LET’S TALK ABOUT THE WATER ACT!

May 9, 2013

During the last few months, discussions over the son-to-be-approved General Water Act have flared up accross the board, over the need for

clear ground rules for the protection and conservation of wáter resources.

In 2011, only 17% of rivers and streams hold drinking wáter conditions (refer to year-over-year comparative chart below), according to El Salva-

dor’s Environmental and Natural Resources Agency (MARN).

This newsletter issues comments on the purpose of the Act and pin points concerns over key legislative loopholes and options that in our view

require being addressed further.

21.6%

WATER ACT The purpose of the Act, introduced by the MARN in March 2012, is to regulate a comprehensive built-in management approach for water resources.

As the regulating government agency of the Act, the MARN’s statutory responsibilities and function additions include: 1) to formulate a National

Water Resources Policy and a National Hidrology Plan; 2) to promote educational mechanisms for the better use of wáter resources; 3) to carry out

a comprehensive built-in management for water resources 4) to authorize water resource development projects 5) to manage processes and proce-

dures relted to water resources, and 6) to provide the protection, conservation and development of water resources.

The Act holds sevelral issues that still need to be addressed:

Civil society and participatory governance Civil society engagement is

limited to the National Water Council, which holds narrow functions.

Can effective policy measures be drafted without citizen involvement?

Water resource management: In our view, functions attributed to the

MARN exceed the agency’s technical capabilities and financial capacity.

Should so many functions relating a vital resource be entrusted to a sin-

gle one government agency?

Lower water quality; It remains uncertain whether government, as the

main holder for resource planning and management functions, lacks

incentives to keep low cost Access to water resources. Will the agency

invest in research and development for new water decontamination te-

chnologies¡

Transparency: The Act has yet to define how the Agency’s actions will

be reported. How can we, as citizens, get more involved?

We are entitled to ask for clear and transparent government actions, especially regarding a vital natural resource– water!

Let’s get involved in due time to address this issues seriously, in order to prevent misuse and scarcity of limited natural

resources!

Let’s question who will be in charge of protecting water, how property rights will be protected, who and how will re-

search be conducted to decontaminate and preserve water and who is to be held accountable for every single dollar in-

vested on these areas.

Remind your politicians that water is vital and with it (or any other resource), they cannot play politics! Demand nothing

but a serious analysis and a transparent and effective public policy!

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11 10

17

0

5

10

15

20

25

2007 2009 2010 2011

Calidad de aguas superficiales, 2007-2011

Agua potable: Porcentaje de ríos con aptitud de uso

Fuente: MARN

Surface water quality

2007—2011

Drinking water: Percentage of

usable rivers

Source: MARN