Chapter IX. Water equity and management in Latin America: Challenges and prospects in hydro-social governance

Latin America possesses extraordinary water resources, home to nearly one-third of the planet’s water resources—a fact that stands in stark contrast to the region’s social reality. Despite this apparent abundance, access to safe drinking water and sanitation is a source of deep and painful inequalities, denied to 161 million people in terms of drinking water and to 431 million in terms of sanitation. This scarcity, which is more accurately a crisis of distribution and equity, affects rural populations, indigenous communities, and low-income households most severely. In a twist that underscores the injustice, it is precisely the most vulnerable families who must make a financial effort up to 2.5 times greater to access basic water services. Over the past few decades, the right to water has moved from obscurity to constitutional enshrinement in several Latin American countries, following the international mandate that recognizes it as a fundamental human right. However, the gap between legal recognition and actual, efficient access persists. This analysis explores the region’s complex hydro-social governance, examining how water management has been marked by tensions—from popular resistance against commodification—exemplified by the historic Water War in Cochabamba, Bolivia—to the persistence of urban segregation in the rationing of cities such as Recife, Brazil.  Through a comparative study of public policies, community management models, and the role of key stakeholders, this report demonstrates that water equity is not merely a matter of infrastructure, but rather an intricate web of institutional, financial, and social justice challenges that requires urgent and coordinated action to ensure that the planet’s most vital resource ceases to be a privilege and becomes a universal right.