Latin America and the Caribbean preparatory process for the twelfth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development effective water governance in the Americas: a key issue

Abstract

Governance as applied to water encompasses both the capacity to design socially acceptable public policy that fosters the sustainable development of water resources and to implement it effectively through the relevant institutions.

The very limitations of governance make it a subject worthy of study.1 The growing awareness within the region of concerns such as the unsustainable use of water, its scarcity, pollution, monopoly control and the lack of access to water-related services of significant sectors of the population, all illustrate the relevance of the issue.

Some countries have implemented significant reforms. For example, Brazil has adopted a new water legislation and a national water management policy; Chile has reformed its water law and water and sanitation sector; Argentina has privatised both the hydroelectric sector and the water and sanitation utilities in several cities; Colombia and Bolivia have also privatised some water and sanitation services, and Mexico recently reformed its water legislation and also privatised some water-related services. In addition, a number of countries, including Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Venezuela, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Chile, are currently discussing modifying or reforming their water legislation.

The specific content of these processes has been determined by various perceptions of the problem, ranging from those that emphasise a limited number of criteria, which are not necessarily related to the nature of the question at hand (tending to emphasise private property rights, minimising the character of water as a public good) to those that assume conditions of perfect competition, which in practice do not exist. In some cases these restricted or very optimistic visions of water management have resulted in the monopoly control of water resources and in inadequate regulatory frameworks.