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Running head: COMPONENTS OF WATER INACCESSIBILITY 1

COMPONENTS OF WATER INACCESSIBILITY 4

Components of Water Inaccessibility

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Components of Water Inaccessibility

Introduction

Cochabamba is a city in Bolivia with a disparity in water accessibility and affordability among individuals and families with different socioeconomic capabilities, and area of residence. Poor individuals living in peri-urban settings do not have access to enough clean water for domestic and commercial uses like their rich counterparts. Government policies and state agencies responsible for water supply have also increased water inequality in the City. Water injustice in Cochabamba is caused by bureaucratic government policies and socioeconomic inequalities, and pollution since the poor are the most affected by water scarcity and affordability issues.

Water Inaccessibility in Cochabamba, Bolivia

Elements of Injustice Perpetrating Water Inaccessibility

The factors of injustice that increases water inaccessibility in peri-urban Cochabamba include the absence of mains water supply systems, and sewer lines. Other factors include insufficient security concerning land and housing tenure rights, and dense housing (Mehta, Allouche, Nicol & Walnycki, 2014). The factors are caused by elements such as bias in issuing land rights, and inefficient pollution-prevention policies. These factors often present difficulty in building convenient water and sanitation systems. Other indicators of injustice that cause inadequate water supply in Cochabamba include poor waste-disposal methods. Elements of injustice include the class system in which the rich populations and companies are favored by relevant state organs at the expense of the poor (Wutich, Beresford & Carvajal, 2016). The Bolivian government has slowed down on improving water and sanitation systems in regions that are signified with high poverty rates due to political influence that the rich populations have on politicians and state agencies.

How the State and Political Agency Shape Water Access in Cochabamba

Water and sanitation infrastructure in Cochabamba is greatly influenced by state organs and politicians. For instance, the Bolivian government privatized Cochabamba’s water and sanitation system to individually owned vendors such as Aguas del Tunari Company (Wutich, Beresford & Carvajal, 2016). Although the government’s initial idea was to solve the water crisis in Cochabamba that had raised global concerns, the water supply system privatization ended up being counterproductive. The water system infrastructure improvement plans laid down by the private vendors led to an introduction of water tariffs that are too expensive for the residents, whose majority populace live below the WHO poverty line (Baer, 2015). Although Cochabamba residents protested against the privatization deal till the government cancelled it, matters became worse since up to now, more than 74% of Cochabamba residents do not have access to sufficient quality water (Baer, 2015). The limitation to accessing quality water is perpetrated by government policies that are formed and implemented by socioeconomically biased people who deny majority of Cochabamba residents’ access to formal municipality water. This injustice by the state is difficult to overcome since most of the affected residents do not have the required socioeconomic strength to deal with the issue.

Balaz, C. (2017). The nature of access and injustice. YouTube, Retrieved from https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=mZsII3xoGio

Mehta, L., Allouche, J., Nicol, A., & Walnycki, A. (2014). Global environmental justice and the right to water: the case of peri-urban Cochabamba and Delhi. Geoforum, 54, 158-166.

Wutich, A., Beresford, M., & Carvajal, C. (2016). Can informal water vendors deliver on the promise of a human right to water? Results from Cochabamba, Bolivia. World Development, 79, 14-24.