Church World Service:  Local Communities Should Control Own Water Supplies

PORTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL/NEW YORK -- Access to clean water is a fundamental human right.  That, believes Church World Service, is the starting point for any debate about this vital resource. 

"The question of whether people-from the very richest to the very poorest-should have access to water is not to be left to the private sector to debate.  It is something that concerns us all and we must be at the table to contribute and to remind ourselves that water is about life." says Rajyashri Waghray, director of education and advocacy for Church World Service.  

With this thought in mind, Church World Service is joining its partners in water advocacy to share the message with some 3,000 people who have assembled in Porto Alegre, Brazil, for the Ninth Assembly of the World Council of Churches.

The Ecumenical Water Network, of which Church World Service is a member, kicked off a week of water-related events in its tent location at the assembly with a Wednesday panel on global water issues and efforts by CWS and its partners to inform people about the threat to free access to clean water and about ways in which they can make their voices heard on the issues.  

Panelists urge people to get involved in the quest for access to free, clean water. L-R: Lynda Selde, CWS; Joy Kennedy, Kairos Institute; Tony Clarke, Polaris Institute. Photo: CWS

One of the major issues--attempts to deny local communities the right to control their own water supplies--was addressed by panelist Lynda Selde, Church World Service’s  associate director for analysis and advocacy.  Citing examples of the global development agency’s support for community-based water projects in developing nations throughout the world, Selde emphasized the campaign message that "responsibility for the management and distribution of water should be placed in the hands of the communities that depend on it."  She also urged people to participate in water advocacy efforts like the "Water for All" campaign. 

The Water for All campaign aims to mobilize the global church community and beyond around efforts to assure equitable distribution of water and to defend the right of all people to this vital resource.  Some of the areas of concern are preserving the dwindling supply of water and supporting community-based alternatives to privatization of water supplies.

Selde said the standing-room-only audience--ranging from local Brazilians concerned about the challenges faced by many here in Brazil to participants from industrialized countries in North America and Europe--were no strangers to concerns about water and that messages urging them to “work in partnership across traditional lines of collaboration” and to mobilize their churches were “well received.”

Other panelists were Tony Clarke of the Polaris Institute in Canada, and Joy Kennedy of Canada’s Kairos Institute.