The editors of the open access journal PLoS Medicine have added their voice to those who are demanding that access to water should be framed as a human right. Their editorial [1] elaborates on three main reasons for demanding such a right:

• ensuring access to clean water could substantially reduce the global burden of disease
• the privatization of water—which exploits the view that water is a commodity rather than a public good—does not result in equitable access
• the world is changing in ways that will both exacerbate water scarcity and threaten the quality of the current water supply.

The editors conclude that "a human rights framework offers what the water situation needs—international recognition from which concerted action and targeted funding could flow; guaranteed standards against which the protected legal right to water could be monitored; and accountability mechanisms that could empower communities to advocate and lobby their governments to ensure that water is safe, affordable, and accessible to everyone".

Meanwhile, California is set to become the first US state to pass legislation on the right to clean water for basic human needs. In this respect, California deviates strongly from the U.S. federal government, whom many see as the prime obstacle to guaranteeing a human right to water in international law. Bill AB 1242 [2] passed a key state Senate committee in early July 2009 and may be signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the autumn. The legislation was introduced in response to the fact that more than 150,000 California residents, mainly undocumented Latino farmworkers, have no safe drinking water. Even more have water service disconnected because they cannot afford to pay their water bills.

[1] The PLoS Medicine Editors (2009) Clean Water Should Be Recognized as a Human Right. PLoS Med 6(6): e1000102. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000102

[2] For background information on AB 1242, visit the web site of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Action Network, California, one of the co-sponsors of the bill.

Related news:

• PepsiCo: multinational adopts policy respecting human right to water, Source Weekly, 02 Jun 2009
• World Water Forum: water unites but forums divided, Source Weekly, 03 Apr 2009
• Human rights: the Netherlands officially recognises the right to water, Source Weekly, 20 Mar 2008

Related web sites:

• COHRE Right to Water
• OHCHR - Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation
• The Right to Water

Source: Peter Asmus, AlterNet, 30 Jul 2009

Tags: north america, policies & legislation