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Erasto Reyes, Red VIDA/ Popular Bloc/SPS, Honduras
March 2006

The inequality in water distribution in Honduras is another burden carried by the poorest -- people the politicians only remember when they seek votes.  In the poorest households each day is a struggle to bring home water to meet the most basic needs.

In the poor neighborhoods of Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Progreso as in other cities, families fall farther into debt to pay for basic water.  The poor buy their water supply from the street vendors who make a lucrative business from their sales. The water vendors get water from the taps of SANAA, the main service operator in the city, that sells it to them at 2.5 Honduran cents (centavos) per gallon.  The water vendors serve some 100 communities in the marginalized outskirts of the city where the households don’t have piped water in their homes due, in part, to the difficulty of installing pipes in their communities, since their shacks have been built on steep foothills bordering the capital city. 500,000 people live under poor conditions, and they invest a large part of their incomes in water.

The water vendors, due to a lack of regulation, sell a barrel of water at whatever price they want. There are marginalized communities where they sell a barrel of salt water for 13 lempiras and a barrel of fresh water for 15 lempiras (almost one US dollar). This is a highly inefficient way of supplying water, and the poorest people are forced to use it due to the shortcomings SANAA. Residents in these communities say that many times they have to decide between buying a barrel of water or a pound of beans to feed their large families.

Loan Commitments of the IDB and the Privatization of Service

For the residents of San Pedro, Phase I of the Municipal Development Program of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) meant the privatization of water service in 2000, and of solid waste collection by the end of 2005. Presently we are fighting to prevent the national congress from ratifying the IDB loan because it would mean financing the expenses of IDB officials. It means a debt of more than 650 million  lempiras (US$33 million) and the transfer of the municipal assets to the private corporation Aguas de San Pedro (ASP).

In San Pedro Sula, the ASP and the municipality “negotiated” the concession contract for running the Drinking Water and Drainage Service behind closed doors. The contract has a period of 30 years with the possibility to extend it for 10 more years, permitting the multinational corporation to obtain assets worth more than 1.6 million lempiras (US$81,000) In addition, the contract contains a series of harmful clauses such as job cuts and reduced power of the union.  Furthermore, the contract protects ASP from inflation and devaluation with extraordinary adjustments to protect profits. It also authorizes ASP to increase water rates by 20% in the third year of operation, starting from Feb.1, 2001.

For the people of San Pedro, the privatization of water has failed them with bad service, water contamination, high rates, worse drainage, corruption, and violation of our sovereignty and national constitution. In communities like Cofradía, El Ocotillo and Chamelecon, residents have documented the contamination of water with fecal material.  In addition, the ASP has not extended the coverage of the drinking water and sanitation distribution network to areas that should have been covered by Feb. 1, 2004. The privatization has meant that the water in San Pedro Sula is no longer a national good of social, economic, or public character; rather it has meant that only those who can pay for the service can have access. The public discontent has grown to the point where people are calling the company SAN PEDRO ASSAULTS.

The people’s struggles cannot be made to wait and are underscored by the actions of the people of Cofradía, Chamelecon, El Ocotillo, La Pradera, among other barrios, colonies, villages, and communities of San Pedro Sula. These communities condemn privatization and are looking for a way to make water a public, rather than a private, good. They have also set as goals the reversal of the privatization process and the conversion of the service to a socially responsible system of distribution.

Water is not for sale – not to privatization!

You can reach Erasto on erastoreyes@yahoo.es.