actors outside tightly knit communities. Dia- logue is even more problematic between these rural actors and their urban counterparts. Rural dwellers consider their territory to be highly vulnerable, and they regard the case of Santa Eulalia as a cautionary tale of the negative impacts of tourism, which include undesirable social and environmental consequences. In general terms, citizen consultation workshops held during the recent IWRM project revealed that there is discontent regarding the marked inequality in access to basic services between urban and rural areas, as well as with the per- ceived preference shown by state actors for addressing the needs of urban areas. Moreover, the rural population sees the proposed construction of a new paved road, connecting lower and higher areas of the basin, as a threat to their lifestyles rather than an opportunity for selling and transporting their products. One of the people involved in the IWRM project consultations was Enrique Wangeman, a forestry engineer and businessman from Lima who owns a house in Santa Eulalia and whose grandparents were landowners nearby. Wangeman has played a key role in two associations that provide some hope for improved coordination among water users in the basin. First, he is president of Asociación Yacuñahui, a group that brings together most of the area’s

Top: Sunrise seen from Laraos, a rural village in the upper Santa Eulalia basin; Bottom: Mr. Evaristo, political representative of San Juan de Iris, rural village of the upper Santa Eulalia basin.

16 ReVista winter 2013 photos courtesy of gonzalo alcalde water management

avocado producers, providing a space in many ways, not least because of the mining activities. Most of the mining for dialogue within an important sector diversity of actors involved. Three types activity in the area finished decades ago, of water users. Perhaps more important- of populations depend on the small river but the impact on water resources that ly, he was also one of the main driving in this area: farmers; residents and busi- are vital for millions of Peruvians is still forces behind the formalization in 2011 ness people in the urban area; and mil- evident. Laws and policies addressing of a commonwealth association (manco- lions in Lima who are likely unaware of the environmental liabilities of closed munidad) that provides a platform for the importance of the river basin to their mining projects are unclear and weakly coordination and policy dialogue among everyday lives. enforced at all levels of government. all the local governments across the ten At the same time, three levels of gov- Thus, potential conflicts loom behind districts in the river basin. The common- ernment are involved, together with a the idyllic landscapes of the Santa Eula- wealth is still in its early stages and has multitude of civil society and private sec- lia basin. In February 2012, President not yet produced concrete results. tor actors. National government action Ollanta Humala visited Huarochirí and To date there has been little govern- is important in many ways, especially as announced that the Central and Region- ment communication or consultation it provides the legal framework for water al Governments would soon construct regarding the benefits of tourism and use. Such legal frameworks have tradi- the long-postponed paved road to connect the different areas of the basin. This includes the community where the Yba- zetas live and work and also dozens of A small river can provide livelihoods for millions, but other small villages that have remained in far greater isolation from the urban its use must be carefully managed to be sustainable. issues of Lima and its inhabitants. An Integrated Water Resource Management project A small river can provide livelihoods for millions. Yet in a country with a seeks to harmonize diverse interests. rapidly growing economy, increasing social conflicts and changing consumption habits, the use of even a small improved infrastructure in the valley. tionally only considered agricultural use river must be carefully managed if it is Such an initiative would be valuable, of water and have not fully accounted for to be sustainable. Where tourists like given the fear expressed by local com- other uses like tourism. Mario see natural beauty and rural munities that tourism could increase to Passed in 2009, a new National Water traditions, local citizens like Rony and unmanageable levels, thereby reducing Law holds different users accountable Erika increasingly see social exclusion access to water by farmers, damaging for their water consumption. The Lima and threats to their way of life. At the land and hindering traditional festivi- Regional Government should enforce same time, however, some aspects of ties. At present, neither the people nor the law, but this has not yet been the the ancestral relationship of farmers the tourist attractions are well prepared case. The Regional Government has also with the river may need rethinking. The for a large influx oflimeños . failed to adopt an integrated view of the growing use of modern elements like Mario Tavera is one of the thousands basin’s social and environmental needs fertilizers, detergents and other sub- of middle-class limeños who already vis- when formulating new infrastructure stances by small farmers is not properly its Santa Eulalia when he needs a day and other development projects. Finally, addressed by their traditional methods or two away from the traffic jams and local governments have been more pre- of water and soil cleaning. In the Santa air pollution. Although Tavera is care- occupied with attending to areas with Eulalia River valley, dialogue and capac- ful about garbage disposal, the restau- the greatest density of voters rather ity building is necessary for all those rants that he visits generally throw out than anticipating and preventing con- involved, not just the newcomers. all their waste directly into the Santa flict between social groups with particu- Eulalia River. The restaurants do not lar interests and preferences regarding Gonzalo Alcalde is a researcher at the have many alternatives, as public sewer- water resources. Peruvian think tank FORO Nacional age and waste disposal systems are very In addition to this complex set of Internacional. He received a PhD in limited. Mario is not aware, either, that actors, once-active mining continues to Public Policy from the University of this is the same water that will eventu- affect the water resources in the basin. Texas at Austin (2009). ally reach him in Lima when he takes a The river water has been found to con- shower or cooks. tain significant levels of heavy metals Diego Espejo is a research assistant at Coordinating the use of water and other elements that are the result FORO and participated in the IWRM resources in Santa Eulalia is complex of natural sedimentary processes and Project in Santa Eulalia.

drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 17 Amazon Rivers

Sources of Renewable Energy By Luiz Gabriel T. Azevedo

The vast Amazon rainforest spans over The Amazon is the next and perhaps in balancing energy generation with oth- eight South American countries and cov- one of the last frontiers for hydropower er objectives. New projects, in contrast, ers an area of approximately 6.7 million expansion. Hydroelectric development in are more holistic in nature, focusing square kilometers. Thirty million peo- South America over the next twenty years on multiple objectives as a consequence ple live in the Amazon, coexisting with will be concentrated in the basin. In Brazil of lessons learned from past experience. about 10 percent of the known wildlife alone, the largest country and economy in This process is also aided by increased species. The immense network of rivers, the region, hydropower corresponds to 68 scientific and technical knowledge, lakes and wetlands overlapping this area percent (88.2 gigawatts-GW) of the total the implementation of strict legal and forms the largest watershed on earth, ac- 130.8 GW that are to be installed between regulatory frameworks, better social counting for 15 percent to 16 percent of 2005 and 2030, considering all other controls, and the innovative thinking the total river discharge into the oceans. sources of energy (such as gas, coal, nucle- of proactive and responsible companies Rivers in the Amazon are essential to ar, wind, biomass and solar). This growth involved with a new generation of hydro- the livelihood of local communities, rep- in hydropower generation will take place power investments. resenting an important natural resource primarily through the implementation of Companies realize that in a world base for the economic and social devel- new projects in the Amazon. increasingly focused on sustainable opment of the countries they cross. High Only a fraction of the Amazon hydro- development, it is essential to antici- gradients between the Andes mountains electric potential has been tapped for pate how a hydroelectric project—or and the Amazon plains, and the gigantic power production to date. However, the set of projects—will affect the environ- water flow through the region, signify an first crop of projects implemented during ment and, in turn, how the project is enormous energy potential. the 1970s and 80s did not fully succeed influenced by that environment. In the

18 ReVista winter 2013 photo courtesy of luiz gabriel todt de azevedo water management

Planning for the development of Santo Antônio began in 2001 through a public-private partnership between Eletrobras Furnas and Odebrecht Energia.

The long-term perspective of a company are being finalized to further increase its that will design, build, and then run a installed capacity by 13 percent (429.6 project for a number of years involves the MW) at marginal social and environmen- ability to anticipate challenges, to man- tal cost, through the incorporation of six age risks, and to obtain a “social license” additional turbines. This will optimize its to operate. Therefore the modern dam´s energy output and generate additional greener hue is not only a consequence of benefits to the Brazilian grid. In spite of increased environmental awareness, but it its location in the midst of the Amazon also reflects the need to avoid or mitigate rainforest, it is considered a pioneer in the unpredictable extra costs of environ- breaking paradigms and showing how mental suits, opposition from indigenous hydropower can be generated sustainably. populations, and political backlashes. Planning for the development of Santo Companies that have been successful Antônio began in 2001 through a public- in overcoming the challenges to sustain- private partnership between Eletrobras- ably expand renewable energy generation Furnas and Odebrecht Energia, which in the Amazon have looked critically into received government authorization to the past and realized that their “social conduct the feasibility studies. Following license” to operate requires: (a) a strate- approval by the Brazilian government, the gic vision to advance the development of project was put up for auction in Decem- a comprehensive sustainability perspec- ber 2007, and the 35-year concession tive; (b) technical excellence to evaluate a was awarded to Santo Antônio Energia range of feasible engineering layouts and S.A., the company that offered the lowest alternatives; (c) comprehensive in-depth tariff to generate energy (R$ per kilo- knowledge of the area (e.g. environment, watt—KW). The concession contract was social, etc.) where a project is planned; formalized about seven years after ini- (d) a broad basin-wide and/or regional tiation of the planning stage. In March of view to anticipate project impacts and 2012 the first of Santo Antônio’s 44 tur- risks—in particular short-and long-term bines initiated power generation, around indirect impacts and cumulative impacts; three and a half years from the beginning Amazon this implies developing solu- (e) effective communication with a wide of construction. The longer planning tions that integrate power generation range of stakeholders, from local commu- stage, as compared to a shorter imple- and its vast stream of positive externali- nities to global players such as financiers mentation phase, represents a major ties with effective environmental gains, and non-governmental organizations; change in the historical pattern and is the preservation of a unique natural (f) strong monitoring and supervision a true success story. The project will be heritage, and long-term benefits to local controls to effectively check implementa- completed by early 2016. communities, including traditional and tion against plans; (g) efficient manage- The implementation of Santo Antônio indigenous populations. ment systems able to adapt to unforeseen has been marked by extensive environ- In traditional hydropower models, dif- events and rapidly changing conditions; mental work to ensure that negative ferent phases of the project cycle—from and (h) transparent governance systems. externalities are fully mitigated or com- identification and feasibility through A contemporary generation of hydro- pensated. This has included, for example, design, construction, commissioning power developments can be seen in a state of the art technology to ensure that and operation—were often fragmented recent example. The Santo Antônio fish can continue to migrate upstream into separate short-term implementation Hydroelectric Project was the first large and that fish eggs and juveniles can stages. New hydropower developments plant to be built in the Brazilian Amazon pass unharmed through the dam as they favor competitive models that seek inte- in almost three decades. Once completed, move downstream. The dam’s layout was grated solutions, providing companies it will be the third largest in the country, adapted to ensure the maintenance of with long-term concessions to build proj- with an installed capacity of 3,150 MW— adequate sediment flows, and the area to ects and to sell their energy as they move enough to supply 11 million households or be preserved is significantly larger than towards more sustainable hydropower. approximately 40 million people. Plans that occupied by its reservoir.

drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 19 water

Left above: Haitians work on the Santo Antônio Dam in a variety of capacities. Right above: Women are also extensively incorporated into the Acreditar Program, which is developing a legacy of continued professional development and environmental awareness.

One of the strategic early decisions The early consultation process set the total necessary workforce (estimated was the adoption of bulb turbine tech- the foundation for a trusting relation- at about 20,000 at peak). The majority of nology suited to high water flows. The ship, and allowed for the identification the manpower to work at the construc- use of this technology has reduced of major concerns and needs of the com- tion site would thus have to come from the size of the planned reservoir from munity, which involved but were not lim- out of town or state and might trigger a 1,500Km2 to approximately 546 Km2, an ited to: employment opportunities; skills spurt of population growth exacerbating area roughly equal to the river´s natural training and capacity building; concerns the town’s social problems. flood plain. This has led to a highly effi- with the potential growth of slums in Odebrecht Energia developed “Acredi- cient project with the lowest reservoir- Porto Velho; and the lack of adequate tar” to turn that equation around, setting to-power ratio amongst dams in the infrastructure in the capital city. A conse- a goal of hiring 70 percent of the work- Amazon (0.11 Km2/MW). quence of this dialogue was the develop- force locally. The success of the program Another fundamental step towards ment of initiatives that directly met the is measured by the fact that 82 percent of sustainability was the early initiation of expectations of this set of stakeholders. the workforce employed in the construc- the dialogue with interest groups. Seek- One of the most successful initiatives tion of the project has been hired around ing participation and open discussion resulting from the consultation process the region. Gender inclusion has also been of the project with those affected by its was the “Acreditar” (believe) Program, an an aim of “Acreditar,” and in Santo Antônio implementation, Odebrecht Energia and innovative and unprecedented capacity- women represent over 10 percent of the Eletrobras-Furnas implemented a pro- building program developed and imple- total workforce, a record in the heavy infra- cess to establish trust with local groups. mented by Odebrecht Energia. The lack structure industry. The stream of benefits This involved specific strategies directed of a skilled labor force in Porto Velho, a resulting from this initiative is massive, at those affected, namely: (a) traditional town of about 300,000 people located including significant growth of employ- populations (“ribeirinhos”) living on the 8 km from the project site, provided the ment and income generation in Porto Vel- banks and flood plains of the Madeira inspiration for “Acreditar.” A survey of ho with consequent spinoff benefits to the River; (b) indigenous peoples; (c) the professional skills in the area showed local economy. “Acreditar” has expanded urban population of Porto Velho, the cap- that the number of locals that would be to other large infrastructure projects in ital city of Rondonia; and (d) municipal, able to work in the implementation of the Brazil and abroad (over 55,000 workers state, and federal governments. project represented only 30 percent of have completed the program), including

20 ReVista winter 2013 photos courtesy of luiz gabriel todt de azevedo water management

two other hydropower plants currently under implementation by Ode- Investing in Latin brecht—the Teles Pires Hydroelectric Project in Teles Pires River in Brazil, America’s Water Factories and the Chaglla Hydroelectric Project in the Huallaga River in Peru. Ulti- Incentives and Institutions for Climate mately, “Acreditar” is leaving a legacy of continued professional develop- Compatible Development By Nigel Asquith ment and environmental awareness. The significance of these volun- tarily driven, replicable initiatives Trouble had been brewing in the Bolivian tional US$0.01 per cubic yard of water to supported by innovative thinking is village of Santa Rosa for weeks. That protect the “watershed services” provid- that they have been implemented for morning, one of Serafin Carrasco’s cows ed by the lush cloud forests that covered commercially viable projects. had been killed, the neighbors angry the slopes of the Barva Volcano. After A person watching the myriad of that Serafin and his four colleagues were 12 years, this independent and self-suf- workers, cranes, trucks and concrete starting a watershed forest conservation ficient program now charges US$0.03/ structures that make up the “tem- program. “We should wait a few months cubic yard and raises $300,000 annually porary city” of 15,000 by the clay- for the tension to disappear,” the four for upstream forest conservation. colored mighty Madeira River would others had agreed. Although alone in his Across Latin America, the water- not be able to fully appreciate the determination, Serafin was in no mood to sheds that could provide users with clean range and magnitude of challenges give up. “No one will tell me what I can water often have to support additional involved with the implementation of and cannot do on my land” he declared, and sometimes conflicting functions, such massive projects. Overcoming pounding on the table. “Every year the such as agriculture and forestry. In many such difficulties requires, more than rains fail and every year there is less water places, existing regulatory frameworks anything, the courage to see challeng- in the river. I will conserve my forest in have proved unable to reconcile these es as real opportunities. order to protect our water and I will ask conflicting needs. Fortunately, incipient Santo Antônio and other such the people downstream to help me do so.” learning-by-doing experiences in places projects represent a new dawn of hydropower development in the Amazon. They show how to reconcile a full range of local to global objectives Across Latin America, the watersheds that could through strategic long-term vision. provide users with clean water often must support The choice facing hydropower expansion in the region is between the set additional and sometimes conflicting functions. of forward looking governmental institutions, companies, NGOs, and communities working together and The town of Heredia, a few minutes like Heredia and Bolivia’s Santa Cruz val- pushing forward successful approach- drive from Costa Rica’s capital San José, leys suggest that watershed management es, and those who still support myopic is a world away from rural Bolivia, but may be improved by providing incentive interests and confrontational agen- Luis Gamez from Heredia’s Public Ser- payments to upstream landowners to das. What would you choose? vices Company used to wrestle with the help them adopt land use practices that same problem as Serafin Carrasco. While are better aligned with water provision. Luiz Gabriel T. Azevedo is a cities, towns, governments and donors One of the greatest threats to Latin Brazilian water resources engineer were happy to invest heavily in water America’s water supplies is extensive who has dedicated his career to devel- purification, treatment, and distribution cattle grazing. Cows enter stream- opment issues in Brazil and in many infrastructure, when it came to protect- beds to drink, forage, urinate and def- other countries. A former executive ing Latin America’s “Water Factories”— ecate. Municipal water is contaminated, with the World Bank and the World the upstream forests where water actu- increased sedimentation blocks pipes and Wildlife Fund, he is the Sustainabil- ally comes from—investor interest, like a dams, and children miss school with diar- ity Director for Odebrecht Energia. raincloud above Heredia on a sunny day, rhea. One of earliest successes of Here- He is a graduate of the Federal used to evaporate away into nothing. In dia’s municipal watershed protection University of Bahia and Colorado March 2000, however, that all changed. scheme was to figure out how to remove State University. Heredia started charging users an addi- the cows and the how to keep them out.

drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 21 water

Above: The Amboró Waterfall is a beautiful sight, but also a practical source of water flow. Right, opposite page: Downstream irrigators work on maintaining the channel.

Small-scale lesson learning in places owners, with requests to participate far the highest priority given to areas where like Heredia had already led to action outstripping available financing. the threat of deforestation was greatest, on much greater scale. Costa Rica’s 1996 The Mexican and Ecuadorian gov- zones which had an elevated incidence Forest Law established a national “pay- ernments have since initiated simi- of poverty or biodiversity, and water- ments for environmental services” (PES) lar schemes. Mexico alone has spent sheds important for downstream com- program with the purpose of mitigating almost US$480 million over the past munities or aquifer recharge. greenhouse gas emissions and protecting eight years on a Program for Hydrologic The logic behind all these “Pay- watershed services, biodiversity and sce- Environmental Services that makes con- ments for Environmental Services” nic beauty. The law established a regula- ditional cash transfers to individual and (PES) schemes is seductively alluring. tory framework for contracting with land- collective owners of the natural forests Payments provide direct and tangible owners and a semi-autonomous National that provide watershed functions. Pay- economic opportunities to farmers who Fund for Forest Financing. To participate ments for cloud forests (US$88/acre/ commit to sustainable non-destructive in the program, landowners submit their year) exceed those for other tree-covered uses of forest or to protect the environ- land title and a sustainable forest man- lands (US$66/acre/year). Contracts ment: for example signing agreements agement plan prepared by a licensed for- with suppliers of environmental services to keep cattle away from their water ester. Once this plan is approved, speci- are signed for five years, with conditional sources. Thus even small payments to fied practices such as planting timber and renewal, and cash payments are made at farmers such as Bolivia’s Serafin Carras- conserving or managing forests trigger year’s end, provided that compliance with co actually end up indirectly benefiting the start of payments. In 2006, for exam- contractual obligations has been sat- the entire country. Further, by locking ple, annual payments for conservation isfactory during the preceding twelve up the carbon in old-growth forests, averaged US$140/acre, while for forest months. Monitors analyze satellite PES schemes have the potential to con- plantations US$1,795/acre was disbursed imagery and carry out random field vis- tribute to mitigating climate change, over ten years. The program is funded its to detect changes from forest-cover and by protecting water supplies, may primarily by a national tax on fossil fuels, baselines. The 2003 budget allowed for help farmers in drought-susceptible and has proved highly popular with land- the enrollment of 277,000 acres, with regions adapt to climate change. PES

22 ReVista winter 2013 photos by nicolás quendez (left) and nigel asquith (right) water management

proponents say such conditional cash ing land that he otherwise would have as payments for a service. Rather, the transfers to the poor have the potential deforested, there is a high risk that this schemes are known locally as “recipro- to be a silver bullet for both development behavior change will only last as long as cal watershed agreements.” The down- and the environment. the payments do. stream water users who want to main- However, large-scale government- A different form of incentive-based tain upstream forests directly fund the led PES schemes may not actually pro- conservation has also been develop- schemes, focusing on the forests that are vide all of the hoped-for environmental ing. Started by farmers such as Serafin hydrologically most important to them. and development impacts. Landowners Carrasco in Santa Rosa and epitomized Compensation can vary with levels of can usually choose which land parcel by the initiatives in Heredia and Bolivia’s threat; education and social market- to enroll, and thus most likely choose Santa Cruz Valleys, these compensation ing can help promote and build on local the areas they were not going to defor- schemes are locally designed, funded social norms that favor conservation est anyway. The schemes are standard- and implemented, and focus on local pri- and development. Most importantly, the ized, so landowners across the country orities. Payments are often made not in proximity of service users and provid- receive the same benefit—regardless of cash, but in kind, in the form of locally ers can promote strong mutual depen- the quality or environmental impor- appropriate alternative development dence—if the landowner cuts his forest, tance of or risk to their land. Local com- projects such as beekeeping. it will be quickly obvious to his down- munities are often removed from deci- “If I receive money, I will spend it stream counterparts. sion-making and payments are made quickly,” stated Serafin as the program Practitioners such as Costa Rica’s Luis in cash, so landowners may view the started, “but honey production has helped Gamez and Maria Teresa Vargas of Fun- arrangements simply as a market trans- me diversify my income. With support dación Natura Bolivia, have therefore action that may be overwritten as soon from downstream, I learned the impor- hypothesized that small-scale conserva- as another, more attractive opportunity tance of keeping the forest healthy and tion incentive schemes based on local arises. In short then, in cash-based PES keeping the cattle away from streams.” concepts of reciprocity and benefit-and schemes, even if the farmer has actually Farmers such as Serafin don’t con- cost-sharing may actually work better changed his behavior and is conserv- ceptualize such mutual support schemes than large-scale government-led PES

drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 23 water

schemes. This may be especially true in a countries, and to assess if and how vari- forests are often already full with people rapidly changing global climate. ous types of PES and reciprocal water- or agriculture. On-the-ground water- By protecting the water factories in shed agreements can better help poor shed activities must therefore be led not upper watersheds that would otherwise communities develop and simultaneous- from capital cities, but by small-scale be deforested, local schemes can seques- ly mitigate and adapt to climate change. landowners, municipal leaders, and ter highly “additional” carbon dioxide, Green and DeWan have developed a visionaries such as Serafin Carrasco, thus mitigating the effects of climate “climate compatible development index” convincing and cajoling the rural poor to change. By conserving water supplies, (CCD) that quantifies in simple terms the protect their water supplies, literally one the schemes can help farmers and cit- ability of the different intervention types tree at a time. ies adapt to the most pervasive impacts to increase rural incomes and enhance Preliminary data from Bolivia suggest of climate change in Latin America: less environmental protection. that it may be possible to greatly expand rainfall and longer dry seasons. In a fast changing world in which the these small-scale schemes. In the last Incentives that take the form of alter- demand for water is rising faster even seven years more than 800 upstream native economic activities adapted to than global population, Green thinks families in 22 municipalities have joined local necessities can have a high devel- that climate-compatible development is Serafin Carrasco in conserving 60,000 opment impact. Further, the composi- the “Holy Grail” that practitioners and acres of water-producing forests in the tion of the incentive packages can help policymakers are hoping for—strate- Santa Cruz valleys. More than 30,000 development agencies and governments gies that provide mitigation, adaptation downstream families are now making nudge farmers to diversify their income and development that gets people richer, additional monthly payments in their water bill to ensure that the municipal forest and water conservation schemes The demand for water is rising faster than the global are economically sustainable. Serafin still worries about the low population in this rapidly changing world. levels of water in the Los Negros River, and how climate change is affecting agricultural yields. But he’s not alone sources, away from drought-susceptible healthier, and with better access to water. anymore. “Maybe it’s just as well they annual agriculture towards less rainfall- “The CCD concept—as proposed by the killed my cow all those years ago. It cer- dependent perennial agriculture. Climate and Development Knowledge tainly got me riled up and committed to Gamez and Vargas accept, however, Network (www.cdkn.org)—is basically conserve our watershed. And anyway,” that bottom-up schemes tailored to a response to the need of policy makers he observed drily, “we don’t want cows local needs can be institutionally frag- to foster economic growth and human upstream anymore. We need to protect ile, and weak local institutions will need development while simultaneously mini- the water factory.” to be empowered if the initiatives are mizing carbon emissions and promoting to be sustainable. Reciprocal Water- resilience to climate impact.” Nigel Asquith was a 2009-2010 Giorgio shed Agreements require a strong alli- This model may play a useful role in Ruffolo Fellow in Sustainability Science ance between local government and the both national and small-scale incentive- at the Harvard Kennedy School. This is water provider to implement and moni- based watershed conservation programs. an output from a project funded by the tor the scheme. However, in places like But what works best and where? UK Department for International Devel- San José de Lourdes, in northern Peru, Green and DeWan have joined with opment (DFID) and the Netherlands the municipal government has a serious a group of researchers from across Latin Directorate-General for International water problem, but currently lacks the America to find out. Gamez will share Cooperation (DGIS) for the benefit of capacity to manage a reciprocal water- his experiences from Costa Rica, while developing countries. However, the views shed protection scheme. Municipal offi- Maria Teresa Vargas will evaluate what expressed and information contained in cials are trying their best, but with less components of the reciprocal watershed it are not necessarily those of or endorsed than 1,200 acres under protection, the protection schemes are working best by DFID, DGIS or the entities managing scheme has very limited potential for in Bolivia, and other researchers will the delivery of the Climate and Develop- the large reach and economies of scale of share lessons from Mexico, Ecuador and ment Knowledge Network, which can national programs. Colombia. accept no responsibility or liability for Kevin Green and Amielle DeWan, What is already obvious is that while such views, completeness or accuracy researchers at Rare Conservation in national governments need to play a of the information or for any reliance Arlington, Virginia, are trying to iden- leading role in protecting Latin Amer- placed on them. Contact: nigelasquith@ tify synergies schemes between different ica’s Water Factories, these important naturabolivia.org

24 ReVista winter 2013 focus on brazil

Brazil, with its mega-cities and huge expanses of Amazon forests and rivers, is a compelling laboratory of ways to deal with water management and climate change.

n Water-friendly Cities? 26 n Climate Change and the Amazon 30 n Water, the Energy Sector and Climate Change in Brazil 32

photo by andré bonacin < http://www.panoramio.com/USER/44319> water

Water-friendly Cities? Water Sustainability in Mega-cities: The Case of São Paulo, Brazil

By Monica Porto

The world just turned urban. For the resources with their wastes. Yet urban- sources and flood events, guaranteeing first time in human history, urban citi- ization and the consequent concentra- adequate water sources to sustain eco- zens make up more than half the world’s tion of production are an essential part nomic activity and maintaining a pleas- population, the 2006/2007 UN-Habitat of economic development, and cities are ant environment for all. Urban sustain- State of the World’s Cities Report tells effervescent cultural centers. ability depends on reducing the urban us. In the last century, Europe and the Can we deal with this dilemma and hydrological footprint by reducing water Americas experienced intense urban turn our cities into water-friendly places? consumption and consequently the stress growth. Today this is the reality for Asia When the size, population and activ- on water sources; by reducing externali- and Africa. ity level of an urban area increase, it ties such as pollution exportation; and by A city is an entangled arrangement, a becomes more and more difficult to reducing impacts from flooding. complex web of interdependent support manage its subsystems, including water. In low-and middle-income nations mechanisms—transportation, water sup- Cities must deal with complex physical the main challenge regarding water ply, power lines, housing, garbage dis- systems, and the investment required remains the provision of safe drinking posal, sewers and many others, working to provide adequate services for a good water and sanitation services. The Mil- within relatively small land areas within quality of life becomes larger and larger. lennium Development Goals Report 2011 a very compact structure. Each overlay The urban population has increased stated that, in 2008, an estimated 141 interacts with the environment in differ- almost tenfold in some cities in develop- million people in urban areas continued ent ways, creating its own impact. ing countries (such as São Paulo, Mexico to rely on untreated water for their daily Water alone is a very complex subsys- City, Mumbai) during the last 50 years, drinking. In sanitation, the situation tem. Water is needed for health, for sus- mostly due to migration of the rural poor is much worse. The millennium goal of taining human lives, for economic activi- to peri-urban settlements. Financial halving the proportion of the population ties, for providing better living standards, resources to provide adequate services without access to sanitation services by 2015 will not be met. The vast majority of the people who lack good provision of services lives in slums and squatter Can we turn our cities into water-friendly places? settlements, which makes this goal even more difficult to achieve. When the size, population and activity level of an Flood control is another critical issue. urban area increase, it becomes more and more Cities thrive in the flat areas, navigable conditions and productive environments difficult to manage its subsystems, including water. of fluvial floodplains, where floods are part of the natural process of revitalizing aquatic biodiversity. But typical concrete for diluting and transporting waste, and were invested far below the required rate. urban structures are resistant to pen- last, but not least, for maintaining the Shanty areas grew apace with no water etration by water, and in addition, soils aesthetic value of a beautiful landscape. supply or sanitation. The lack of indus- compacted by the processes of urbaniza- The rapid increase of the urban popu- trial waste control, along with chaotic tion become less absorbent themselves. lation has changed the way urban water spread and unplanned occupation, led to It is a very well known fact that drainage systems interact with the environment. intense worsening of water pollution blockages—known more technically as One problem is that urban domestic and Urban conglomerations must develop imperviousness—significantly increase- industrial consumers are using more and adequate and feasible solutions. Cities flood frequency. To reduce the impact more water and, consequently, depleting face the challenges of safely providing of floods, cities must become more per- available sources. At the same time, cit- drinking water for all of its inhabitants, meable. Absorbing floodwater from the ies tend to degrade neighboring water reducing health risks from both pollution river requires “space.” But “space,” or in

26 ReVista winter 2013 focus on brazil

Photo on opening section page (p. 25): Sand is being extracted along the Tietê River in Pederneiras, São Paulo, Brazil. Above: The polluted Tietê River flows past colorful houses and the local church in Pirapora do Bom Jesus, São Paulo, Brazil. Photographer André Bonacin has documented the flow of the river as it wends its way through Brazil.

photo by andrÉ bonacin drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 27 water

the terms of developers, lots and real is a good example of this difficult task. area occupied by the city is now expanding estate, are highly valued assets in urban The MRSP includes the city of São Paulo at a higher pace. New residential develop- areas, whether they are safe from flood- and 39 other municipalities, occupying ments for the growing middle class are ing or not. an area of approximately 8,000 square difficult to control. For water manag- This is not to imply that urban areas kilometers, of which 2,000 square kilo- ers, this translates to more impervious do not have environmental advantages, meters are highly urbanized. It is one surfaces and insufficient infrastructure. such as economies of scale due to aggre- of the largest urban concentrations and As a São Paulo native, I would like to gation and the potential for increasing industrial complexes of Latin America. see my city be a water-friendly place. To reuse. These advantages are real, but we The urbanized area occupies a major reach that paradigm, the city would need have not utilized them to their full extent, part of the upper Tietê River basin. It to improve a sustainable, safe-drinking whereas the disadvantages of exceeding embraces, or maybe suffocates, the river. supply system, as well as the water qual- the carrying capacity of natural systems High population and industrial ity of its rivers, and to reduce the impact are frequently actualized. growth rate in the last fifty years created of flooding. Land use planning and control is rec- an imbalance between water supply and The Metropolitan Region of São ognized as an extremely important link demand, with severe pollution problems. Paulo utilizes more than 70 cubic between water and urban management. Furthermore, the growing impervious- meters per second of drinking water But how can we put it in practice when ness of urban soil and the unplanned to supply its 20 million people. To put increasing land values are the reality of occupation aggravated the flooding prob- water in each tap, the water supply util- the chaotic megacity? lems. At the beginning of the 20th cen- ity operates three large production sys- Better cities require new urban water tury, São Paulo was a city with 300,000 tems, plus 8 drinking water treatment governance. The main difficulty is the inhabitants, occupying 0.6 percent of the plants, 1,112 Km of water-mains, 373 recognition that water “percolates” total area of the basin. In less than one distribution reservoirs and 30,000 Km through several layers of the urban tis- century, it transformed itself into a meg- of distribution lines. sue. Housing, services, transportation, alopolis of 20 million people, occupying The largest production system is the water supply, waste collection, flood almost half of the upper Tietê basin. Cantareira System, located 80 Km north control, just to name a few, are all inter- During the 20th century, the popula- of the region in a neighboring watershed. locked layers. To move forward we must tion explosion concentrated more and The second largest is the Guarapiranga- be capable of tackling all of them in an more people in a small area. But now, Billings Reservoir system, located within integrated manner. even as population growth rates diminish, the watershed and on the edge of the The Metropolitan Region of São Pau- a new problem has arisen. In spite of the urban area. Low-income families started lo, Brazil, with its 20 million inhabitants, diminishing population growth rates, the to settle near these water sources some

28 ReVista winter 2013 photos by andré bonacin focus on brazil

decades ago. The population has explod- growth or greater demand. Good water Left: Partial view of UHE Nova Avanhandava, ed to 1.5 million people living very close management requires the concurrent Tietê River, São Paulo; Center: The Tietê to, and impacting, the sources. The third action of the water utility and the set of River and the Tietê frontage road near Rodovia dos Bandeirantes; Right: Excavating system consists of the headwaters of the all 39 municipalities of the MRSP, plus sand from the river Tietê River, but again city expansion is significant investments. Looking for new threatening its water quality. Currently, sources is becoming more and more dif- city and for quality of life. Emerging the cost to produce 1,000 cubic meters of ficult. To add a mere 7 percent in drink- regulations to control occupation along drinking water is US$18 from the Guara- ing water production, the water util- the rivers and to create green spaces and piranga system, US$11 from the Alto ity will spend almost two billion dollars. linear parks are changing the looks of Tietê system, and US$3 from the Canta- Demand must be managed. former degraded areas. New planning, reira system. This disparity in numbers is To control pollution, São Paulo has structures to delay flows, maintaining the cost of pollution and lack of protec- been investing heavily for the last 20 the river courses as natural as possible, tion of the supply systems. years in collection and wastewater treat- are the new order for a city that strives Securing the water supply system of ment services. More than two billion for a greener future. São Paulo for the future requires that dollars have already been spent and the Billions have already been invested. several tasks be accomplished at the program will probably continue for ten Much more money is still needed. The same time, such as land use planning more years, doubling this investment. path the city is taking with respect to and control to protect the water sources Currently 86 percent of the population is pollution is already giving us hope to and control urban sprawl. In a region serviced with collection services and 66 live in a more water-friendly city in the where 10 percent of the population lives percent of the collected sewage is treated. future. But developing a clear vision of in inadequate housing conditions, this Even after the completion of the pro- the city’s many-layered relationship with is not an easy task. It is now well recog- gram, though, we will need further action water, alongside improving manage- nized that providing adequate housing to restore water quality to the lifeless rial capacity, remain just as important for the poor is an essential step to clean rivers. The city urgently needs more effi- as investment. Although difficulties water sources. ciency in sewage collection, better control remain, the current path is already giv- The current water supply systems are of solid waste disposal and the multipart ing us hope that we may live in a more being fully used and do not support fur- effort of the many government agencies water-friendly city in the future. ther population growth or an increase in and utilities involved in this process. We demand. Hence the MRSP needs wise hope we will have the river back at least Monica Porto is Professor of management of existing resources and for the benefit of the urban landscape. Environmental Engineering at significant investment in case of more Flooding remains a problem for the the University of São Paulo.

drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 29 water

Climate Change and the Amazon

Tropical Dams Emit Greenhouse Gases By Philip M. Fearnside

Most have heard so many times that position from total rejection to admitting since the layer lacks oxygen to form CO2. hydropower is “clean” or “green” energy that dams emit some greenhouse gases, Though it is present in much smaller con- that they are surprised to learn other- but only an insignificant amount. centrations in the atmosphere, methane wise. Unfortunately, the reality is much Unfortunately, the amounts are not is a much more potent greenhouse gas more complicated. Dams, especially insignificant, especially if they are quan- than carbon dioxide. those in the tropics, emit significant tified without omitting important sources Some of the methane is released amounts of greenhouse gases, and to cat- of emission. First, the trees left standing through the surface of the reservoir as egorically call them “clean” is a mistake. in the reservoirs project out of the water, bubbles or through diffusion, as would I was not the first to discover that where they decay in the open air and take place in a naturally formed lake. dams emit greenhouse gases—a group release their carbon as carbon dioxide— What makes hydropower emissions dif- from Canada published a paper in 1993 half of the dry weight of wood is carbon. ferent from those of natural lakes is that showing emissions from dams in that The wood that is underwater decays very water is drawn from near the bottom of country. But two years later, I showed that slowly, but this is not the case for soft the reservoir for the turbines, and it is also some Amazonian dams such as Balbina vegetation such as leaves and for the car- drawn from well below the thermocline emit even more greenhouse gases than bon in the soil. The water in a reservoir for the spillways. The water released below would be emitted from generating the divides into layers, with a warmer, less the dam is therefore loaded with methane. same power from fossil fuels. That 1995 dense surface layer in the top 2-10 m that Since the solubility of gases in water is pro- paper was the one that enraged the hydro- is in contact with the air and contains portional to the pressure (Henry’s Law in electric industry. The U.S. Hydropower oxygen. A division (the thermocline) chemistry), the methane will form bubbles Association spokesperson labeled the idea separates this layer from a colder, dens- and escape when the pressure is suddenly that dams produce greenhouse gases as er layer that extends to the bottom. The released as the water emerges from the “baloney.” The debate was only beginning. water in the two layers does not mix, and turbines. This is the same phenomenon Both sides of the long argument with the the oxygen in the bottom layer is quickly that is apparent when one opens a bottle hydroelectric industry, especially the ex- exhausted, leaving this layer with almost of Coca Cola: the gases form bubbles president of ELETROBRÁS, can be found no oxygen. All decay at the bottom of the The spillway at the Tucuruí releases methane at http://philip.inpa.gov.br. The hydro- reservoir therefore must end in methane from the water it draws from 20 m below electric industry subsequently shifted its (CH4) rather than carbon dioxide (CO2), the surface.

30 ReVista winter 2013 photo by Philip M. fearnside focus on brazil

when the pressure is released by removing different, and simple extrapolations based This is by their serving to justify carbon the cap. The pressure under the weight of on such factors as area or installed capac- credit under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean water at the bottom of a reservoir is much ity are problematic. Development Mechanism (CDM). Aside greater than that inside a soft drink bottle, A huge peak of emissions occurs in the from underestimating or ignoring the and, consequently, the release of gas is first few years after a reservoir is flooded, emissions from dams themselves, the greater when the pressure is released. because the leaves from the trees that are greater impact is because the dams are As shown in a paper I published in killed decay; soil carbon is also released not “additional,” that is, they would be June 2012 in Nature Climate Change in this period. Emissions then decline to built anyway without any subsidy from (together with Salvador Pueyo), many lower levels, but they do not disappear. the CDM. For example, the two dams of the estimates of hydro emissions that One feature that can supply carbon for under construction on Brazil’s Madeira have been used to claim that emissions forming methane indefinitely is the rais- River are nearing completion, and only are small have underestimated or ignored ing and lowering of the water level each now are applications being made for the key sources of emissions. Emissions from year. When the water is drawn down to CDM subsidy. Obviously, the companies turbines and spillways have often been generate power in the dry season, a large that are building the dams expect to ignored completely. When included, they mudflat is exposed around the edge of make money independent of any finan- have sometimes been measured by cap- the reservoir. Weeds quickly grow on this cial bonus from the CDM. The global turing bubbles with chambers floating on land, and when the water rises again, this total is staggering: 288 million tons of the water surface in the river well below soft vegetation decomposes at the bot- CO2-equivalent carbon per year for the the dam outlet. Most of the methane has tom of the reservoir where the water is dams in the CDM’s “pipeline” as of Janu- already been emitted as the water emerges without oxygen. The carbon in the weeds ary 2012. In addition to authorizing the from the turbines (and some is released has been removed from the atmosphere emission of this amount of carbon by the even inside the turbines). The only prac- in the form of CO2 by photosynthesis, but countries that buy the credit, awarding tical way to avoid underestimating the it is returned in the form of CH4, a much carbon credit to dams also wastes a sig- turbine emissions is to calculate them by more potent greenhouse gas. Because nificant part of the money that the world the difference in the methane concentra- this is an ongoing process, the reservoir has for fighting global warming—money tion in the water above the dam, at the acts as a “methane factory.” that could be spent on forms of mitiga- level of the turbines, and below the dam. The sustained emission from this tion with a real benefit for climate. The This approximately doubles the emission “methane factory” may be less than the CDM loophole needs to be closed by not figure as compared to estimates based global warming impact of the CO2 that giving carbon credit for dams. on downstream chambers. For concen- would be emitted in generating the same In summary, tropical dams have mul- tration measurements there is a prob- amount of electricity from fossil fuel. tiple impacts on global warming. These lem with traditional sampling devices However, it may take many years to pay impacts are not being properly quanti- (Ruttner bottles) that leads to underesti- off the greenhouse “debt” from the very fied and incorporated into decision-mak- mating the emissions. When one of these high emission in the first few years. My ing in places like Brazilian Amazonia. devices takes a sample of water from near calculation for the planned Belo Monte the bottom and raises it to the surface, a and Babaquara (Altamira) complex in Philip M. Fearnside is a Research significant amount of the gas comes out the Amazon region is that it would take Professor at the National Institute for of solution and escapes on the way to the 41 years to break even in terms of global- Research in the Amazon (INPA) in surface. A new type of sampler designed warming impact. Unfortunately, we do Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil since 1978. by Alexandre Kemenes avoids this prob- not have that much time to begin doing He holds a PhD in Biological Sciences lem, resulting in concentration values something about global warming. Bra- from the University of Michigan, Ann that approximately double the emission zil’s massive dam-building plans would Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. and is author again. Different groups have made direct be emitting peak emissions exactly in the of over 450 publications (http://philip. estimates at two dams (the Petit Saut Dam time window when global warming needs inpa.gov.br). His honors include Brazil’s in French Guiana and the Balbina Dam to be brought under control to avoid grave National Ecology Prize, the UN Global in Brazil), confirming that emissions are consequences, including those that threat- 500 award, the Conrad Wessel, Chico substantial and exceed those of fossil fuel en the Amazon forest. Brazil’s 2011-2020 Mendes and Benchimol prizes, the for years. I have calculated emissions for Energy Expansion Plan calls for building Scopus prize (from Elsevier & CAPES) a number of Amazonian dams, indicating 30 large dams in the country’s Legal Ama- and membership in the Brazilian emissions that are varied but often high. zon region, or one dam every four months. Academy of Sciences. In 2006 he was A considerable amount of information In addition to emitting gases, tropi- identified by Thompson-ISI as the is needed about each dam to make reli- cal dams are now having an impact on world’s second most-cited scientist on able estimates of emissions: each dam is global warming through another route. the subject of global warming.

drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 31 water

Water, The Energy Sector and Climate Change in Brazil

Huge Challenges By Angela Livino

As a Brazilian, I am very proud of the rich additional advantage: the full intercon- generation and transmission, and severe natural resources of my country, in par- nection of our power grid system allows drought in the Northeast and Southeast. ticular water resources. As an engineer an exchange of electric power between At that time, the Brazilian energy model who had worked in the Brazilian en- different regions of the country. This had left the balance between supply and ergy sector for the last fourteen years, exchange allows the cycles of Brazilian demand to private enterprise and free I am very proud of the infrastructure rivers to complement each other. For competition. It became clear that this built over the last seventy years that example, during periods of drought in model no longer worked. has allowed the use of water resources the south region of the country, energy In 2004, the Federal government responsibly and intelligently. But as comes from the southeast, northeast laid the foundations for the New Model a hydrologist and doctoral student in and north of Brazil. for the Electricity Sector. In institu- water resources, I’m concerned about This energy exchange became fea- tional terms, this established several studies that indicate alarming impacts sible thanks to large reservoirs built areas of responsibility: (1) the Energy of climate change in Brazil, particularly along with hydropower plants over Research Company (EPE) in charge in the Amazon. An ongoing initiative the last decades of the 20th century. of long-term planning in the electric at the Sustainable Science Program at There are other advantages to these large sector; (2) the Electric Sector Monitor- Harvard, coordinated by Professors reservoirs as well. The reservoirs create a ing Committee (CMSE) to continuously Paul Moorcroft and John Briscoe, is dependable water source not affected by assess the security of electricity supply; examining the long-term sustainability the seasonality of the water cycle. Irrigat- and (3) the Chamber for the Commer- cialization of Electric Energy (CCEE) to deal with sales of electricity in the interconnected system. The New An ongoing initiative at Harvard’s Sustainable Science Model for the Electricity Sector seeks Program, coordinated by Professors Paul Moorcroft to ensure security of electricity supply, to keep prices moderate and to promote and John Briscoe, is examining the long-term social inclusion in the Brazilian electric- sustainability of agriculture and hydropower in ity sector, in particular through universal supply programs. As a result, the Brazil’s Amazon basin. Brazilian electricity system is strongly integrated with the reliable large reservoirs and transmission lines across the of agriculture and hydropower in the ed agriculture, transportation and tour- country (see figure.) Amazon basin. Agriculture and hy- ism are benefited by the regularization of There are dozens of both public and dropower in Brazil face changes in the flows provided by reservoirs. In addition private companies operating in the region’s water cycle arising from land- to large reservoirs, the Brazilian power generation and transmission sector in use transformation and global climate system also has extensive transmission Brazil. The National Power System Oper- change. But why would climate change lines (over 100,000 kilometers extension ator (ONS) is responsible for command affect the energy sector? in the end of 2010). generation from all sources of energy and Brazil has developed a mixed ener- To ensure the security of the energy also operates the entire transmission sys- gy supply with more than 88 percent supply, correct planning and execution tem. This ensures coordination and oper- of electricity coming from renewable, of the transmission system are vital. In ation at the lowest possible cost. mainly hydroelectric (more than 80 per- 2001, Brazil faced severe power rationing, Considering the growth of the cent), sources. Besides the advantage of which cut 20 percent of its power supply Brazilian economy, and even taking into having our power generation based pre- in all regions. Two factors were behind account energy conservation measures, dominantly on water, we have a great these power cuts: the lack of expansion of EPE studies indicate that Brazil needs

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to add approximately 6,500 MW of have to rely on existing reservoirs and Brazilian Interconnected Power System. new installed capacity (equivalent to generated energy from fossil fuels. Source: ONS, 2012. half the generation capacity of the There are also societal costs to the Itaipu plant) each year. reduced storage capacity of the new ity sector, we must also account for more This means that Brazil faces the plants. For example, without regula- drastic changes in rainfall, which would challenge of tapping its unused hydro- tion, some crops could not be developed affect streamflow patterns in Brazilian electric potential, 60 percent of which because during drought periods there rivers. This is a great challenge for plan- located in the Amazon. It is thus con- won’t be water for irrigation. Likewise ners in various sectors and for the opera- cerned about the environmentally sus- the reservoir can provide reliability tion of the electricity system. tainable way to use that potential and for the supply system of a city. Stored For example, a private agent who has has worked hard to develop manuals and water contributes to the development of an interest in building a hydropower procedures explicitly taking into account various sectors such as agriculture and plant that will have its concession auc- the social and environmental costs in tourism and ensures the water supply tioned by the Brazilian government will determining the costs of power plants. for the population. be interested in the impacts of these Most new plants are planned as run-of- changed runoff patterns on their con- the-river plants, but this means that they Climate Change and struction costs. Climate change will are left without effective capacity to store Hydropower affect rainfall patterns, influencing maxi- water. In other words, they have no regu- Hydropower plants without regulariza- mum and minimum values of stream- lating capacity. This feature is detrimen- tion of reservoirs are more dependent on flow. Thus the dimensions of strategic tal to the electrical system, since during natural flows. Therefore, if we continue parts of the plan (spillway, coffer-dam, periods of low flow in rivers, it will still to expand their presence in the electric- water intake) must be adjusted.

chart by angela livino drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 33 water

Power System Operators will need scenarios of economic growth. Current- cultural landscapes within the terres- to know the impact variations in rain- ly, the planning models assume station- trial biosphere model—that is, we will fall will have on streamflow seasonality ary streamflows. But it will be important have a very accurate idea of changes and maximum streamflows. Operation in the future to analyze different resulting from agricultural patterns. schemes and energy market pricing patterns of flow to project how best to We also intend to design a Brazil- are currently based on optimization ensure supply in different scenarios ian approach to make our results rel- models that assume that streamflow of demand. evant to policy makers. We will meet amounts remain stationary. These mod- Therefore, continuing to study the with both Brazilian policy makers and els consider the patterns of past flows impacts of climate change on Brazilian technical experts to ensure that we to generate future scenarios, but they rivers is essential to the Brazilian energy answer questions in a more specific, don’t generally account for chang- sector. Analyzing the impacts of different applicable way. In May 2013, we will ing flow patterns in future scenarios. patterns of rainfall and changes in land hold a workshop in Brazil for the pre- Of course, the models used by ONS use is fundamental to estimating stream- sentation of our results and discussion are only an aid in the overall decision- flow sequences in the future. It is also of the subject. We hope to help the making process. But in the future, mod- important that the results be used as an energy sector in Brazil—already highly els will have to account for more irregu- input to new policies and decisions. capable—to develop sustainably in the lar changes in streamflows to make pre- In the Sustainable Science Program face of climate change. dictions, as these models are weighed initiative at the Kennedy School, we price signals that reflect the data from are using data from the coupled bio- Angela Livino is a Doctoral the model results. sphere-atmosphere simulation, which Research Fellow in the Sustainability On the other hand, the impact of provides us with projections of regional Science Program at the Harvard climate change also poses a great chal- climate and land use change, as input Kennedy School and a Fulbright lenge to energy planners. Today, when for hydrologic models that provide Fellow. She is doing her PhD at the long-term expansion plans are made, projections of runoff. We will assess Civil Engineering Program at the different scenarios of energy demand the hydropower implications of these Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. are analyzed that correspond to various runoff projections. One interesting She is a senior technical consultant dimension of this project is that there on energy supply at EPE in Brazil A view of Brazilian hydroelectric dam. is realism in the representation of agri- (currently licensed).

34 ReVista winter 2013 photo by angela livino Water rights

“Water, water, every where/ nor any drop to drink” is an all too familiar phrase from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” The situation is a familiar one in Latin America where water rights are frequently contested.

n Water in Oaxaca, Mexico 36 n From Water Wars to Water Scarcity 39 n Al Son Del Río 42 n Water Access 48

photo by steve cagan 36 ReVista winter 2013 water rights

Water in Oaxaca, Mexico

Beyond Paradise A Photoessay by Marianne Kinzer

The story of water in Oaxaca, Mexico, a underground cistern. When the inn runs picturesque place that draws interna- out of water, the owners must buy very tional tourism, illustrates Mexican, expensive water from water trucks. Central American and worldwide water In the colonial period, Oaxaca city was problems. supplied by an aqueduct that brought Increasing population with ever water from the mountain called “San higher demands for water, more cement Felipe del Agua” to the valley; however, constructions and paved streets, cutting the aqueduct fell into disrepair, with no down of forests, water pollution, a lack of modern piping system to take its place. water treatment plants and water infra- Water for Oaxaca City mainly comes structure, a lack of environmental laws from Etla, a town about 17 miles away. and law enforcement, and the illegal My taxi driver told me that people in drilling of wells are just some of the most Etla are opposed to selling their water pressing problems. to Oaxaca. They stage protests and Oaxaca city, the capital of the state sometimes succeed in cutting off pipes of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, boasts leading to the city. Water also comes to a well-preserved colonial-style district Oaxaca by trucks from other villages. with many hotels and restaurants, shops, Villagers, however, are reluctant to let museums, plazas and churches. Histori- go of their water, even if the prices for cal buildings, hotels and private homes water are increasing. are usually centered around courtyards, Locals told me that rainfall patterns decorated with lush tropical plants and have changed over the last 20 years. bubbling fountains. There are now more severe and longer Water in Oaxaca used to be plentiful. periods of drought; conversely, if rain The city is located in a valley surrounded falls at all, it pours down heavily, caus- by mountains. Two major rivers were ing damaging run-offs and floods. As of flowing through the valley, the Atoyac today, water from heavy rainfall cannot and the Jalatlaco. The latter—I was told be captured and is lost to the community. by our innkeeper in the neighborhood Paved streets and urban sprawl, ille- of Jalatlaco—was severely contaminated gal wells, and increasing demands for in the mid-19th century by a flourish- water cause the groundwater table to fall. ing leather industry. What’s left of this Forests have been cut down and cannot river now flows underground. It has been hold the water in the ground. Instead, paved over. Where there once was a river, flash floods rip through, causing damage. where people bathed and washed their An increase in sewage, traffic, throw- clothes, there is now a busy street. Some away products, and urban extension of the side streets of the neighborhood are contaminate much of what is left of the still paved with stones from the lost river. life-giving water here in Oaxaca City— The Atoyac River used to be wide, a seemingly paradisiacal place, colorful but its flow has shrunk to a narrow band and cheerful, where lush gardens with of mostly contaminated water, and at exotic flowers invite visitors to relax times and places, the riverbed dries out while listening to the soothing sounds of completely. gurgling fountains. Our B&B Encanto receives water from the city weekly, sometimes only Marianne Kinzer is a painter and every ten days. The water is stored in an photographer.

photo by marianne kinzer drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 37 water

In her travels through Mexico and Central America, photographer Marianne Kinzer created these images of water. Photograph on previous page: an abandoned boat rests on Lake Managua in Nicaragua; above, clockwise: fresh water for Managua; Apoala in Oaxaca; a fountain in a Oaxacan courtyard in Mexico

38 ReVista winter 2013 photos by marianne kinzer water rights

From Water Wars to Water Scarcity

Bolivia’s Cautionary Tale By Emily Achtenberg

When Bolivian President Evo Morales expertise in organizing civic strikes, road water and sanitation services (see Susan arrived at the new Uyuni airport last blockades, and massive popular assem- Spronk, “Post-Neoliberalism in Latin August and found no water running blies. Eventually, Bechtel was forced to America? Urban Water Supply Man- from the tap, he publicly reprimanded abrogate its contract, return SEMAPA agement in Bolivia Under Evo Morales,” and promptly dismissed his Minister of to public control, and withdraw its legal unpublished draft prepared for the Latin Water. As it happened, the pipes were claim against the Bolivian government American Studies Association, May 26, merely frozen. The incident underscores for $50 million in compensation. 2012). The Water Ministry, created in the critical—and highly symbolic—role This iconic struggle crystallized a 2006 to integrate the functions of water of water in the politics of this landlocked growing demand for popular control of supply and sanitation, water resource Andean nation. Bolivia’s natural resources, leading to the management, and environmental pro- Gas Wars of 2003 and 2005, the over- tection, is the first of its kind in Latin Water Wars throw of two neoliberal presidents, and America. It has a mandate to end water In April 2000, a popular struggle against the subsequent election of Evo Morales privatization, including the creation of water privatization in Cochabamba, and the MAS (Movement Towards a public water company to replace the Bolivia’s third largest city, ignited a chain Socialism) party as a “government of temporary utility established for La Paz- of events that profoundly altered the the social movements.” A second water El Alto after the exit of Suez. nation’s political landscape. The Water revolt—this time by neighborhood orga- The Water Ministry has been plagued War was precipitated when SEMAPA, nizations in the sprawling indigenous by frequent reorganizations and insti- Cochabamba’s municipal water com- city of El Alto—ousted the French multi- tutional instability, with six changes pany, was sold to a transnational consor- national Suez company from the recently in leadership since its creation. Critics tium controlled by U.S.-based Bechtel, in privatized La Paz-El Alto water district. charge that it operates more like a loose exchange for debt relief for the Bolivian Bolivia’s new constitution, enacted in federation of sub-ministry fiefdoms than government and new World Bank loans 2009, proclaims that access to water is a coherent organization, and suffers from to expand the water system. a human right and bans its privatization. overlapping jurisdictions with other cab- A new law allowed Bechtel to admin- Outside Bolivia, the Water War helped inet ministries. Its functions also some- ister water resources that SEMAPA did to inspire a worldwide anti-globalization times conflict with those of the depart- not even control, including the commu- movement and provided a model for water- mental and municipal governments, nal water systems prevalent in the ever- justice struggles throughout the Americas which have significant water manage- expanding southern periphery and in and beyond. The Bolivian government led ment responsibilities under Bolivia’s the countryside, which had never been the successful drive for UN recognition of decentralized administrative structure. hooked into the grid. Local farmer-irriga- water and sanitation as a human right in Almost six years after the final ouster tors feared that “even the rain” collected 2010, and is in the forefront of a new inter- of Suez, the Water Ministry is still nego- and distributed for centuries by their asso- national campaign for a UN declaration tiating the design of the La Paz–El Alto ciations would fall within Bechtel’s grasp. against water privatization. public water company, with divergent These concerns, along with a 50 per- On the domestic front, as water-jus- visions held by combative El Alto neigh- cent average increase in water rates for tice advocates look to Bolivia for success- borhood groups, the City of La Paz, and SEMAPA customers, prompted the for- ful alternative models to privatization, the Morales government. La Paz has mation of a broad alliance of farmers, the implementation of these hard-won periodically threatened to withdraw and factory workers, rural and urban water water rights has proved to be a signifi- establish its own municipal water utility. committees, neighborhood organiza- cant challenge. While the Water Ministry has taken tions, students and middleclass profes- over the functions of the formerly priva- sionals in opposition to water privatiza- Water Rights tized water regulatory system, controlling tion. They were joined by the militant The Morales government has sought and monitoring the activities of Bolivia’s federation of coca growers from the to develop a new institutional frame- approximately 28,000 local water and san- Chapare, led by then labor leader Evo work that positions the state as a direct itation providers has proved to be a chal- Morales, who lent his considerable protagonist in providing and regulating lenge. The sector encompasses a diverse

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range of organizations, from sophisticated times more than SEMAPA consumers for facing Bolivia’s water sector today is the utilities like SAGUAPAC in Santa Cruz— trucked-in water of dubious quality. Even need for significant resources to upgrade the largest urban water cooperative in on the grid, water service is intermittent. and expand the existing infrastructure the world—to thousands of independent Although the reconstituted SEMAPA and develop new water sources. water committees in rural and peripheral includes elected community represen- While the Morales government has areas, who manage artisanal wells and tatives on its board of directors, prob- made significant progress in this area, a antiquated distribution systems based on lems of mismanagement, corruption, great deal remains to be accomplished. traditional uses and customs. and inefficiency continue to plague the Recently, the government announced These small providers are burdened organization. In 2010, the company was that Bolivia will meet its overall Millen- with poorly constructed and deteriorat- forced to lay off 150 workers to overcome nium Development Goal for access to ed systems, operating deficiencies, and a $3 million cash deficit, due to alleged safe drinking water three years ahead of community conflicts. An estimated 35 irregularities such as payroll padding, schedule, with 88 percent overall coverage percent of their water is lost to leaks and materials thefts, and continued diversion achieved in 2010. But potable water access clandestine hook-ups. While only a frac- of the system’s water. rates in Bolivia’s rural and peri-urban tion of independent providers are even Frustrated with both the private and zones (71 percent) lag far behind those for registered with the government, efforts to public water management models, resi- urban areas (96 percent), and are among curb their traditional rights can become dents of Cochabamba’s southern zones the lowest in Latin America. And only 27 an explosive political issue—as evidenced are increasingly relying on traditional percent of Bolivians have adequate sani- by the Cochabamba Water War. community-run water systems as an alter- tation facilities—the second-worst record In the absence of a comprehensive native. Many of these neighborhoods have in the region, after Haiti. regulatory framework, tensions between established autonomous and participatory Climate change and extreme weather these traditional methods of water provi- water distribution systems managed by events have added a new and urgent sion and the new system of formal water elected water committees, cooperatives, dimension to Bolivia’s water challeng- rights are far from being resolved. Still, or community councils that are seeking es, both urban and rural (see “Climate the Morales government has made sig- to collaborate to varying degrees with Change Is About Water,” the Democracy Center, http://climatechange.democracy- ctr.org/). In recent years, droughts have increasingly undermined the water sys- The model of decentralized social-public water tems and agricultural economies of rural management may prove more viable than the private communities, while displacing their populations to precarious urban zones where or the state-centric model for countries like Bolivia. torrential rains and floods overwhelm existing water and sanitation infrastructure. Retreating tropical glaciers are nificant efforts to strengthen the capacity SEMAPA. The local water committees diminishing freshwater resources not of independent water providers through have affiliated through ASICA-Sur (the only for small highland communities, technical assistance and financing, recog- Association of Community Water Systems but for the urban populations of El Alto nizing their role as a critical partner in the of the South) to receive technical assistance and La Paz, who rely on glacial melt as government’s water development agenda. and, in some cases, direct EU financing for a major source of drinking water. Water Twelve years after the Water War, the their systems. They hope to buy water at levels in Lake Titicaca, which some 2.6 challenge of developing alternative mod- bulk rates from SEMAPA while remaining million people depend on, are reportedly els to privatization is readily apparent in under community control. at their lowest levels since 1949. Cochabamba. While the re-municipalized The national development plan calls SEMAPA has more than tripled the size Water Scarcity for a $700 million investment between of its service area since 2000, at least 40 The model of decentralized social-public 2010 and 2015 to upgrade Bolivia’s water percent of the city’s residents—mostly water management may prove to be more and sanitation infrastructure, including in the southern hillside districts, which viable than either the private or the state- climate change adaptations. Like its neo- were the chief protagonists of the Water centric model for countries like Bolivia, liberal predecessors, the Morales govern- War—still lack piped water and sanitation with major geographic barriers to cen- ment continues to rely on foreign donors services (see Franz Chávez, “Bolivia: Coch- tralized service provision, a weak state (principally the Inter-American Devel- abamba Still Thirsty,” IPS Inter Press Ser- sector, and a strong culture of commu- opment Bank, the Venezuela-dominated vice, March 22, 2011). Those remaining nity participation. Still, regardless of the Latin American Development Bank, outside the grid are forced to pay 5 to 10 management model, the major challenge Spain, Italy, and Japan) for as much as 80

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percent of this funding. Most of the balance is expected to come from the depart- mental and municipal governments, whose revenues—derived principally from hydrocarbon royalties—have increased substantially under Morales. Water researcher Susan Spronk points out that only 1.5 percent of the national budget (from direct Treasury revenues) is dedicated to water and sanitation improvements, while 80 percent is allocated to mining, hydrocarbons, hydroelectricity, and transportation infrastructure. The reliance on foreign investment reinforces the concept of a “climate debt” owed by industrialized countries to developing nations, which Morales has justifiably promoted. Still, it keeps Bolivia’s rate of water and sanitation infrastructure expansion dependent on external priorities, introducing a level of risk and unpredictability that could be problematic in the context of today’s worldwide financial crisis. Critics argue that the Morales government’s budget priorities reflect its continued commitment to a “neo-extractiv- ist” development model, at the expense of meeting popular needs through investment in sectors that are considered “unproductive.” As well, the destructive impact of government-supported mining operations on local water supplies has been a growing source of tension with indigenous communities. Once again, Bolivia is at the epicenter of a struggle over water—this time, over water scarcity—with worldwide implications. Given the combative nature of Bolivia’s social movements, popular and regional conflicts over water shortages could be far more explosive than the Cochabamba Water War. Just how this prospect might shape the next chapter of Bolivia’s water politics remains to be seen.

Emily Achtenberg is an urban planner and an independent researcher on Latin American social movements and progressive governments. She writes a biweekly blog for NACLA, mostly on current events in Bolivia (https://nacla.org/ blog/rebel-currents). Top: View over the city of La Paz; Below: A marketplace in El Alto, just outside of La Paz.

photos by June carolyn erlick drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 41 42 ReVista winter 2013 Al Son Del Río

Water Rights in Chocó, Colombia By Diana Lucía Duque Marín

Wending our way down the Atrato River of its symbolism, its social fabric; it is an make up traditional practices that sustain in Colombia’s Chocó region, we finally essential part of spatial reference and the agro-forest systems, artisan mining reach the town of Puné. It is a fickle June identity of the communities. Baptisms and fishing. “People, depending on their afternoon, one of those humid tropical and spells, enchantments and incanta- productive activities, go along with the afternoons when the sun and water al- tions all express the importance of water. river. People move to the beat of the fish, ternate in sudden torrential rains. “The Water is not merely a necessary service; the wood, the mines (…). The fish, just like river is everything to us,” Berta is telling it is also a collective good that has a deep a human being, knows when the river is me as we drift along the “fluvial high- cultural dimension. going to dry up or when it is going to rain, way,” which from time immemorial has The stockades to trap fish, plots flooded so it becomes a game of anticipating the connected fresh water with the salty sea, to grow rice, dikes and basins for the har- ebb and flow of the river, for opening and moving from the Pacific to the Colombi- vest, plains for gold mining, water courses closing the stockades,” Eulise tells me as an Caribbean. The water in Chocó is part as a way of marking territories, all these she teaches me about the river.

photo by steve cagan drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 43 Ever since we left the port of Quib- are used to slipping alongside the bor- processes of political organization in the dó, we have been passing through the der of the invisible war that hides deep Atrato. Guided by the flow of the waters, collective land of the black communi- in the jungle. the communitarian councils established ties of the Medio Atrato region. We Since 1997, ACIA has spearheaded ethnic-territorial boundaries, using the encounter other boats, carrying—just a pilot project of collective land titles, principles of planning for hydrographic like ours—all sort of local treasures: one of the most radical experiences in basins. Since then, natural markings such dried fish, bananas, cocoa, rice, wood. Latin America and perhaps the most as rivers, streams and swamps have con- From the platform, lying in hammocks important in terms of agrarian reform tinued to be used as spatial references for or playing dominos, crew members in Colombia. The 1993 Law 70 granted land jurisdiction, in keeping with the local greet us with a wave. On both sides of rights to the black population stemming ways of perception and environmental use the river, fishermen float in their canoes; from its ethnic and cultural roots and as well as the kinship logics that the black women wash clothes on the shore, and set forth certain mechanisms to protect communities have long followed. children play. They all pause to watch these communities and allow them to As we move down the river, we observe our boat pass by. The green flag on its maintain their traditions of collective among the tropical pichindés, banana prow is well known along the river and property rights. ACIA, integrated as the and fruit trees, clusters of stilt houses its tributaries, because it identifies Greater Community Council (Consejo in small communities along the shore. members of the Integral Peasant Asso- Comunitario Mayor-COCOMACIA), be- Using thick trunks of the guayacán tree, ciation of the Chocó’s Medio Atrato, came the representative of black com- the river inhabitants build these houses known by its Spanish acronym as ACIA. munities in this region of the country. to deal with recurring floods. In this way, “The armed groups know who we are by The sense of belonging to the river they can live alongside the ebb and flow this flag,” other passengers explain. They and its environs deeply influenced the of the river, which constantly deposits

44 ReVista winter 2013 photos by steve cagan From left to right: Boats leave the port for a peaceful demonstration down the Atrato River; townspeople support demonstrators who demand that Colombia’s armed actors return free access to the river to local citizens; a view of the Atrato River; a man in a boat navigates streets flooded by the Atrato River. marsh debris under their houses. Howev- sedimentation; it changed the river’s human consumption. The superficial er, the inhabitants wonder why the rela- flow and, indeed, affected its navigat- water sources, available in abundance, tionship with the “little game of the river’s ability. In the same fashion, indiscrimi- are exposed to all sorts of contamina- ebb and flow” has been changing lately: nate lumbering is causing problems on tion and sewage. Everyone seems to “Now we don’t know when it is going to the banks of tributaries and headwaters: agree “the only clean water is the kind flood.” These disturbances in the natural artificial canals built to float the logs that comes in a downpour.” As we make rhythms of the water have drastic impli- cause the natural course of the waters our way along beaches and tributaries, cations for the health and daily life of the to deviate, while discarded waste pro- Julia, Carmen and Berta explain the dif- population. Julia tells me that when the duces sedimentation and chokes the ficulties they face when rain is scarce. Bebaráma River “floods, the mosquitoes river. The mechanism is simple, Carlos During the dry season, daily work multi- take over,” which implies greater risks of tells me: “when the river is made less plies—especially for women—who must malaria and other diseases. deep because of continual sedimenta- set out in boats looking for clean water “Sometimes we have to sleep with the tion, it loses its flow intensity and ends or walk carrying the water in crocks on water under my bed,” adds Berta; “if the up flooding the riverbanks.” the long trip home. mouths of the Atrato were dredged, it The territory of Chocó, knitted As the meeting point between the wouldn’t flood so much.” Until the 1980s, together by a tangle of rivers, streams, Atlantic and the Pacific, Chocó has floods came in a regular and predict- swamps and brooks, is considered one of pompously been called “the 21st century able form, coinciding with the region’s the rainiest and most biodiverse regions window on the sea” for Colombia. More- winter. However, the removal of earth in the world. Nevertheless, the dwellers over, it is the center of several megaproj- from the beds of rivers and streams with alongside the banks of the Atrato suf- ects: transnational highways, an inter- heavy machines to mine gold has caused fer a chronic shortage of water fit for oceanic canal and electrical connections

drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 45 between the Americas. Paradoxically, the path of the dredges. They lament that the machines and by the mercury used the region itself is immersed in the most streams have become contaminated and to amalgamate the metal affect fishing, profound lack of services of potable that fishing is no longer possible. They worsening the dwellers’ diet. The waters water and basic sanitation. Aqueduct miss wading in the brooks on their way that originate in the mining zones come construction and sewage disposal for to plant the fields. downstream filthy and filled with sedi- Chocó are some of the most deficient in The collective project of the black ment. They cannot be used even to wash the entire continent. Likewise, the mor- population of the Atrato is threatened clothes or to prepare food, “not even to tality rate due to diseases associated with by conflicting interests seeking to occupy clean the house,” she says. water stands at least at 10 percent yearly: and exploit the region. Gold and other On the other side, the swamps in typhoid fever and paratyphoid, malaria, mining resources, as well as lumber Tumaradó, Perancho and la Honda, once cholera and diarrhea. and biodiversity, attract independent important water regulators, are affected Black men and women identify sever- settlers—colonos—and small businesses by the indiscriminate timber exploi- al factors pointing to the changes experi- with or without formal concessions, as tation at the riverheads. As Gonzalo enced in regards to water. They talk about well as huge multinational companies asserts, “Dead forests, dead rivers.” The the marshes that are drying up “turning backed by the government. The water, river has its rights and belongings: “The into scrubland.” They tell how sardines like a mirror, reflects these territorial forests are the patrimony of the river.” and a fish they call “wide-mouth” are dis- contradictions. War has also marked these commu- appearing from their diets. They fear the María Albina lets off steam: “The nities. Pacho recalls that in his little vil- river “will rise up with fury and sweep dredges took out the gold, damaged the lage, “The armed groups took control away the houses,” and they evoke the river and left it in ruins…” The chemical of everything, even the times we could “ambushed” rivers that disappeared with contamination by the fuel and oil from go fishing. One could only go out to the

46 ReVista winter 2013 photos by steve cagan Opposite page, clockwise: Women wash clothes along the river banks; typical houses on stilts known as palafitos line the riverbanks; clean water flows in in a tributary of the Atrato River; above, food is transported in boat to the capital of Chocó, Quibdó, from the small towns that line the river banks. Photographer Steve Cagan has been capturing images of the Chocó region for many years. river between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. and this just might get killed for that. Keeping in the biggest fish. “My dad is going to was very difficult...sometimes the armed quiet was very hard....” bring in a huge toothy fish” shouts the actors set up camp at the river mouth, It took us four hours to get to Puné. little girl. “But my dad is going to come and people didn’t want to go there to When we disembark, we see that the with lots of bocachico,” replies the other cast their nets any longer...this changed river is getting dry and that a large slice kid—”and a net full of kicharos.” And a people’s habits.” of beach is between us and the little vil- third child insists,“My uncle is going to The restriction on mobility and lack lage. The next morning the river con- get a big catfish, a super-duper huge cat- of access to food necessarily affected col- tinues to be “deviated.” I stumble on fish—big enough for all of us to eat.” lective work and the cultural structures seven naked boys and a little girl who That’s how they see and dream the which had defined production and self- are pretending to be fishermen on the river, and when they distinguish the boats sufficiency. Moreover, and by far the beach; they dig stockades; they play at from a distance, they all run to meet them. worse, the river itself had become the catching the river fish guagucos; they stage for death. “In ‘97, ‘98, ‘99, dead bod- toss nets into the air. Meanwhile two- Diana Duque is a consultant and ies would go floating down the river. So year-old Davinson tries out his luck with researcher in rural development and the when we found a body in the river, we swimming. His mother, washing clothes, social impact of water. She has partici- would try to give it back its personhood, warns him not to leave the riverbank. pated in political and social projects at to treat it as a human being: vamos a He replies with a playful splash. the United Nations, the Institute von hacer gente. But back then, in that peri- Thus, as they pass the time playing, Humboldt, local governments and civil od, we couldn’t even think about that; the children wait for the men who had society organizations in Colombia. people were even afraid to find the bod- gone to the marsh to fish. They challenge She made her journey on the Atrato ies because if you fished out a body, you each other as to which dad would bring River in 2008.

drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 47 water

Water Access

An Inalienable Human Right and Critical Development Goal By David Daepp

Take a moment to imagine your day application of such policies toward assur- ber killed in wars, on average, each year. without water. No morning shower, no ing the human right to water. No single measure would do more to coffee, no glasses of water throughout The effort to secure universal access to reduce disease and save lives in the devel- the day, no flushable toilet, no washing clean water and sanitation started about oping world than bringing safe water and your hands. Beyond being an unpleasant 20 years before the 2010 UN resolution, adequate sanitation to all. day, without water we as a human race with the Organization for Economic would simply perish. Not only are we as Cooperation and Development (OECD), Annan saw the September 2000 physical beings made up largely of wa- the World Bank and the International Millennium Summit as an unparal- ter, we depend on it to remain hydrated, Monetary Fund (IMF) helping shape the leled opportunity to reshape the United to clean and purify, to transport and to debates that ultimately highlighted the Nations into a more effective entity of sustain the hydrological cycle that is the need for clearer development targets. continued and strengthened relevance. lifeblood of our ecosystem. The debates evoked resounding criticism The We the Peoples report was presented Now let’s think about inalienable over reductions in Official Development at the momentous Summit, most notably rights. The trilogy most eloquently stat- Assistance, along with reciprocal skep- featuring its core vision for a renewed ed in the Declaration of Independence ticism on the clarity of targets and the United Nations as an organization that encompasses life, liberty and the pur- monitoring of their achievement. delivers “real and measurable differenc- suit of happiness. To sustain the first, Then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan es” to people’s lives. air, water and nutrition are the critical received the concerns with sincerity and The revolutionary report not underlying triad. revisited the 1945 Charter which estab- only highlighted some of the gravest Using an elementary logic, one can lished the United Nations. Annan held challenges facing the world at that time, then say that within the inalienable rights the original organizational vision against it went further to outline specific goals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happi- the dawning of the new millennium toward our collective overcoming of per- ness is the core human right to water and the rapid evolution we call global- tinent challenges. And on September 8, (along with air and nutrition). Without ization. And rather than simply defend 2000, following the three-day Millenni- these elements, life becomes a luxury, a the original charter and try to mold um Summit, the United Nations adopted lofty aspiration rather than a basic right. the world challenges to match it, he the Millennium Declaration from which The United Nations organization initiated what would become a revolu- the Millennium Development Goals plays an important role in water policy- tionary report entitled We the Peoples: (MDGs) would evolve soon thereafter. making. The Role of the United Nations in the And one of the greatest values of the Let’s start with July 2010 United 21st Century, which would become the MDGs is that they are SMART, that is, Nations Resolution 64/292, which for- precursor to the Millennium Declara- Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Rel- mally recognized the human right to tion—helping to answer many pressing evant, Time-bound. water and sanitation. questions and concerns. Here are a few Most people want to know that their This specific resolution formally quotes from this report: goals are attainable and that they can labeled water as a human right. In short, The most serious immediate challenge is monitor their progress against their plan. this means that 193 (member) nations the fact that more than 1 billion people This concept is also of great importance agreed that all humans have the right lack access to safe drinking water, while to the United Nations—especially given to water and committed themselves to half of humanity lacks adequate sanita- Top: A teacher watches as a boy, at the head ensuring that their constituents/citizens tion. In many developing countries, riv- of a queue of small children, washes his would have access to water. We will get ers downstream from large cities are little hands with soap and chlorine-treated water into what “access” means later. cleaner than open sewers. at a hand-washing station at École Joyeux With 193 member states and arguably Lutins in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital. A tent classroom is visible behind them. the largest forum for global leadership, Unsafe water and poor sanitation cause The school, with support from UNICEF, was the United Nations is best placed to guide an estimated 80 per cent of all diseases in rebuilt; bottom: A child collects water from standard setting and policy development, the developing world. The annual death a bladder in a camp near the slum of Cité de as well as to promote and monitor the toll exceeds 5 million, 10 times the num- Dieu, in Port-au-Prince.

48 ReVista winter 2013 water rights

photos by © UNICEF/NYHQ2011-0795/Marco Dormino (top); drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 49 © UNICEF/NYHQ2011-0012/Marco Dormino (bottom) water

its ambitious goals and initiatives funded using unimproved sources is estimated According to WHO, the water source largely by member states. at only 11 percent. This represents less has to be within 1,000 meters of the With the MDGs, the UN succeeded in than half of the 24 percent estimated home, and collection time should not establishing clear, critical targets paired for 1990. As a helpful reference point, in exceed 30 minutes. with a simple framework to monitor 2010, almost 6.1 billion people or 89 per- Affordable. The United Nations global progress toward their achieve- cent of the world’s population were using Development Programme (UNDP) suggests that water costs should not exceed 3 percent of household income. Let’s recap and bottle the key points Water rights mean having sufficient, safe, acceptable, mentioned above. The UN helped lead physically accessible and affordable supplies, according the debates that preceded the dawning of the millennium and the challenges it pre- to the United Nations. sented. Through the SMART MDGs, the UN revitalized its developmental focus, giving the world a set of critical development. The MDGs provided an effective an improved water source. The drinking- ment targets, definitions and a frame- platform on which to build awareness water target has thus become one of the work to measure our collective progress. and momentum from credible progress. first MDG targets to be met. Specialized UN agencies/entities, such as They help capture synergies across the Not only has the UN pushed the WHO, UNICEF, UNEP and UNDP, have demographic spectrum—from experts to dialogue forward, establishing the contributed expert knowledge to build those of us outside the development and MDGs and building capacities to achieve monitoring frameworks and provide tai- policy-making realm. these goals; it has laid the groundwork lored toolkits to governments and grass- And for our purposes, let’s look at in terms of defining what “sustainable roots organizations to ensure the effec- MDG 7—“ensure environmental sustain- access” to water means: tiveness of their individual initiatives. ability”—which puts water on the global Sufficient: According to the World While helping to build the capacities development map of SMART targets. Health Organization (WHO), between of governments, NGOs and leaders at all 50 and 100 liters of water per person levels to achieve the MDGs and sustain MDG Target 7c: By 2015, halve the propor- per day are needed to ensure that most progress, the UN went further with its tion of people without sustainable access to basic needs are met and few health July 2010 resolution--affirming the com- safe drinking water and basic sanitation concerns arise. mitment of its 193 member nations (and The seemingly simple step of defining Safe: Water should be free from 23 international organizations) to pro- this target was an important first in a micro-organisms, chemical substances vide sufficient resources to ensure that all series of steps toward its achievement. and radiological hazards that constitute citizens have access to safe, clean, afford- Through its inclusion in the MDGs, this a threat to a person’s health. Measures able and accessible water supplies. target is part of a framework that is sup- of drinking-water safety are usually So when we dig to find the roots of ported by 193 member states and guided defined by national and/or local stan- water`s formal recognition as a human by a variety of leading UN entities such dards for drinking-water quality. The right we find there intertwined the roots as UNICEF, WHO, UNEP and UNDP World Health Organization (WHO) of SMART development: The Millen- (among others). Improved awareness Guidelines for drinking-water qual- nium Development Goals. has helped build the platform and the ity provide a basis for the development political will to address this life-threat- of national standards that, if properly David Daepp is Associate Portfolio ening situation. And a great deal has implemented, will ensure the safety of Manager with the United Nations Office been achieved—through the guidance drinking water. for Project Services (UNOPS) where he and monitoring of UN entities and the Acceptable. Water should be of an manages the Anglophone and Lusophone commitment of governments and lead- acceptable color, odor and taste for Africa portfolio for the (UNDP-imple- ers at all levels. each personal or domestic use. All water mented) Global Environment Facility’s As reported by the WHO/UNICEF facilities and services must be cultur- Small Grants Programme. He holds Joint Monitoring Programme for Water ally appropriate and sensitive to gender, an M.A. in International Development Supply and Sanitation, the MDG drink- lifecycle and privacy requirements. Economics from Fordham University ing water target has been achieved. Since Physically accessible. Water should be and has written previously for ReVista as 1990, more than two billion people have found within, or in the immediate vicin- well as Américas magazine (published by gained access to improved water, and ity of the household, educational insti- the Organization of American States). He the proportion of the global population tution, workplace or health institution. can be contacted at [email protected].

50 ReVista winter 2013 water quality

Water may be abundant, but often it is not fit for drinking. Water-related diseases and poor sanitation still abound in Latin America despite some progress and many innovations. Some of those efforts are described in this section.

n Cooperative Sanitation in Brazil’s Favelas 52 n El Liquido Vital 54 n Making Water Safe in Haiti 56

photo by linda khachadurian Cooperative Sanitation in Brazil’s Favelas

A New Solution for the Developing World? By Susan Leal

Many of us who live in the developed zil, Paraguay, Peru, and Nicaragua have While global access to clean drinking world and in urban areas in the devel- access to improved sanitation, and the water has already exceeded the MDG set oping world would have a hard time same is true of urban residents in Bolivia. for 2015, it is highly unlikely that it will imagining what it would be like to live Lack of access to sanitation has pro- meet the goal set for improved sanita- in an area with open sewers, or no for- found consequences. UNICEF reports tion in developing countries. More than mal sewer facilities whatsoever. And yet, that “[t]he combined effects of inad- two and a half billion people globally according to the WHO/UNICEF Joint equate sanitation, unsafe water supply still lack access to adequate sanitation. Monitoring Programme for Water Sup- and poor personal hygiene are respon- Urban populations have increased ply and Sanitation (JPM), an estimated sible for 88 percent of childhood deaths rapidly in Latin America and the 2.5 billion people worldwide did not from diarrhea and estimated to cause Caribbean in recent decades. Since 1990, have access to improved sanitation as over 3,000 child deaths per day.” the proportion of Latin Americans liv- recently as 2010. Inadequate access to The illness and deaths from tainted ing in cities has increased from 70 per- improved sanitation, and the resulting water supplies that result from insuf- cent to 80 percent. While it is true that impacts on water quality, plague much ficient water treatment and sanitation living in more densely populated areas of Latin America and the rest of the are not only tragic. They are avoidable. improves sanitary conditions in the long developing world. The United Nations has set an ambi- run, this kind of rapid influx often leaves The availability of sanitation facili- tious Millennium Development Goal to city governments struggling to build ties is very low throughout rural areas in halve the number of people living with- adequate infrastructure for those who several Latin American countries. Fewer out access to clean drinking water and have moved there in search of improved than half of rural dwellers in Bolivia, Bra- improved sanitation facilities by 2015. economic prospects.

52 ReVista winter 2013 photo by gregory scruggs water quality

Many of Brazil’s favelas face a public health feeling of ownership for those who rely crisis. Community participation and afford- on the new system. able technology help make water accessible. In Brazil and several Latin Ameri- can countries, the relative success of Brazil faced a massive population this approach has varied widely, often influx into its major cities in the 1990s depending on the degree of resident and 2000s. Many of these urban immi- participation in the planning and imple- grants came from the countryside and mentation process. The more time and crowded into favelas, slums that sur- energy a government or utility spent on rounded the urban core in many of the educating residents about the value of nation’s cities. These favelas often lacked their involvement, the better the results. sufficient access to clean water and In the outskirts of Brasilia, more than improved sanitation, creating a danger- 57,000 residents attended 5,000 public ous mix of close quarters and increased meetings aimed at planning and imple- opportunities for disease transmission. menting a condominial system that Recognizing the public health crisis ultimately served half a million favela that was developing in many of its cit- dwellers. The system that was adopted ies, Brazil’s federal government encour- included elected representatives for aged the adoption of the condominial each neighborhood, a collective design system that was developed by engineer process for each block’s residents, and José Carlos Melo. Melo’s system relied signed agreement with the utility from on community participation as much every participating household. as it did on affordable technology that This level of success was not univer- was accessible to state and local govern- sally met. In Bahia, poor community out- ments throughout the country. reach led to slow adoption of the condo- Unlike a traditional sewer and water minial system and a much lower level of system, only the mainline pipes are bur- commitment among residents to main- ied deep underground in a condominial tain the system. In the northern Brazil- network, and smaller pipes that connect ian town of Parauapebas, the major min- to residences are placed much closer ing company in town partnered with the to the surface. Because residents were local government to build a water treat- intricately involved in both designing ment plant, and then residents contribut- and, in some cases, building the system, ed their labor, time, and money to bring Success Stories in they knew where the pipes were and treated waters into homes in the town. Brazil’s Favelas signed on to agreements that they were The condominial system has been When it comes to improved sanita- responsible for maintenance and repair adopted in parts of Asia, and is a prime tion, there may be more than one way of the system in their neighborhoods. example of the creative thinking that to provide both fresh drinking water The benefits of the condominial sys- will be required to reduce the deaths, ill- and access to closed sewers to urban tem are manifold. First, this approach nesses, and economic losses associated residents. Densely populated areas in makes it much more affordable for a with insufficient sanitation in much of cities throughout the world often rely government to provide basic infrastruc- rural Latin America. on traditional systems of intercon- ture to communities. Costs are lower Although the solutions are not always nected pipes buried deep underground. because a large part of the cost involved easy, in many cases they are relatively Some developing countries, though, in developing water and sewer systems affordable. The key, as with so many chal- are experimenting with less expensive rests in the deep trenching required lenges, is showing residents that they alternatives that depend more on com- in a traditional system. Second, in a have the power to improve their destinies. munity participation and elbow grease. condominial setup, the labor of resi- In our 2010 book Running Out of dents is sometimes used to dig the Susan Leal is a water utility consultant, Water, my co-author Harvard Profes- trenches for pipes within a neighbor- the co-author of the book Running Out sor Peter Rogers and I explored the hood. This resident involvement not of Water. Formerly, she was the General elements that made this approach only saves the government money, but it Manager of San Francisco Public Utili- successful—or not—in three different establishes a sense of community among ties Commission and San Francisco City Brazilian communities. neighborhood residents and creates a and County Treasurer.

drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 53 water

El Líquido Vital

Solving Water Problems in Southwestern Nicaragua By David Gullette

In global terms, ours is the troubled cen- installation and repair of hand-operated to troubleshoot and help villagers com- tury of water. Expanding populations, ex- pumps; teaching families basic hygiene; ply with the rules of proper filter use. treme climatic events, and threatened or watershed preservation (partly through In 2011, retired businessman Dennis contested sources of “the vital liquid” are reducing firewood use); and introducing St. John approached us with his design guaranteed to cause more crises—even re- sealed-unit composting toilets to replace for a BSF made entirely of PVC (using a gional conflicts—in the coming decades. the traditional latrines. 10” drainage pipe for the column). For But let us tighten the focus to the strip Our preferred method of purifying well the 2012 pilot project we installed twelve of land in Nicaragua between the Pacific water has been the BioSand Filter (BSF). of these in one community. We have been and Lake Nicaragua, south of Rivas all Invented by a Canadian and pro- very pleased: the PVC filter weighs only the way to the Costa Rican border: here moted around the world by CAWST.org 29 lbs. empty, and laboratory tests show folks are paradoxically both rich and poor in Calgary, the BSF is essentially a box, that it removes contaminants as well as when it comes to access to potable water. usually of concrete, the size of a free- the concrete filters do. Plus, it’s elegant The port town of San Juan del Sur standing water-cooler, filled with care- and easy to clean. We’ll build and install went from sleepy fishing village to fully processed sand and gravel. Con- 36 more in January 2013. international resort in 20 years, like taminated well water is poured in at the Our Nicaraguan colleagues also Provincetown on fast forward. It now top, works its way slowly down through emphasize domestic hygiene, especial- gets its water (heavily chlorinated) from the column of sand, and comes out of a ly hand-washing and keeping animal the big lake, pumped through a system spout, purified. Key to the process isa feces out of the yard. Particularly use- financed by the Spanish government. “biolayer” created by the permanent two ful in these efforts are graphic posters Ironically, the residual taste of chlorine, inches of water above the top layer of made available by CAWST.org. We have plus a widespread revulsion at the very sand, where “good bacteria” slowly form also paid to have wells dug deeper and idea of drinking lake water, means that a colony: they trap and eat much of the E. re-lined, and to have the classic “rope most sanjuaneños who can afford it use coli population that passes through. pump” installed or repaired. tap water for everything but drinking. The BSF has obvious advantages: it’s Because an occasional well runs dry The bottled water business is booming. cheap (about US$50 each); home-based; early in the year, we also focus on “how to Meanwhile, in the 33 impoverished and requires no chemicals or electricity. take good care of your watershed.” Since rural communities scattered around the The downsides are that boxes made virtually everyone cooks with wood in the 250 square mile township, potable water of concrete are extremely heavy (330 lbs. countryside, we point out that stripping from a tap remains a distant dream. without the sand/gravel) and thus hard to vegetation from around the house can Most rural homes get their water deliver and move for maintenance; they actually put the water supplies at risk. from hand-dug wells. And virtually all also require daily use to keep the “good We explain how, when it rains, a forested these wells are contaminated, given the bacteria” in the biolayer well-fed and oxy- hillside is like a sponge; if deforested, omnipresence of farm animals plus the genated. If neglected for more than a day it’s like a zinc roof. But people still need haphazard placement of porous latrines. or two, the biolayer dies and starts to stink, wood to cook. So Fidel Pavón and I devel- The water contains E. coli bacteria, as and the efficacy of the system is compro- oped our own model stove, which uses well as a range of parasite cysts. Intesti- mised. Thus the human element at the half the amount of wood of the typical nal ailments are widespread, dangerous point of use is crucial. Families have to be open fire with the added advantage that for vulnerable infants, and hard (and disciplined enough to follow the “use-it- its chimney rids the house of the smoke expensive) to get rid of. every-day rule” and keep their water stor- that gives mothers emphysema and We in the Newton (MA)/San Juan age bucket clean to avoid recontamination. children asthma. As we were building del Sur Sister City Project (www.new- In 2008 and 2009, grants from the the prototype, Fidel’s wife, Luzmarina, tonsanjuan.org) have been working with Boston-based Conservation, Food and was hospitalized with emphysema, but our Nicaraguan colleagues for more Health Foundation allowed us to manu- after we replaced her open fire with our than a decade on a set of interlocking facture and install more than 600 BSFs EcoStove, her symptoms disappeared. water solutions: home-based purifica- in twenty rural communities,and to train We’ve decided to present the EcoStoves tion of well water; rehabilitation of wells; area promotoras and village brigadistas as a reward for families who use their

54 ReVista winter 2013 water quality

BioSand Filter properly. At the same time, people used and then constructed a hard- employing a “hammock” of heavy-duty it’s a new incentive to those who have wood tower to hold a 1,100 gallon water nylon fish net that holds the “biomass” stopped using their filters: get your filter tank. They installed a set of solar panels in the air so that aerobic decompostion re-installed, follow the rules, and become to power a submersible pump to fill the can take place. The “hammock” was filled eligible for a stove. (Unlike the BSF pro- tank and finally, they excavated a trench first with layers of palm fronds, zacate gram, in which we gave the filters free of for a two-inch water main to run the water (a perennial fodder grass), corn husks, charge, participants in the EcoStove pro- down the hill, with a spigot in front of leaves, and sawdust from the sawmill a gram must donate sweat equity and when each house. Eventually the mayor’s office mile away. A bucket of sawdust is left in possible, materials such as cement, sand, found money to bore a deep public well. each stall, and the teachers are urged to and bricks, to obtain a stove.) Today, all the Ojochal families have access throw a handful or two of sawdust into Demonstrably, clean lungs, clean water to solar-pumped high-quality water that each toilet at the end of every school day. and healthy watersheds go hand in hand. does not require subsequent filtration. But This system has functioned flaw- One obvious alternative to the use of of course there are 32 other villages. lessly—without strong odors or exter- BSFs would be to have wells profession- One other way to limit the infiltra- nal leaks—since February 2005. Not ally bored to great depths where contam- tion of pathogens from surrounding soil far away is a hand-dug well that serves ination is not a problem. The issue here into a well is by using composting toilets most of the community. The schoolyard is cost: it’s extremely expensive to have a (CT). The first of our “in-house outhous- where the well is located is livestock- deep well bored, and a pump for such a es” was a twin-bin affair (one room for free, thanks to a barbed-wire fence. As a well requires electricity, yet fewer than boys and one for girls) built next to the result, the unfiltered well water registers half of the villages we serve are wired. schoolhouse we financed in the commu- a fairly low E. coli count, compared to And in most villages the houses are so nity of Cebadilla. similar (unfenced) wells in the region. dispersed that piping water to each home Essentially our CT is a pair of tall Our Canadian colleagues at Project would be an additional challenge. boxes on, not in the ground. Their floors Nicaragua/NicaCan have been promot- But one non-electrified community are sealed with roofing cement. A tall ing single-family composting toilets in did it right: Ojochal, where about twenty stack carries off water vapor and what- several other rural communities in the families live along an ascending dirt road. ever gases arise from the composting San Juan del Sur township. They found In 2008, the Union Church in Newton process, and creates a slight updraft to that often families would help build their worked with local residents to take sev- disperse odors. On top of the boxes sit new CT and then, when the Canadians eral steps toward a potable water sup- the roofed “throne rooms.” Because San left, revert out of habit to using the old ply. They deepened the existing, privately Juan del Sur is a fishing port, we were odoriferous, well-water-polluting latrine. owned well at the top of the road that most able to modify a Vietnamese-model CT, The donors now insist that the old latrine

Bottom left: A 330 pound concrete BioSand Filter, one of about 600 being delivered in 2008-2009. The unwieldiness of this model is a major drawback; bottom right: The new 29 lb. all-PVC BioSand Filter. A dozen of these, along with their sand and gravel, can fit into the back of a pick-up truck that can transport only a single concrete filter at a time.

photos by david gullette drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 55 water

be dismantled before the family can receive the new CT. Making Water Safe in Haiti This sporadic backsliding points to a key issue that we who do development Filters and Dispensers for the Haitian People work must sooner or later confront, whether we work in water purification, By Linda Khachadurian sanitation, alternative building materials, or something as basic as making sure kids get sent to school. The point is, people are slow to change old habits, Madame Aubry swoops through the front in one corner, in a shaft of sunshine or as we say in Nicaragua, La costum- door of her two-story cement block- that beams through the adjacent full- bre es la ley: old customs rule. Some house in the Delmas neighborhood of length window. The filter is a 32” high, by people will never change. I once saw Port-au-Prince to greet her guests. She is 12” wide by 12” deep concrete rectangle a man kneel on a rock covered with a petite bundle of cheer, with a ponytail that has been painted an ethereal baby monkey feces and drink directly from that swings in synch to the allegro tempo blue. Perched on top is a hand-carved the creek which ran below his knees. of her gait. Her caramel skin is punctu- wooden lid. Maybe his intestinal system had years ated only by a beauty mark below her left Aubry can’t seem to sing its praises ago adapted to the bacterial flora of eye and a few beads of sweat that have enough: the system keeps her fam- the water he and the monkeys shared. aggregated in her cupid’s bow. ily in good health, and it saves them Or maybe he suffered from chronic Her two visitors today are Canadian- money because they no longer need to parasitosis and simply lived with it. American Chris Rolling, executive direc- buy expensive bottles of purified water. What is clear is that an infant or tod- tor of the Pierre Payen-based non-profit Instead, they can go the more economi- dler would almost certainly not be Clean Water for Haiti, and his friend cal route of having a water truck fill their as immune to infection. Worldwide, Johnson Alexandre, who is a board mem- large cistern with water for the Biosand 5,000 such children die every day from ber of the organization, and a command- system. Although she can’t articulate contaminated water. Doubtless the er with Haiti’s anti-terrorism unit. The exactly why, she also insists that water parents of many of these children had pair has come to check-in with Aubry, from the filter has a more pleasing taste been warned about microbes. But as in who is a recipient of one of Clean Water’s than bottled water. “I don’t know,” she all types of education, including pub- Biosand water purification filters. says, “it’s just better.” lic health, steady repetition and rein- An estimated four million out of the She glides over to the filter, and forcement of basic lessons is crucial. nine million inhabitants of Port-au-Prince removes the lid. She cradles it in her Patience is power. have no access to safe water and are thus arms and sets it down on the kitchen Certainly, our efforts to guarantee subjected to a tidal wave of waterborne table, where Alexandre is sitting—a sol- year-round potable water for folks in our little part of the world will never have 100 percent success. But over the years we have forged partnerships The right to safe water is important, and purifying between activists in Newton and water is cost-effective because it prevents health numerous Nicaraguan colleagues—in the medical community, local govern- problems that would be even more expensive to treat. ment, civil society, village councils, and individual families—that will at least assure that la lucha continúa: diseases such as cholera, typhoid, hepati- emn column in a black silk suit—adjust- the fight for clean water goes on. tis, and chronic diarrhea. Through Clean ing his necktie. Aubry and Rolling peer Water’s subsidized filter program, Haitian into the body of the filter. “Everything David Gullette is Vice President of families are able to receive the systems, looks good,” he proclaims. the Newton, MA/San Juan del Sur which cost $55 to make, for $5. Each system is filled with 90 pounds Sister City Project. He is author of Rolling, who has merry, blue eyes and of fine, washed sand that filters 99 per- Nicaraguan Peasant Poetry from a curly ponytail that bounces when he cent of all microbes, such as bacteria, Solentiname, ¡GASPAR! A Spanish laughs, speaks to Aubry in rapid-pace protozoa, viruses, and worms, through Poet/Priest in the Nicaraguan Kreyol. The three go inside and climb a a combination of biological and physical Revolution, and Dreaming curved staircase that opens into a spa- processes that take place within the sand Nicaragua (a novel). cious kitchen. The Biosand filter stands column’s biolayer.

56 ReVista winter 2013 Earlier in the day, Rolling and Alex- He scoops up a handful and gives an According to Jeremy Hand, managing andre, who both use Biosand filters in approving nod as it streams through his director of the safe water program at the their own homes, were exchanging sto- fingers like water. New Haven-based non-profit, Innova- ries about small creatures that had paid Both organizations also place a heavy tions for Poverty Action, it was Kremer’s visits to them through their running emphasis on educating the recipients 2005 research in Kenya, studying rural water. Alexandre gave a dramatic re- of the Biosand filters on proper imple- water sources, that was the genesis for the enactment of the day that worms came mentation and maintenance. For water organization’s Chlorine Dispenser System. through the faucet of his bathroom sink. systems that are installed in schools, The dispensers have three primary Rolling countered with a tale of baby Pure Water requires that teachers attend components: they must be installed shrimp that some of the more resource- 2½ day-long workshops that also cover near communal water sources; follow- ful neighborhood children had wrapped hygiene education, so that they can, in ing installation there must be commu- in cheesecloth and dropped into a tasty turn, train their students. nity education; and the chlorine used to vegetable stew. Some economists resist the idea of purify the water must be delivered in a The Port-au-Prince chapter of the human right to safe water—made reliable and sustainable manner. Hand, another non-profit, Pure Water for the official by the United Nations General who refers to the professor as “a cham- World, also opts for the Biosand meth- Assembly in 2010—because they claim pion of our dispensers program,” says that od. Every day, their factory produces 14 that it is difficult to calibrate which type so far 400 of IPA’s cost-effective and eas- filters that are painted amped-up pastel of right (i.e. education, healthcare, etc.) ily maintainable water treatment systems hues—neon pistachio, electric ballerina should take priority. Harvard professor have been installed throughout Haiti. pink, and psychedelic cerulean blue— Michael Kremer thinks otherwise. The Marcel Jean, the community coor- to match the color schemes of the walls Gates Professor of Developing Societies dinator for the Port-au-Prince-based of the schools and health clinics in which in the Department of Economics, Senior non-profit, People in Need Partnership, they are installed. Each year, the orga- Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and says that although he doesn’t know a lot nization provides Biosand systems to research affiliate for Innovations for about economic theory, he is, neverthe- over 2,400 homes, schools, health clin- Poverty Action, rallies for the relative less, grateful to anyone who advocates a ics, and orphanages. importance of the right to safe water cause that is so crucial to the well-being Like Clean Water for Haiti, Pure by pointing out the cost-effectiveness of his countrymen. Water for the World is meticulous about of purifying water, thereby preventing In 2010, Jean was put in charge of the quality of sand that goes into their health problems that would be even creating a community water system in filters. On a Saturday morning, project more expensive to treat. He believes Cité Soleil—the capital city’s poorest coordinator, Rony Seraphin, is inspect- that within the existing government slum—for his organization, which works ing the goods at his organization’s fac- budget—and with a little help from to alleviate extreme poverty in Haiti by tory. “The premium stuff is here,” he the Ministry of Education, endowment connecting Haitian women and children announces. With a flourish of the wrist, funds, and private firm developers—it he pulls back the corner of a tarp that is is feasible, financially, to have virtually A canal in Cité Féquière, the poorest neigh- covering a mound of silky, beige sand. universal access to safe water. borhood within the Cité Soleil slum.

photo by linda khachadurian drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 57 Left: Sophie (in pink shirt) and Celian (in “surfers rule” t-shirt) in Cité Féquière. Right: A faucet attached to a thin, rusty pipe gushes water with pieces of dirt near Lalane Marie-Ange’s home in Cité Féquière.

Jean and Marie-ange have stepped outside and started walking along the bank of a canal that is overrun with hundreds of smashed cans, plastic bottles, and empty cardboard containers. An occasional stray shoe dots the heaps of debris. A wild boar is wading in the murky water. A couple of yards away, someone has turned on a faucet that is attached to a thin, rusty pipe. Jean goes over to inspect. “Look at that!” he exclaims, as he watches water gush into the five-gallon plastic bucket that has been placed below. “Look with global partners, who not only help to dainty feet clad in metallic mauve at those dirt pieces.” them financially but also connect to them flip-flops. The polish on her toenails Six-year-old Celian is standing in front on a personal level. Like IPA, People in matches the color of her sandals perfect- of the bucket, mesmerized by the flow of Need Partnership chose the chlorination ly. Jean’s eyes are large somber pools as water. She is draped in a ripped “Surfer method of water purification. Because he scrutinizes her crooked leg. He utters girls rule” t-shirt, and her head is adorned the organization was working with a a cluck of dismay. “That is not right. with cornrows, one of which hangs over budget of $1,000, Jean and two of the I don’t think that man was a doctor. I her forehead at a 75-degree angle to the neighborhood bricklayers constructed a think he was a toy.” ground. Eight-year old Sophie, standing model by themselves that consisted of a Marie-ange explains that she still beside Celian, has a belly that juts out 125-gallon plastic tank that had a mesh experiences pain and has problems walk- several inches past her bony ribcage. Her filter and a valve for dispensing chlorine. ing with the leg that had been injured. She shoulders curve forward with exhaus- They installed the system in the enclosed also says that she is sorry that her neigh- tion, as if the weight of her abdomen is backyard of Lalane Marie-ange, one of bors no longer have free, “good” water too much to bear. A teenage boy, hover- the women being helped by the organi- available to them. When asked about the ing nearby in a crisp white oxford shirt zation’s partnership program. importance of having pure water, she rais- that has somehow managed to defy the Jean admits that the water system es her hands in the air and sings out: “For humidity, explains that she has “mala- wasn’t a perfect solution, but that it was life, for life! What else is there?” dies” from drinking “bad” water. “better than nothing.” The dispenser, which It may be a while before Marie-ange On an adjacent patch of paved road, a was filled with water by a commercial and her neighbors have ready and afford- young boy peddles past on a bicycle. He delivery truck every two weeks, was able able access to pure water. The National rings the bell on its handlebars in three- to accommodate Marie-ange and 15 of her Bureau of Water and Sanitation of second increments. The bell’s rhyth- neighbors. Things went smoothly for sev- Haiti’s (DINEPA) 2012 report, which mic clangs synch with the boar’s snorts. eral months, but then Marie-ange broke her documents progress in drinking water Together, they harmonize with the mel- leg and sold the tank for $300 in order to and sanitation, reveals that water ody of the gurgling water, and form a have her limb set at a local clinic by a man sanitation in Haiti has improved by 24 beautiful, cacophonous symphony that who may or may not have been a real doctor. percent in urban areas and 10 percent flows through the heavy, gray air. A year-and-a half later, Jean decides in rural ones. In spite of these lackluster to pay another visit to her to see how she figures, Harold Florentino Latortue Linda Khachadurian is a medical and is doing. Marie-ange, who has almond- PhD, an advisor to President Michel educational editor and founder of the shaped eyes that tilt downward, giving Martelly and director at BAIN Con- non-profit, Charitable Confections, which her a perennially sleepy look, greets Jean sulting, remains cautiously optimistic: raises awareness and funds for educa- at the front door of her tin hut with a “We’re on the right path, but we need tional programs in third-world countries. hug, and a small, sad smile. to work more extensively to rehabilitate She is working on a book about unsung Her substantial legs—one of which the water system so that it can be more humanitarians, entitled The Extraordi- bows dramatically to the right—taper efficient and sustainable.” nary Doings of an Ordinary Man.

58 ReVista winter 2013 photos by linda khachadurian making a difference

Displacement

A Personal View by Maria Dieci

Maria and I shared two things some of the most progressive but it is hard when they knock her shoulders squared, I know when I met her in Medellin, laws protecting women. In on our door every day, break- that we share much more than Colombia: name and age. Colombia, I saw promise and ing it down and throwing us just a name and age. We share However, even that was ques- momentum for change. out into the street.” a strong, passionate hope that tionable, for her tired eyes and Maria said, “I have been Maria spoke of heartache her daughter will grow up in silvery wisps of hair made her displaced five times in the last and hunger, violence and a more equitable Colombia. look twice her age as she sank five years, and each time, I injustice. I listened as she We share a deep gratitude onto the crate opposite mine, think this has to be the last. I detailed her most recent for the generous people who the first time she had sat down was seventeen and estranged eviction, which destroyed yet have come into our lives and all day. Seen in the flickering from my family when I was another home she had built share their worlds with us light of a few candles, heard forced to leave my home by for herself and her daughter. unconditionally. over the steady beating of the the armed groups. I fled from She now sleeps on an aban- rain against the tin roof of everything and everyone I doned soccer field with her Maria Dieci is a senior in the shed, in the company of knew, and began working in neighbors, who were also Leverett House, concentrat- two softly clucking chickens, the coffee fields, picking and victims of this aggression. ing in Social Studies. She has Maria shared her life with shelling beans for fourteen But she also spoke of her combined her regional inter- me: completely, honestly, and hours a day to sustain myself. neighbors’ kindness, of her est in Latin America with without expectations. The That period was a blur and tightknit community, and of her topical interest in public questions I had carefully pre- I was utterly alone, with no the wonderful people that God health through her course- pared in Spanish lay forgotten. one to turn to for help. I was put in her life: the abuela who work as well as her research Maria, I realized, was pre- lonely, terrified, and I got feeds her daughter when she experiences over the past cisely the reason I had traveled pregnant. I never knew his cannot, a friend who babysits two summers. Most recently, to Colombia. I had gone there name, and he will never know so she can look for a job. We with the generous support to meet the women whom his daughter. My daughter sat in silence and let Maria’s of a DRCLAS Independent until then I only knew theoret- has given me life again; her words wash over us. She sits a Research Grant, she conduct- ically, in lectures and through laughter, innocence, and little taller, and our eyes meet. ed field research in Colombia impassioned conversations companionship awakening me Hers are no longer sad, but on the impact of internal with classmates. During the from my solitude. I try to hide fiery and resolute. As Maria displacement on maternal summer I worked on my thesis the evils of the world from her, walks out into the rain with health care access. research, I engaged with issues that have defined my academic trajectory through a host of experiences, invigorating discussion and new friendships with dedicated profession- als and resolute women. In Colombia, I met women who were up against insurmount- able obstacles, but I also found there a broader energy for progress. I entered a country where the Constitution states that healthcare is a fundamental human right, alongside Just down the road from joyous festivals, women face the overwhelming obstacles of displacement.

photo courtesy of maria dieci drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 59 book talk

Colombia: Looking From Inside the Belly of the Beast

A Review by Boris Muñoz

Violentology: A Manual book, without a doubt, will of the Colombian Conflict deepen and enrich the readers’ By Stephen Ferry understanding of Colombia. (Umbrage, 2012, 183 pp.) Ferry is a U.S. photographer who has covered conflicts Stephen Ferry was teaching and political and social change a documentary photography in a dozen Latin American workshop in Cartagena when countries. His previous book, he saw an image that revealed I’m Rich at Potosí: The Moun- how very little he knew about tain That Eats Men, depicted violence in Colombia. The through his splendid photog- photograph depicted a town raphy the brutal reality of tin reduced to ashes after mem- mining in Bolivia. bers of the National Liberation But Violentology goes Army (ELN), a guerrilla group several steps further than founded in 1964, blew up an Ferry’s first book. Its ambition fill the gaps and deepen the for social justice and sought oil pipeline. The experience is monumental, not only in insight of the “Colombian con- to exterminate civil society’s was a negative epiphany that its historic and photographic flict,” a term which has gener- organized groups, union made him grasp the destruc- scope, but also in its format ated great controversy, but and political leaders, indeed tive impact that the Colom- and design. which most of the so-called anything and everything that bian armed conflict has had on violentólogos agree upon. could be seen as a threat to the the civilian population—not AN IMAGE AND A Yet this is not a photogra- oligarchy that has governed just on the armed actors. This THOUSAND WORDS phy book. Or at least, it is not Colombia since time immemo- was in the year 2000. The 21st Ferry’s images illustrate a only a book of photography; rial, and viewed as a possible century was getting under prismatic vision of the war. In it is so much more than that. danger to powerful landown- way, but Colombia was being his book we meet the principal Alongside the images, histo- ers, regional interest groups dragged down by a series of actors—the FARC guerrillas, rian Gonzalo Sánchez recounts and international corporations. wars that had lasted almost the Colombian army, the para- the history of the Colombian The antagonism of power- two centuries. The most recent militaries, the drug traffickers, violence since 1948, when, ful economic and social inter- episode of these drawn-out the politicians, the victims—all sparked by the assassination of ests has converted the Colom- wars had been going on for coiled together like a serpent the charismatic popular Lib- bian violence into a vicious fifty years by then and had that bites its own tail. The eral Party leader Jorge Eliecer circle in which each actor has displaced four million people, images help us visualize the Gaitán, Bogotá was jolted and a double who takes on the a number only surpassed in conflict from different perspec- ransacked by the wrath of the opposing role. The period of contemporary history by the tives. Some photographs evoke populace, giving rise to the The Violence spawned the events in Sudan. compassion while others incite horrible period known as La guerrillas; the guerrillas and The result of Ferry’s reflec- the reader to indignation with Violencia (1948-1964). the drug traffickers generated tion on all types of victims is their graphic cruelty. Ferry is As Sánchez’ narrative dem- the paramilitary self-defense Violentology, a title that seeks not only the author of most onstrates, since then Colombia forces; these later allied them- to encompass the entirety of these photos, but he is also has not had one single day of selves with the large landhold- of a very complex social and the “curator” of a collection of peace. Successive governments ers and the Colombian army; historic phenomenon. This images and documents that violently repressed demands then the government and the

60 ReVista winter 2013 army linked themselves with their involvement. What do like extra days off—the most economic conflicts of interests the United States through the FARC and ELN have to do surprising and terrifying and class that are the cause of Plan Colombia. today with the demands for aspect of Violentology is its an enormous inequality and The Colombian conflict is a social justice and the libera- demonstration of how all the injustice. It is important to never-ending story, so deeply tion struggles that inspired protagonists adopt patterns remember, as Ferry and Sán- enmeshed in the causes that these groups in the 1960s? of dehumanizing savagery. chez point out, that Colombia originated it and continue to What has happened to the This is where the book gets is one of the few countries in feed it that it can be manipu- supposed ideal of autonomy of it absolutely right—and in a Latin America that have not lated by its protagonists, the self-defense groups when compelling manner. Many of had an agrarian reform. confusing its victims. In an they gave up control to the the forms of cruelty employed Sometimes evident sensa- interesting passage in the drug traffickers and turned by these armed actors are cold, tionalism can render violence introduction, Ferry medi- into armed squads for large mechanical and strategically banal and turn it into a freak tates on his encounter with a landowners and corporations? calculated. The self-defense show. Despite the graphic ventriloquist at a bar while he Moral degradation, cruelty and groups used forced disappear- imagery, this does not happen waited to be contacted by the mass atrocities have become ances of civilians as a way of in this book. Much of this fact FARC for the very first time: normal practices for those terrorizing and subjugating is due to the book’s design who chose—or were forced to entire populations. But the (Ferry designed it himself). [A] guerrilla ventriloquist choose—war as a way of life. guerrillas kidnapped and mas- The large size of the images is a good metaphor for the The history of the Colom- sacred thousands of innocent brings the reader close to deceptive nature of this bian conflict is characterized civilians; the narcos blew them. The use of newsprint war. All parties use smoke by its scorn for the rules of war up thousands with their car gives the material an almost and mirrors to hide their established by international bombs; and the army executed tactile feel. The combination real motives, actions, and humanitarian laws. Violentol- hundreds of young people creates a powerful sensorial identities. From the use ogy makes it clear that the mas- from poor neighborhoods to effect. We are not only seeing a of multiple aliases to the sacre of the civilian population make the public believe they book in the most conventional mounting of elaborate has been the norm and not were guerrillas. sense but are transformed theater pieces, the conflict the exception. Mutilations and In his introduction, Ferry into witnesses of the events it is permeated with disinfor- dismemberment were practices apologizes to his Colombian reflects, and as such, we our- mation (p. 11). used years before the creation friends for a book that is such a selves are living the violence. of the guerillas by the bandit catalog of atrocities. Certainly, WHAT THE IMAGES rebels of Colombia’s eastern in the last few years, the coun- The Warning DON’T TELL US plains, and these horrific try has made a great effort to Violentology is framed within As a book, Violentology tries to practices in turn were adopted clean up the image of a place the historical parenthesis that rectify a history that has been years later by the self-defense plagued by terrorism and bar- extends from the origins of poorly understood by putting groups. With his alibi of fight- barity. Colombia is much more La Violencia to the current in its proper place each little ing the FARC, the blood-thirsty than the sum of its violences. negotiation with the FARC, piece of a huge jigsaw puzzle. Carlos Castaño, commander And it is the cultural and which offers the hope of The result is radically different of the United Self-Defense historical richness of a people ending fifty years of con- from the official version and, Forces of Colombia, made the that have made it a nation and flict. Sánchez concludes his of course, describes a web of torture and martyrdom of a not merely a pandemonium. introduction evoking some corruption and interests that defenseless civilian population There is, however, a deep con- lines from the Colombian poet benefit politically and econom- an everyday affair. He even pro- flict that one cannot escape. Gonzalo Arango, who prophe- ically from the conflict. vided his troops with training Ferry quotes La vorágine, by tized that if Colombia is not The contribution of in dismembering live victims. José Eustacio Rivera, in which capable of giving its children Gonzalo Sánchez is essential. The depiction of infamy the author depicts the conflict a dignified life, then its earth His narrative sheds a light on and pathological cruelty give of man with the barbarity will continue to be soaked in the war’s key moments and one a lot to think about in that surrounds him. But la blood, sweat and tears. In the intricate networks; he also this book. From decapita- vorágine (the vortex) that epilogue of Violentology, jour- reveals how all of the players tion to false positives—killing emerges from Violentology nalist and former DRCLAS in the conflict have lost sight innocent civilians to claim is not the untamable nature Visiting Scholar María Teresa of the reasons that justified enemy victories to get benefits that devours everything, but Ronderos warns:

drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 61 book talk

Being optimistic, one could say that after hav- Reframing War and Local ing reached the darkest abyss of the violence, we Conflict in Guatemala are now learning how to build a lasting peace ... A Review by Deborah T. Levenson Still, our national leadership has to recognize that to achieve peace we need an ethical model of Guatemalans in local war- rilla groups; many collabo- government. Only then, time spaces that each have rated with them; and others will we be able to look at their own back-stories. This opposed them. Moreover, this book and say that it short review can only point these stances could be shows a violent country out highlights of a book that ambiguous, and they were of the past. (p. 174). needs to be widely read by not necessarily stable in the Guatemalanists as well as by fast-moving early 1980s. In Readers might ask students of modern peasant addition, and based on the themselves, what made a and indigenous revolts. memories of residents and foreigner come up with so Generated by an intellec- grassroots leaders and on much passion to denounce tual collective that represents persistent research into local atrocities in a country a new generation of and national archives, this that is not his own? Ferry Guatemalan anthropologists, edited volume goes beyond belongs to an enlightened sociologists and historians— the “did they/didn’t they” tradition presided by figures and without excluding the conundrum to address the such as the Irish humani- views of an older one or of related, yet more far reach- tarian and poet Roger Case- Guatemala, la infinita historia two foreigners—Guatemala, ing and profound question ment. He is originally from de las resistencias, Edited by la infinita historia de las of what was going on in rural Cambridge, Massachusetts, Manolo E. Vela Castañeda resistencias both routs and communities, and in urban where he witnessed the (Magna Terra Editores, transcends the repetitive neighborhoods, that led to protests against the war in Guatemala) narrative in much of the pre-insurrectional situations Vietnam. The photos then scholarship that has placed in the late 1970s. published in the press made The collection entitled the indigenous population Thus the book’s overall it impossible to ignore the Guatemala, la infinita as marginal to, and/or focus is specific to different conflict in that faraway historia de las resistencias, “caught between two armies” departments and munici- Southeast Asian country. represents a turning point during the armed conflict in palities. Besides Morna Violentology is in keeping in our understanding of the 1980s. MacLeod’s analysis of the with that spirit: its aim is to that country’s turbulent In a related move, it 1980 declaration of Iximché, keep the conflict in Colom- and ultimately tragic late also mercifully replaces the Ricardo Sáenz de Tejada’s bia from being ignored. 20th century. Its eleven notion of “the” Maya with discussion of the worker, stu- In this sense, his ambition chapters—with the excep- one that emphasizes the dent and neighborhood alli- has been achieved in an tion of two on the city—are historical, economic and ances that shaped the 1978 extraordinary and praise- dedicated to the core of the regional complexities of Guatemala City uprising, worthy fashion. conflict: the indigenous different Maya pueblos that and Denise Phé-Funchal’s countryside. Compiled by are informed by shifting history of the relatives of the Boris Muñoz, a Ven- Guatemalan sociologist distinctions of status and disappeared Grupo de Apoyo ezuelan journalist, is an Manolo E. Vela Castañeda, occupation, to show that Mutual, Guatemala, la Associate at DRCLAS. A the book definitively shifts there is no simple ‘yes,’ or ‘no’ infinita historia de las resis- 2010 Nieman Fellow and the spotlight away from to the question of indigenous tencias includes chapters by a 2011 Fellow at the Carr elites, whether these are adhesion to the revolution- Leticia González on the Ixil Center for Human Rights composed by leaders of ary groups. The selections region; by ex-guerrilla com- Policy, he writes frequently revolutionary groups, politi- in the book illuminate how mander Margarita Hurtado for such publications as cal parties or the military, some women and men were Paz y Paz on Huehuetenan- Gatopardo and Newsweek. and onto the majority of leaders within the guer- go; and by Cindy Forster on

62 ReVista winter 2013 the Southern Coast and the historia—of resistance that after chapter gives evidence heart of the 1980s. The massive strike of cane cutters dates from at least the 19th of this articulation of con- strategy of genocide might there. Marta Gutiérrez paints century. In the countryside flicts. What does it suggest not have been exclusively a rich social history of the these resistencias exploded to learn that traditional about draining the sea so department of San Marcos. in the 1960s and 1970s Maya sacerdotes invited that the fish die, but about Glenda García y García around land tenure, extrac- guerrilla members to pres- draining the sea to teach delineates events and chang- tive industries, hydroelectric ent their views at a meeting it unforgettable lessons ing grassroots’ perspectives projects, low wages, in a ceremonial center in about power. between 1976-1985 in the mistreatment, and local Huehuetenango? How do Even though Guatemala, la infinita historia de las resistencias necessarily describes and marks the massacres, the collection is [ ] not dominated by “el peso de What happened after these the guerrillas arrived is very la muerte,” to use historian well-described by García y García as an “articulación de los Marta Gutiérrez’s haunting phrase. As Vela Castañeda conflictos.” It is an eye-opening formulation; chapter after states in his introduction, chapter gives evidence of this articulation of conflicts. this collection aims to “introducir por la puerta grande al pueblo, las masas, municipality of San Martín power. They intersected we interpret the fact la multitud, el populacho, Jilotepeque, Chimaltenango, with new social organiza- that a Kaqchikel community la chusma, como agentes where people first organized tions and experiences that in Chimaltenango sought históricos” that thought- and eventually—in their included peasant leagues, out the revolutionary fully broke codes of domi- words—“surrendered” to the twists and turns of coop- movements because it nation and upon whom the Guatemalan army as a eratives and development was looking for ways to various elites have depended, survival tactic in the face projects, the radicalization further organize around whether as labor force, of military encirclement. of Catholic Action and the its own demands? political base or soldier. Pablo Ceto, Maya Ixil and appearance of a new his- What the material in The stakes are high today ex-guerilla leader, reflects on torical protagonist, educated Guatemala, la infinita for indigenous communi- his experiences in the indig- Maya youth who grew up historia de las resistencias ties and all others that are enous highlands. in this context and quickly implicitly argues is that defending their existence With ingenuity, Carlota turned into local leaders perhaps we need to turn against mining and other McAllister relates how inter- in religious groups, and in the question of indigenous megaprojects that wolf down national and national Cold community projects formed incorporation into the people, territory and resourc- War politics and econom- around education, culture groups such as El Ejército es. The need to understand, ics turned a marketplace in and healthcare. Guerrillero de los Pobres or honor and support el popula- Chupol, in Quiché, into a Even though general left- La Organización del Pueblo cho remains as important as site of insurgency where wing discourses were cer- en Armas on its head, and it always has been. Maya women success- tainly present in these post consider the proposition fully opposed forced mili- 1954 years, activism hap- that indigenous people Deborah T. Levenson is an tary recruitment; and Vela pened, expanded and started were trying to incorporate associate professor at Boston Castañeda’s own chapter is to burst its seams before the revolutionaries into College. A co-author with on the understudied depart- armed guerrilla groups had their existing and ongoing Greg Grandin and Elizabeth ment of Petén, the largest in critical presence in many local struggles, ones that Oglesby of The Guatemala the country and one central parts of the country. were larger and more signifi- Reader, History, Culture to peasant colonization, to What happened after cant than guerrilla attacks and Politics, her latest book the military generals’ rising these arrived is very well- on the army. is Adiós Niño: The Gangs economic clout in the 1970s, described by García y García That would suggest that of Guatemala City and the and to the war. as an “articulación de los elite fears of the centuries’ Politics of Death, forthcoming All these areas have had conflictos.” It is an eye-open- old nightmare of “Indian from Duke University Press, a long history—an infinita ing formulation; chapter Rebellion” were at the Spring 2013.

drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline ReVista 63 reader forum

sure according to the highest finance its development. issue has nothing to do with level of canonical discipline On the contrary, not long it and there could be a real that regulates the institutions ago, some professors, under intention of spreading confu- of the Catholic Church. current authorities, rebelled sion among your readers. Secondly, it is necessary to against the Church Teach- Finally, I ask you the pres- inform that, in spite of being ing Authority and disobeyed ent letter to be published in registered in Registros Públi- canonic rules. This is why the the next edition of your pub- cos del Perú (Peruvian Public University could have been lication, not only on behalf of Registries) that the university affected by a loss of academic my protégé’s rights, but as a “should keep compliance with excellence and not only this respect to truth and serious- the resolutions of the Holy but in something more impor- ness of the readers of such an See, on which it depends”, its tant: its identity of origin. It is important media. “Supreme Government… is a a really serious matter to make Natale Amprimo Plá matter of Episcopate of Peru unknown the origin, work and Amprimo & Flury Abogados universities and the Holy See”, and that path of many previous genera- Calle Burgos 220, catholic universities any intended reform of its tions, mostly when it is about San Isidro, Lima—Perú Statute must be proposed to to celebrate 100 years of its Dear Sir, the Holy See for due preview foundation. Author’s Note: I am addressing you as a approval; a group of members Then, in relation to the Dear Madam, lawyer and legal representa- of the board of former PUCP, patrimony of that University, Mr. Amprimo’s letter has tive of His Excellency the improperly modified its the present members of plenty of misleading and false Archbishop of Lima and Statute, so as to be able to act the board pretend to ignore assertions, but I wish to cor- Primate of Peru, Cardinal on their own, away from the the testamentary will of its rect only some. Juan Luis Cipriani, after hav- regulations that the Holy See major benefactor, don José 1. PUCP has never been the ing read the note written by issues for its institutions of de la Riva Agüero y Osma, property of the Catholic Professor Pablo Quintanilla, higher education. That seri- in spite of since 1957 his will Church. Since its creation in Dean of General Studies ously upsets Church rights was duly interpreted by 1917, it has always been an in Humanities of the for- in that university, because it Judicial Authority and con- autonomous private insti- mer Pontificia Universidad involves a one-sided break- firmed in 2010 by a sentence tution, in accordance with Católica del Perú (Pontifical ing off of its due dependence. passed through “Tribunal Peruvian law. Catholic University of Peru) In other words, it really is an Constitucional del Perú” 2. “Pontificia” and “Católica” as shown in Fall 2012 edition. embezzlement of an academic (Constitutional Court of Peru) are not academic degrees. The United States of ecclesiastical property. (the sentence can be read 3. The University’s Assembly America is a great country. In third place, it is impor- in: http://www.tc.gob.pe/ is the maximum authority, Likewise, its citizens have a tant to point out that academ- jurisprudencia/2010/03347- not any board. It is constitut- great respect for truth. This is ic excellence of former PUCP, 2009-AA.html). ed by 44 faculty members and why I am referring an incor- for more than ninety years, To be concluded, I must let 26 student representatives, rect scene of facts written by has been achieved mainly you know that “Conferencia democratically elected. In July Mr. Quintanilla. He tries to due to the sacrifice of several Episcopal Peruana” (Peru- 2012 the Assembly rejected justify unfulfilling of civil and earlier generations of Catholic vian Episcopal Conference) Cardinal Cipriani’s attempt canonic regulations commit- intellectual thinkers, who unanimously, have backed to control the University eco- ted by the current former taught with high-level perfor- unconditionally and in a pub- nomically and ideologically. PUCP proper authorities, mance, in the cloisters of this lic way, the measures taken 4. Pope Benedict XVI, holds a such as I explain as follows: institution, feeling that had by the Pope and the Cardinal doctorate honoris causa from First, The recent decision of been collaborating with the Secretary of the State, recog- PUCP. Pope Benedict XVI forbid- Catholic Church, founder and nizing, at the same time the ding former PUCP the use of promoter of that University, legal canonic nature of the Pablo Quintanilla, Ph.D. academic degrees of “pontifi- up to the point, for instance, University. Besides, I want Dean, General Studies in cia” and “católica”, is not only a to have periodical collections to make clear that the Opus the Humanities matter of terminology, but an in different diocese through- Dei Prelature has been and Pontificia Universidad important disciplinary mea- out the country to get funds to is aside of this matter. This Católica del Perú

64 ReVista winter 2013 the last word by jai Chowdhry beeman

Water: The Last Word

A man was shot and killed in a dispute in June 2010 over a water connection in San Juan Cancuc, Chiapas, Mexico. A Zapatista settlement coexists, if uneasily, on the edge of the municipality. Residents of the nearby community of El Pozo had threatened to shut off Zapatistas water connection. A confrontation ensued, shots followed, with one fatality and nine wounded. A spokesman claimed the Zapatista group acted in self-defense. As a student in the DRCLAS Student Internship Program in Sustainable Development, I’d been commut- ing to this small town in high, green, tropical Chiapas to interview women looking to start a cooperative. I found out just how much a good water connection is worth: it can cost human lives. Monica Porto’s observation that water infiltrates most of our infrastructural layers is essential. We drink water; water carries away our waste, provides our electricity, and determines whether our crops will grow. And as such water use dominates discussions on water. How we use and distribute water are delicate questions. To a community, water is also agriculture, sanitation, transport and power. This issue of ReVista examines the many intersections of water and human development: the human waste that mixes with the water we drink; how communities can share and manage their own water; how climate change impacts stream flow, or, as Diana Duque narrates, how a community manages when corpses float downstream as runoff. Water operates on a much greater physical scale than humans do. The hydrogeological processes of sedimentation, deposition, runoff, erosion—driven by gravity—chisel landscapes on earth: the Andes, the Amazon, the Salar de Uyuni, the Patagonian ice field. Allowed to take its time, the motion of even a relatively small amount of water is powerful. The volume of the Colorado River can be measured by the cupful as it winds to its end somewhere in northwestern Sonora, and yet the canyons it makes as one follows it upstream are unsurpassed. Sometimes, water is thrust upon a landscape more immediately, as survivors of the 1960 Chilean tsunami, or a Carib- bean hurricane, have witnessed. In this sense, water permeates through much more than the infrastructure of our cities. Water permeates layers of scale—as John Briscoe notes, the water cycle in South America is defined by regions as large as Brazil and the Andes, but as many of the other authors in the issue point out, has important and immediate impact on individuals. The physical geography that we inhabit integrates the impact that water has created on timescales from millions of years to minutes. Outside La Paz, Bolivia, a human impact is felt even on this large scale. The receding Andean glaciers that supply La Paz are some of the best visual evidence of the impact of climate change on regional hydrologic cycles. But as Angela Livino notes, water supply is likely changing in less visually apparent ways even in places like the Brazilian Amazon. Water will become a more pressing issue for human development. With changing water supply and higher populations, more communities will have to grapple with challenges like the dispute in San Juan Cancuc, or the potential shortages in La Paz. Unless they want to accept the trend toward the consolidation of water in the hands of a powerful few, communities themselves will be tasked with ensuring water rights. This is why experiments in water management like the Mesas Técnicas de Agua that Rebecca McMillan and Susan Spronk describe are so important. The hydrologic cycle, though, is just that—a cycle, of which human life and death and anthropogenic change make one small component. Rivers change their courses, oceans rise and recede; runoff continues to slowly move mountains. Dams and canals will erode, and crack. In any debate over water, water itself will have the last word.

Jai Chowdhry Beeman is a senior in Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard College. He has worked with ReVista for four years. non-profit org u.s. postage paid boston, ma permit no. 1636 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA 02138

contributors

39 Emily Achtenberg is an urban planner and an independent re- Professor at Boston College. 32 Angela Livino is a Doctoral Research searcher on Latin American social movements. 15 Gonzalo Alcalde is Fellow in the Sustainability Science Program at Harvard Kennedy a researcher at the Peruvian think tank FORO Nacional Internacional. School. 10 Rebecca McMillan is a graduate student at the University of

21 Nigel Asquith was a 2009-2010 Giorgio Ruffolo Fellow in Ottawa. 60 Boris Muñoz is a Venezuelan journalist and an Associate at

Sustainability Science at the Harvard Kennedy School. 18 Luiz Gabriel DRCLAS. 26 Monica Porto is Professor of Environmental Engineering at

T. Azevedo is a Brazilian water resource engineer. 65 Jai Chowdhry the University of São Paulo. 10 Susan Spronk teaches international de-

Beeman is a senior at Harvard College and a longtime ReVista intern. velopment at the university of Ottawa. 5 Joseph B. Treaster is a former

2 John Briscoe is Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of reporter and foreign correspondent for The New York Times.

Environmental Engineering and Environmental Health at Harvard

University. 48 David Daepp is Associate Portfolio Manager with the Featured Photography By: André Bonacin, Steve Cagan, Cristina

United Nations Office of Project Services. 59 Maria Dieci is a senior at Costales, Marianne Kinzer, Ileana Oroza, Nicolás Quendez, Amauri

Harvard College studying Social Studies. 42 Diana Duque is a Colom- Ribas and Gregory Scruggs bian consultant and researcher in rural development and the social impact of water. 15 Diego Espejo is a research assistant at FORO Nacional

Internacional. 30 Philip M. Fearnside is a Research Professor at the

National Institute for Research in the Amazon. 54 David Gullette is

Vice President of the Newton, MA/San Juan del Sur Sister City Project.

56 Linda Khachadurian is a medical educational editor and the founder of Charitable Confections. 36 Marianne Kinzer is a painter and a photographer. 52 Susan Leal is a water utility consultant and the coauthor of Running Out of Water. 62 Deborah T. Levenson is an Associate