A billion people live without access to clean water, 2.5 billion without proper sanitation. Some water advocates believe private investment and management is the solution to this crisis, arguing that the public sector lacks resources, is inept—or both. Adriana Marquisio, president of Uruguay's water workers' union, is determined to prove them wrong.
Water and money don't mix, Marquisio insists, and for-profit initiatives leave the poor underserved or priced out of the market and prevent long-term investments from being made. "At its heart, water is a commons that belongs to everyone and to no one," Marquisio says.
She concedes that there's plenty of room for improvement at public utilities. But she's convinced that efficiency must be measured in broader terms than liters per second. An efficient water utility should operate according to new principles, Marquisio says: maximize public involvement through transparent disclosures of water charges and investments, guarantee public health, encourage community management and ensure that the Earth itself receives its necessary share of water. Marquisio points to her country as an example of how these principles can work in practice. The aqua-activist led a successful 2004 referendum to return Uruguay's water utility to public hands; today, 98 percent of Uruguay has access to inexpensive drinking water.
Marquisio is also creating "public-public partnerships," through which utilities in different countries can learn from one another. "The transfer of expertise and technology has meant water for thousands of people," she says. "It's a new style of solidarity, beyond the neo-liberalism in which everyone looks out for their own interests."
A version of this story first appeared in Ode Magazine.
