Bolivia blog3: Ten years on from the Cochabamba Water Wars

This weekend Cochabamba celebrated the tenth anniversary of its water wars. The small city, nestled at the foothills of the Andean mountain ranges, previously little known to the outside world, suddenly shot to fame in 2000 when cochabambinos forced Bechtel, a giant American corporation, out of town. Bechtel, under a subsidiary called Agua del Tunari, had taken over the town’s water supply in privatisation deal, pushed by the World Bank, that caused water rates to rise by over fifty percent in a matter of weeks. Taking place shortly after the ‘Battle in Seattle’ in 1999 and just before the G8 in Genoa in 2001, two iconic moments in the battle against the imposition of neo-liberal policies on the global south, the struggle in Cochabamba became an inspiration to people across the world, demonstrating what a small group of determined people could achieve.

Two statues reading 'sin agua, no hay vida' (without water, there is no life') and '10 anos de lucha' (10 years of struggle)

The water wars bought together campesinos from the rural outskirts, many of whom didn’t even have access to the water supplies they were fighting to defend, side by side in an unusual alliance with city dwellers, and together they shut down the town for multiple days on three separate occasions. It wasn’t an easy struggle, leading to a military siege called by president Hugo Banzer Suarez, a former dictator and a 17 year old boy, Victor Hugo Daza, lost his life. But the people were defiant, motivated by an understanding that water is life, and united under the slogan la agua es nuestra, cacjero! (water is ours, goddamit!) You can read more of the history of the water revolt on the Democracy Centre's website.

One of the stalls at the Feria - a skill share school that aims to share indigenous knowledge so it can be preserved for future generations

Over the past few days, people from across Bolivia and beyond have gathered at the Ferrier Del Agua on the outskirts of the city to celebrate the struggle and its victory. The atmosphere was celebratory with food, music, theatre and art, and a more serious side with stalls demonstrating how communities now are taking the search for water into their own hands, with local water committees and speeches and workshops about the future issues of the struggle for water justice.

Ten years on, Cochambama’s water supplies remain fragile as people in the city’s outskirts struggle to find ways to ensuring access to vital water supplies. As Cochabamba’s population grows, with an ever increasing number of people migrating from increasingly difficult lives outside the city, the struggle for access to water in an area of limited resources remains an issue in spite of efforts for the right to water to be enshrined in the county's new constitution.

For the people of Bolivia, access to water is something that is only likely to become more difficult. Over the past few days at the Feria, one of the most pressing issues under discussion has been the impact that climate change is likely to have on people’s access to water. Bolivia’s water tables are already sinking; something that will only be exacerbated as melting glaciers mean people will become more reliant on a finite source of ground water. In some areas, such as La Paz the country’s capital, it is estimated that outside the rainy season, around forty percent of water comes from glacial melt. If the glaciers continue to melt at their current rate, this will spell catastrophe for the people of La Paz.

Given that access to water is one of the most serious impacts climate change will have here in Bolivia, its seems highly ironic that ten years on from the water wars, the World Bank, the same undemocratic institution that bought Bechtel into Bolivia, is now being heralded by rich countries as the institution that should be managing climate change finance that will help people cope with the impacts of climate change. Bolivia, as one of the world’s countries identified as ‘most vulnerable’ to climate change, is set to be one of the recipient countries of this first phase of funding. We can only guess what the reaction of the people will be.