Megan Tady (inthesetimes.com).- Bill Lokyo never expected to find himself embroiled in a six-year battle over water with a multinational corporation and city officials in Stockton, Calif. “We all thought this would only be a one-year fight,” Lokyo says.   more »

U.S. citizens, in an act of international solidarity, wrote hundreds of letters to Mr. Antoine Kuhn, the Director of Aguas del Illimani in La Paz, Bolivia urging the company to pay its debts and leave Bolivia without demanding compensation or filing lawsuits, announced the international consumer organization Food & Water Watch. The letters will be hand delivered tomorrow to the Aguas del Illimani office in La Paz, Bolivia.   more »

Report on activities in La Paz during Blue October, a worldwide campaign against privatisation of water. Includes proposals by a meeting of Women´s leaders for public policies and the Constituent Assemblyon water.   more »

Carlos Santos from Uruguay argues that global actions in October 2006 marking "Blue Octuber" comes at a time of advance against the commodification of this common resource. It has led to a consolidation of a common agenda at a global scale which includes the promotion of an alternative, public and sustainable water management model.   more »

"We estimate that by December 31, the service [of water in La Paz and El Alto] would be transferred (from Suez to a new state-owned water company)," said Alvaro Camacho, Bolivia's superintendent of water and sewage systems, according to the state news agency ABI.   more »

Children and young people were at the heart of the festival “Water is life, not a commodity” which is taking place in La Paz during Blue October, a month of global resistance to defend water against corporate control.   more »

Maude Barlow met with water activists and the Bolivian Government to launch the idea of an International Convention of Right to Water which would prevent privatisation of this increasingly precious resource.   more »

Susan Spronk analyses the audit of Suez in El Alto, Bolivia which proves that the French multinational´s claims to deliver clean water to poor people was never a priority set against its desire to win profits.   more »

On August 17th, at an historic meeting, civil society groups from North and South met with the Bolivian and Norwegian governments at the Bolivian Ministry of Water in order to advance the international struggle for the right to water forward and commit them to further collaboration.   more »

After a meeting with Bolivian President Evo Morales, the mayor of Paris promised to help improve the water infrastructure in the slum city of El Alto.   more »

Indigenous Communities of San Felipe Ecatapec and Villa de Allende used to have water locally but have increasingly seen sources dry up due to exploitation by bottling companies, deforestation and unequal distribution. Women who have gathered to resist have faced militarised occupation but undaunted took their struggle directly to the World Water Forum in Mexico.   more »

Tres video clips sobre los temas de la privatización del agua, libre comercio y resistencia y arte.

Three video clips on the themes of privatisation of water, free trade and resistance and art

http://www.togethertv.org/people/latin_america/bolivia_maxima.htm

(New York Times) Privatisation has failed to deliver which has given a boost to those activists and governments such as Bolivia that argue that water must be returned and run by local communities and government.   more »

The UN says that water privatisation has failed to deliver in developing countries and calls for Governments to re-assert their role in water management.   more »

Abel Mamani outlines his hopes and the challenges his Ministry will face. He explains that the Bolivian Government's policies on water will be based on the understanding that Water is a human right and must be managed by the State and the community.   more »

(Knight Ridder news service) Moves by Bolivia's new president to end foreign control of water utilities have drawn the eyes of other South American countries.   more »

Bolivia faces ten litigations by multinational companies in the coming year, who argue that the Bolivia Government’s actions on water and gas undermine their investors’ rights protected by Bilateral Investment Treaties. Within Bolivia, lawyers have joined forces with Congressman Wilson Magne to challenge the treaties saying they are unconstitutional. Activists have warned that any attempt to sue Bolivia will lead to massive international campaigns against the multinational companies involved.   more »

Bolivia's basic services regulator, SISAB has invited local auditors Pozo y Asociados to carry out an audit of La Paz/El Alto privatised water utility, AISA. The auditor will carry out an economic, commercial, administrative and technical appraisal of Aisa's performance from 1997 to date.   more »

Document produced by FEJUVE (El Alto Residents' Association) in 2004, explaining why the contract that still is in operation today, must be broken with the privatised water utility AISA. An essential background briefing to Bolivia's second "water war."   more »

One percent of the world's arms budget should be channelled into providing access to drinking water in the most parched corners of the planet, the campaigning widow of former French President Francois Mitterrand said at a launch of a new drinking water campaign in France.   more »

Danielle Mitterand, widow of former French President and founder of France Libertés ends tour of South America including Bolivia urging nations to guarantee water as a social, not an economic resource.   more »

(El Juguete Rabioso).- The subsidiary of the transnational French company Suez renewed a Certificate of Deposit 26 days after the deadline and the government did not say anything. Eduardo Rodriguez had the company by the neck and the possibility of rescinding the contract without risk of an international lawsuit, but opted instead to negotiate an accord in secret with AISA against the interest of the state.   more »

The international "Red Vida" network met in Cochabamba, the site of the first victory against water privatisation, to plan its strategy for the coming year. It dedicated itself to support ongoing struggles against Suez in Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico and Chile and to back communities suffering contamination from mining in Bolivia and Peru.   more »

The Bolivian Government is negotiating in secret an agreement with the privatised water utility Aguas del Illimani Sociedad Anónima (AISA) that will see the firm escape popular demands for a full and transparent audit. In the secret document obtained by Bolpress, the Bolivian Government also promises not to use any evidence from the audit as proof in any legal processes.   more »

Bolivia has been threatened with the initiation of legal action by a series of multinational companies in the last month. All have said their actions are based on Bolivia breaching its commitments under Bilateral Investment Agreements or BITs. But what are BITs and why are they undermining people's rights to clean water, health and sovereignty over their own resources?   more »

In late June, Suez initiated legal action against the Bolivian Government saying it had unilaterally ended its contract to supply water to the cities of La Paz and El Alto.

Negotiations are still underway involving the Bolivian Government, the privatised water utility (Aguas del Illimani) and leaders of social movements who are calling for a new socially-accountable public water utility.

Susan Spronk on Znet analyses the chance of success for the Bolivian Government in international arbitration if negotiations fail to bring about a mutual agreement. She also highlights the role of Bilateral Investment Agreements which increasingly tie the hands of developing country governments in their attempts to regulate and manage multinational companies.

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The World Bank increased lending in the water and sanitation sector from US$546 million in 2002 to over US$3 billion in 2005. Unfortunately, according to a new report by Public Citizen, there is little indication that this resulted in more access to clean and affordable water in the global south. Despite growing popular movements asserting that water is a public good and a human right, the World Bank continues to push a range of conditions such as privatisation, decentralisation, full cost recovery and changes of national laws that mainly benefit a small number of multinational water companies.   more »

The multinational water company, Suez has formally initiated legal action against the Bolivian state saying that Bolivia has infringed investment accords signed between the French and Bolivian governments. Their legal action comes noticeably days before they are contractually obliged to pay $15 million dollars in guarantees as the legal entity that continues to run La Paz and El Alto's municipal water utility. The threat follows several months of negotiations in which Suez has refused to agree to a full audit of its investments.   more »

The so-called "water war" that took place in 2000, when the people of Cochabamba kicked out the privatised water company Bechtel, has become famous in the annals of the alternative globalisation movement. What is less well known in the story is the central role of women in the struggle against water privatisation.   more »

In 1996 Bolivia was forced to privatise its water utility in La Paz and El Alto as part of an agreement tied to debt relief. Ten years later, the residents of El Alto kicked out the French multinational Suez for failing to deliver and for increasing rates beyond the reach of many. Yet despite the failure of Suez, institutions like the IMF continue to put pressure on Bolivia to allow private involvement in delivering water. Residents of El Alto are demanding a company that is public and socially accountable.   more »