(Guatemala City) - Widespread lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation services puts the health and other rights of millions of Guatemalans, especially Indigenous people and women, at risk, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The Urgent Need for a Water Law in Guatemala

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The 88-page report, "'Without Water, We Are Nothing': The Urgent Need for a Water Law in Guatemala," documents the pervasive lack of access to safe and sufficient water and sanitation services in Guatemala, which disproportionately affects Indigenous people, particularly women and girls. It also details the impact of inadequate access to water and sanitation on the right to health, including for children, in a country where nearly one in two children under five suffers from chronic malnutrition.

"Guatemala is an upper-middle-income country, yet a significant portion of its population is forced to live without access to something as basic as clean water," said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "Guatemala's authorities should urgently approve a national water law as a key step to guarantee safe, reliable, and universal access to water and sanitation services for all."

Guatemala has more fresh water per capita than the global average but has for years failed to adequately protect and distribute these resources. Without legislation clearly establishing water rights and obligations, a clear regulatory and financing system to guarantee these rights, and accompanying enforcement mechanisms, water availability and quality around the country will continue to be compromised.

Human Rights Watch interviewed 108 people, mostly women, from predominately Indigenous communities in the departments of Jalapa, Santa Rosa, and Totonicapan. Researchers conducted follow-up interviews with experts, requested information from the government, and analyzed water, sanitation, and poverty data from the 2023 National Survey of Living Conditions by Guatemala's National Institute of Statistics.

Data analyzed by Human Rights Watch reveals that Indigenous Guatemalans have less access to water and sanitation services than other Guatemalans, reflecting long-standing patterns of discrimination and unequal access to rights-essential public services. Based on official data, 40 percent of Guatemalans overall lack access to running water inside their homes. Fifty percent of Indigenous Guatemalans lack access to indoor running water, compared with 33 percent of non-Indigenous Guatemalans. Indigenous people are also nearly three times more likely to rely on latrines or blind pits, forms of sanitation that may be unsafe or unhealthy, while non-Indigenous people are twice as likely to have a toilet connected to a sewage system.

Without reliable access to running water, millions of Guatemalans are forced to rely on wells, rivers, lakes, springs, or rainwater as their primary water source. This poses serious health risks, as the government has estimated that over 90 percent of surface water in Guatemala is contaminated.

Women often bear the responsibility of collecting water for themselves and their families as well as the responsibility of childcare. Based on official survey data, two-thirds of adults who said they carried water the previous day were women.

Rosalia Maribel Osorio Chivalan, a 24-year-old woman in the municipality of Santa Maria Chiquimula, Totonicapan department, described her strenuous morning routine of waking up at 5 or 5:30 a.m. and making a two-hour round trip to collect water from a well, after which she sets out on another 40-minute round trip to drop her children off at school by 8 a.m.

Children often must also collect water. A 29-year-old woman and single mother of three in Santa Maria Chiquimula, said that her children accompany her on a two-hour round trip to get water every day, because she cannot do it alone. "Sometimes I despair to see them walking, carrying water," she said.

Even families who have a connection to a water distribution network experience barriers to water access, including intermittent service. Human Rights Watch analysis of 2023 government data found that only 19 percent of households reported having uninterrupted 24-hour indoor water service every day in the month prior to being surveyed. 

As noted, water quality is also a major concern in Guatemala. Many women interviewed observed signs of pollution, including poor water clarity, bad odor, and contaminating debris, with limited access to treatment options. Many said that they and their children experience stomachaches, vomiting, and diarrhea after consuming this water, but that these contaminated sources were the only option available.

Maria Carolina Barrera Tzun, a 28-year-old woman and mother of three from Santa Maria Chiquimula, said that the well where she gets water for herself and her children is dirty and that her children sometimes ask her, "Why is the water so dirty? Why don't we have water in the house?" But they have to drink it, she said, because they have no other option.

Inadequate sanitation infrastructure also compromises health and contributes to poor water quality. Only 42 percent of households in Guatemala report having a toilet connected to a drainage network. About a third of the population is forced to resort to latrines, blind pits, or open defecation. According to official information, in 2021, 97 of the 340 municipalities in Guatemala, or 29 percent, did not have a single operational wastewater treatment plant.

The health impacts of unsafe or insufficient water and inadequate sanitation are severe. According to the World Health Organization, Guatemala's 2019 mortality rate from unsafe water and inadequate sanitation and hygiene services was 15.3 deaths per 100,000 people, more than double that of any neighboring country. Limited access to water and sanitation also contributes to chronic malnutrition. In Guatemala, nearly one in two children under age five are chronically malnourished, one of the highest rates in the world. 

To facilitate comprehensive water governance and effective investment in water and sanitation infrastructure, Guatemalan authorities should pass a well-designed water law that creates the institutional capacity to protect the availability of safe and clean water for all and imposes penalties for contaminating water bodies.

In designing the law, the government should ensure respect for Indigenous water-management practices and meaningful participation and consultation of Indigenous people, who are often at the forefront of resource conservation and preservation practices, and are the most affected by the current crisis.

The authorities should also establish a regulatory and financing system that aligns with Guatemala's obligation to take steps to the maximum of its available resources to guarantee the availability, accessibility, and quality of water for personal and domestic use.

"The government of President Bernardo Arevalo has a historic opportunity to address a long-standing debt and to deliver lasting change for Guatemalans," Goebertus said. "It should seize it."

Source: Human Rights Watch