Originally published on Transformative Cities

An estimated 52% of Bolivia’s population have no access to sanitation and 80% of wastewater is not treated before re-entering the environment. The Water and Sanitation for All project aimed to guarantee the right to sanitation in the San Pedro Magisterio neighbourhood by successfully building and running a wastewater treatment plant and strengthening community management of the entire water cycle through the neighbourhood’s Cooperativa de Agua San Pedro Magisterio.

Pollution in Cochabamba’s river reached such high levels in 2012 that the government declared it an “environmental disaster”. The Water and Sanitation for All project was born from a demand and a request from a community: the San Pedro Magisterio cooperative felt the need to treat domestic wastewater in its area to avoid polluting the Rocha River and the environment.

Assemblies with all cooperative members were held to discuss the technical design of the water treatment plant, improvements to domestic use of the sewerage system, and the introduction of a new tariff structure guaranteeing the system’s economic sustainability – all of which encouraged the community to take ownership of the initiative. The cooperative committed to taking on the running of the treatment plant once built, and environmental awareness activities were held in the local school.

But it was not all plain sailing. The municipality, through its water operator, attempted to sabotage the project, criticizing the technical design of the plant and refusing to issue the environmental permits required to execute the project. It also tried to divide the community.

But the community’s unity and determination overcame this, challenging the state-municipal authorities by defending their right to manage water as a community, establishing alliances (with other neighbourhoods and public servants) to resist political pressure, and strengthening their participatory and transparent internal decision-making mechanisms. The project is now responsible for treating the wastewater from 300 families, and for improvements to the hygiene and sanitary conditions in the San Pedro neighbourhood.

“The collective (community-based) management of the basic public service is certainly transformative and inspiring, and it deserves worldwide attention. It has the potential of redefining the meaning of “public” as truly commons/common goods.”

– Evaluator Lorena Zarate

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Transformative Cities’ Atlas of Utopias is being serialized on the P2P Foundation Blog. Go to TransformativeCities.org for updates.

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When ERA learned that Lagos state government was secretly negotiating a public-private partnership for its water supply – in a city already severely underserved in terms of water services – it launched a campaign which to date has seen US$185 million in government funds allocated to ensuring clean water for Lagos’ people. These were funds that the government formerly argued were only available through public private partnerships.

One of the strongest examples of the campaign’s power is its challenge to the government’s plan to criminalize the use of informal sector water by people in need. ERA contested this rule at a public hearing, mobilized different communities and organisations to march through the streets. The government eliminated the clause.

While the government still has privatization plans (which ERA will keep contesting), the campaign has, for the first time since the end of the military regime, united many different organisations, social movements and communities in Lagos and spurred a national movement against water privatization.

The campaign has involved 30 organisations, including those representing civil liberties, health care, peace and development, and human, environmental, democratic, legal and labour rights.

Communities were the prime voice in this grassroots-driven campaign, which gathered testimonies of people’s experiences of water shortages and contaminated water. From the outset, ERA linked the struggle to other anti-privatisation struggles in the world. And, in collaboration with other international partners, prepared the Lagos Water Crisis: Alternative Roadmap for Water Sector, showing the government that the campaign offered real alternatives.

“This campaign has several remarkable aspects, including integration between a professional organization and affected communities, community voices being at the centre, co-working with international allies. The results and changes brought by the campaign are verifiable and concrete.”

– Sakoto Kishimoto

Transformative Cities’ Atlas of Utopias is being serialized on the P2P Foundation Blog. Go to TransformativeCities.org for updates.

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