After six years without water, the people of Kwamasiza Hostel, a huge low-income housing block in the Vaal region of South Africa, finally got their water back. The news came from our partner the Coalition Against Water Privatisation (CAWP), after their year-long campaign for water rights finally led the municipality to take action.

CAWP had written a letter in January 2008 to the municipality's water provider, Metsi a Lekoa, concerning water and sanitation problems at Kwamasiza Hostel. Instead of sending a customary written response, as so often happens, the municipality actually went ahead and reopened the local water valve, which was closed in September 2001 during an attempted forced eviction of local residents.

Patricia Jones and I traveled to South Africa in November 2007 to visit the community. There, a community organizer, Elliott Nsundu, told us about the day that police, military, and private security were called in and used tear gas and rubber bullets against local residents to clear them out. Refusing to leave, community members fought back. They had no where else to go.

Eventually, the police and military attack was repelled, and the community stayed in Kwamasiza. But as the police left, they cut off all basic services to the community, including water, sanitation, and electricity. Thousands of people living in the 10-story building block were forced to use the surrounding fields for their sanitation needs and buy water from a water-supply truck that came through once a week.

In this case, it's important to remember that restricted access to water and housing evictions have a different tone in South Africa, with its recent history of apartheid and the new national constitution that protects the right to water and the right to housing. This progressive legal framework has enabled South African citizens not only to fight for what is morally right, but to fight for what is legally entitled to them.

In Phiri (pronounced "piree), Soweto, the community is waging a battle against prepaid water meters in the High Court of South Africa.

Now, with their water services reinstated, the Kwamasiza community can begin to live their lives again with the dignity, health, and safety all people deserve.

Ecuador has taken the first steps towards defining the scope of its constitutional provisions to protect the human right to water. Ecuadorians are currently engaged in a National Constituent Assembly process by which the nation's constitution will be revised. One expected outcome of this effort is the constitutional definition of the human right to water for all Ecuadorians, with special attention to the rights of the poor.

Under the Constituent Assembly process, any citizen can attend the on-going forums taking place in various cities around the country and make her voice heard. Each forum centers on a particular constitutional provision under revision.

I attended one of the numerous forums addressing water. The discussion focused on how to characterize the right to water (as a human right, a communal right, or an economic right), how to protect the environment while doing so, and a plan for development. I was struck by the power of this democratic process and the stamp of legitimacy it placed on the outcome. In the discussion group I observed, indigenous farmers, women, and youth were all vocal participants. The facilitator was even elected to her post. No one can question that the results of these meetings represent the will of the people.

The process works in this sequence: after the discussion group comes to a general consensus on the proposals they would like to present, the facilitator summarizes the group’s comments and presents them to the Assembly at large. After all the forums are completed, the elected facilitators will compile all of the proposals and these will be used to hammer out the final wording of the constitution.

The forum was in Portoviejo and the offices of UUSC partner Mi Cometa are in Guayaquil. On the drive back, we passed miles and miles of flooded land. Many people have been displaced or are simply living in a swamp. Ironically, one consequence of the flood damage is the lack of clean water to drink. It has to be brought in on trucks. The gap between policy and reality opened before me.

Ecuadorians hope that the legitimacy of this comprehensive and democratic process will compel Interagua, a subsidiary of the American corporation Bechtel, either to leave the country or improve its services. They also hope that the government will be invested with sufficient leverage to require these improvements. I too am hopeful.

The Guardian reported last week that Tanzania, one of the poorest countries in the world, won a case against Biwater, a multinational water supplier, in a London tribunal. In 2003, under pressure from the World Bank, Tanzania privatized the water system in Dar Es Salaam, the capital city, in exchange for much needed debt relief. The contract was awarded to a U.K. water company named Biwater.

Within two years, the World Bank’s own findings showed that under City Water Services, the Biwater subsidiary, the city’s water and sewage services had worsened greatly. In 2005, Tanzania took back control of water services in the city. Biwater then sued for breach of contract under the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) within the World Bank and within the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

Forced or coerced privatizations by the World Bank have had negative impacts on public utilities across Africa. UUSC partner the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP), which works on water and gender issues in Tanzania, has relayed to us their frustration and disappointment in the continuing trend of foreign aid and loans having strings attached, primarily in the form of privatizing public services.

In 2006, TGNP launched a water campaign with the goal of “returning resources to the people.” TGNP’s research exposed that lack of safe, sufficient, and affordable water had created gender-based violence around water accessibility and increased the rate of girls dropping out of school. This was because women and girls are largely deemed responsible for the provision of water in the home.

Seeing that water was such an integral issue in the lives of women in Tanzania, TGNP became involved in analyzing the national budget and funds for the water sector. They successfully campaigned to have a woman appointed as assistant water minister and an increase in the overall allocation for the water sector. Although access to water for all remains a pressing issue in Tanzania, the women of TGNP are satisfied that the power to decide how much water is provided no longer rests with the World Bank or private corporations.

Last week, a London tribunal threw out a case brought by Biwater against Tanzania under the rules of UNCITRAL and awarded Tanzania $7 million in damages and costs. This was a huge victory for Tanzania. It was an initial acknowledgment that water is an essential human need.

When a contract impedes a government in meeting their human-rights requirements to their people, it is essential that international bodies such as the United Nations and other intergovernmental bodies support human rights over corporate profit.

Tanzania still awaits the decision of ICSID, a World Bank body, which is expected in the next few months. Our partners at TGNP, skeptical about the impartiality and fairness of this embedded judicial body, have called for the courtrooms to be “open to the watchful eyes and cameras of the world so that the mayhem of plunder by profit hungry companies of the ‘global village’ can partly be revealed for all.”

Elliott Nsundu is the Coalition Against Water Privatization's local task force leader for the Kwa-Masiza Hostel in Vaal, Zone 20 -- an unofficial settlement 45 minutes outside of Johannesburg. There is no running water, sanitation, or electricity in Kwa-Masiza. Many of the residents are "retrenched" workers (laid off) from EastCo and Metal Works factory, who are suffering from work-related illnesses, particularly from the chemicals used in the factory.

Elliott spoke to us: "Twenty four hours without water -- for many days. How many hours in a year? Water trucks come by once per week -- you can only have 40 liters." Elliott and the community members who met with us told about their struggle to keep living at Kwa-Masiza. Originally it was a "hostel" organized as temporary housing, but with well-built buildings and a large park-like area surrounding the compound. The buildings are not shacks -- they are two to three stories high, built out of cement, have windows, and were built in the 1960s. But the utility services were shut off, and police were sent in to forcibly evict the residents. Many of the flats show the effects of this action -- broken windows, doors. The community resisted and have stayed.

The property changed hands from the government to private owners, who insisted that the residents pay 300 Rand per bed (many of the flats have three to four beds) per month to stay -- even without any utilities. The average salary is 800 rand per month (300 rand is approximately $43.) They refuse to pay until the conditions change. Elliott wants people in the United States to know how difficult it is, how dangerous for children, for the residents, for their health. There is no privacy for sanitation.

Says Elliott: "Hope? We have lost hope -- but we are still prepared to fight. We are slowly losing our trust in this government." It makes you think about the definition of hope -- if a person can continue to work day in and out to better the community, and others, despite police attacks and very difficult living conditions as Elliot does -- isn't that hope? Maybe it's stronger stuff than hope. Whatever it is, Elliott has it and South Africa will be better place because of people like him.

We were excited this morning because our partner, the Coalition Against Water Privatisation (CAWP), informed us that they were to get international news coverage of the water problem in Phiri (pronounced "pirri"), Soweto from Al-Jazeera. CAWP had been so successful in their awareness-raising campaigns and demonstrations that many people around South Africa now have their eyes on what will take place next week. Next week, a member of CAWP, Jennifer Makoatsane, and four other plaintiffs will take Johannesburg Water to the High Court to contest the installation of pre-paid water meters on their property.

This case against pre-paid meters and challenging the minimum monthly allowance of free water per household to poor families are possible because the South African constitution, ratified in 1996, is the most progressive constitution in the world. For example, it fully recognizes social, economic, and environmental rights. The human right to water is recognized in section 27 and is being used by the residents of Phiri to fight for enough water to meet their daily needs.

I had been to South Africa before, working for the South African Human Rights Commission in Cape Town, but I had not made it over to Joburg or Soweto and was eager to see the area. CAWP representatives picked us up from the guesthouse around 10 a.m. and drove us to Phiri, a Sotho (pronounced "sutu") area of Soweto. Under apartheid, people were not only separated into neighborhoods by "race" (chosen by the apartheid government) but also ethnicity within that given race. So "Blacks" were further divided into Sotho, Tswana, Zulu, Xhosa, etc. "Blood-mixing" of any sort was considered dangerous as it might undermine "White" purity, power, and dominance.

When we arrived in Phiri, we were welcomed by Jennifer and other members of the community. She took us into her home and showed us the difficulty of daily tasks without sufficient water, such as doing laundry or bathing. For even the poorest households, Johannesburg Water only provides 6 kl of water per household per month. For a large family like Jennifer's, this only allows the toilet to be flushed once every few days, and a bath for each member of a the household twice a month, and it leaves virtually nothing for laundry or food preparation.

She also sat down with us and talked about how CAWP and the upcoming trial had given her hope that maybe things might change – maybe the minimum monthly allowance would be increased to allow poor families such as hers to meet their daily needs and allow for adequate sanitation and a healthy living environment for her elderly mother, the four children living in the home, as well as the four adults.

Jennifer then led us around to meet other community members with similar water problems. All of the people we met were "makoko's" (meaning "granny's" in Sotho). They were all women over 70 who had lived most of their lives under apartheid and are still fighting for their rights under this new democracy. The makoko that made the greatest impression on me was Serafina. She is 71 years old and still as strong as ever. She spoke about her fight for access to water with a strength of conviction that was powerful for me, being about 40 years younger. She described bypassing the water meters because her pension could not pay for water and without sufficient water at her age, she could not survive. When the police came and told her she must not continue, she dared them to arrest her. The police left defeated, knowing that arresting a 71-year-old woman would create a martyr for the cause.

While I was listen to her sing and shout and swear and laugh, I hoped that I will have the strength to fight when I am her age. Although witnessing the deep suffering of others is emotionally exhausting, its also inspiring for me to know that the struggle continues and that I am a part of the fight for justice.

A campaign by UUSC program partner El Movimiento Mi Cometa and the Observatorio Ciudadano de Servicios Publicos to hold Bechtel subsidiary InterAgua accountable in Guayaquil, Ecuador, may pay off as the water and sanitation concessionaire was fined $1.5 million for not complying with its contract. InterAgua failed to make 8,000 new connections in time to meet its contractual targets for water services.

In InterAgua's service area in June 2005, 158 children contracted Hepatitis A from water services to several schools. UUSC led a fact-finding delegation in May 2007 to Guayaquil, and brought major press attention to the case and to InterAgua's practice of dumping untreated sewage and industrial waste in the Guayas River and estuary. According to research, InterAgua charges some of the highest rates in Latin America for its sewerage services -- 80 percent of the household water bill, whether there is sewerage service or not.

Cesar Cardenas, founder of Mi Cometa, is running in the constituent assembly this fall on a platform of constitutional reform that seeks to enshrine the human right to water and make privitization of public services like water and sanitation unconstitutional.

Mi Cometa and Observatorio Ciudadano expect positive results in its claims against InterAgua for the dumping, and they will be monitoring to be sure InterAgua pays its fines. Mi Cometa and the Observatorio Ciudadano are citizen's movements. The Observatorio Ciudadano is a "neighborhood watch" coalition where citizens like you and me work to ensure the private and public institutions fulfill their mandate. Mi Cometa and the Observatorio Cuidadano are an inspiration!

A campaign by UUSC program partner El Movimiento Mi Cometa and the Observatorio Ciudadano de Servicios Publicos to hold Bechtel subsidiary InterAgua accountable in Guayaquil, Ecuador, may pay off as the water and sanitation concessionaire was fined $1.5 million for not complying with its contract. InterAgua failed to make 8,000 new connections in time to meet its contractual targets for water services.

In InterAgua's service area in June 2005, 158 children contracted Hepatitis A from water services to several schools. UUSC led a fact-finding delegation in May 2007 to Guayaquil, and brought major press attention to the case and to InterAgua's practice of dumping untreated sewage and industrial waste in the Guayas River and estuary. According to research, InterAgua charges some of the highest rates in Latin America for its sewerage services -- 80 percent of the household water bill, whether there is sewerage service or not.

Cesar Cardenas, founder of Mi Cometa, is running in the constituent assembly this fall on a platform of constitutional reform that seeks to enshrine the human right to water and make privitization of public services like water and sanitation unconstitutional.

Mi Cometa and Observatorio Ciudadano expect positive results in its claims against InterAgua for the dumping, and they will be monitoring to be sure InterAgua pays its fines. Mi Cometa and the Observatorio Ciudadano are citizen's movements. The Observatorio Ciudadano is a "neighborhood watch" coalition where citizens like you and me work to ensure the private and public institutions fulfill their mandate. Mi Cometa and the Observatorio Cuidadano are an inspiration!

Yesterday, UUSC staff worked to respond to an urgent action request about the case of 14 peaceful protesters, students, municipal workers, community members, and men and women detained and tortured under an antiterrorism act in El Salvador on July 2. The protesters were demonstrating peacefully against the planned privatization of water services.

Today, we received a request for an urgent action to write about UUSC program partner the Mexican Coalition for the Right To Water (COMDA) and the International Habitat Coalition of Latin America (HIC AL), about human rights lawyer Santiago Perez Alvarado. Perez Alvarado was detained under kidnapping charges while on his way to file papers in a challenge to a large dam project that will divert the water resources of a rural community in the state of Mexico to Mexico City.

The feeling of cutting and pasting from one letter about El Salvador, to another about Mexico, was one of horror and foreboding. I can sense that we will be writing many of these letters until and unless we strongly support all efforts to defend the right to water. Cutting and pasting the content of an urgent letter to government officials about the violation of the civil and political rights of citizens concerned about their right to water.

How soon before we are called to mobilize for a Mexican Darfur in an indigenous region in Mexico because the water is being taken to Mexico City? Or for agribusiness ? I am not comfortable writing such personalized blog messages, nor alarmist ones, but I find myself not being able to take another tone, nor able any longer to read the screen.

ENS today mentioned a new report on climate change impacts to the U.S. Northeast, done by a collaboration of scientists in the region. The report is called Confronting Climate Change in the U.S. Northeast: Science, Impacts, and Solutions.

According to the report, "The first scenario assumes an increase in global warming emissions from continued heavy reliance on fossil fuels, and the second assumes substantially lower emissions due to an increased reliance on clean energy sources. Global sea level is 'conservatively' projected to rise 10 to 23 inches under the higher-emissions scenario and 7 to 14 inches under the lower-emissions scenario. Using these estimates, cities such as Boston and Atlantic City can expect a coastal flood equivalent to today's 100-year flood every two to four years on average by mid-century and almost annually by the end of the century under either scenario."

The website has state summaries that project changes under two scenarios -- high emissions (business as usual) and lower emissions. For Massachusetts alone, the difference between the high and low emissions projections indicate we can avoid endemic droughts. The report says we can have an impact with reduction in emissions from the Northeast -- significant. Most of the northeastern states have legislation in place, and are debating more, that will require reductions. We each have responsibility for, and an impact on, the ability of each of us to enjoy our right to water by reducing our environmental impact, if we act now.

The Natural Resources Defense Council released a report today on the impact of climate change on water resources in the western United States: In Hot Water - Water Management Strategies to Weather the Effects of Global Warming. The report guides water resource managers through analyzing water vulnerabilities, and putting into place policies and practices that will mitigate the impact of climate change to the extent possible.

The report is an excellent resource and required reading for communities as well. Learn about your water! We now need the social scientists and social justice advocates to look at this issue and report on how to ensure that each person have access to sufficient water to meet daily human needs. The right to water, in times of scarcity, should be a starting point for planning -- not a tag-on when the problems become acute in the midst of a crisis.