Approaches towards assessing sanitation rights in Bolivia

Bolivia’s actual policy structure seeks to ensure a broad consensus on better water governance relying on a participatory democracy approach and the commitment on indicators for sustainable development. The newly implemented Water Ministry (2006) has radically changed the regulation model and administration system for urban and rural water and sanitation services, seeking to enhance the role of social participation.

From the beginning the discourse of the Water Ministry wanted to strengthen a reform agenda indicating control mechanisms and local levels for water governance. The Entities for Water and Sanitation Services (EPSA) are supposed to deliver sanitation for the urban poor by protecting ecosystems and enhancing social control and participation as well as to improve overall local governance on water resources.

The presentation is based on a recent study on integrated water resource management in several municipalities in the Bolivian Chaco region taking into account innovative methods such as a social and environmental impact assessment (SIEA) of the Water and Sanitation Entities, the EPSA-Manchaco. The reflections consider the official legal framework, an analysis of national and regional policy guidelines and field interviews with key actors on water governance in order to illustrate the obstacles and challenges for governing sanitations systems in different regions and localities.

The final aim is to indicate the gaps between the official discourse and local realities for water governance and to entail some alternative methods for a more coherent public-civic action in water governance, control and transparency. The analysis includes the policy scenario for the use and control of water and sanitation rights in Bolivia on a local and regional level, attempting to improve decision making contexts as well as institutional, financial and social sustainability of communitarian and public sanitation systems.