Water Solutions

, by Our Water Commons

As we seek to better understand what circumstances local alternatives for democratic, equitable and sustainable control of water Commons are working best, water justice activists in the North and South continue to rediscover the wealth of alternatives in the indigenous societies that so-called “modernization” has effectively neglected, excluded and degraded. We find ourselves marveling at the amazing diversity of culturally-specific economic and political traditions around water that both exist and are being created.
These living experiments, present in both indigenous and non indigenous societies, help us redefine the meaning and practice of the water Commons and of water justice. Toward exploring such positive solutions, this report draws together 22 “tools” or cases of local action that emphasize local control of the water Commons for equitable access and sustainability.

Case studies :

- Case 1: The Push for a UN Covenant on the Right to Water

- Case 2: Legal Efforts to Guarantee the Right to Water in Latin America

- Case 3: The Constitutional Right to Water in South Africa

- Case 4: Free Water in South Africa

- Case 5: “Social Control” and Public-Collective Partnerships with Community-Run Systems in Cochabamba, Bolivia

- Case 6: Small Farmers and the Indigenous Concept of "Uses and Customs"

- Case 7: The Acequia System of Irrigation and Water Management

- Case 8: Indigenous Peoples’ Struggles for Water in Ecuador: The Case of Licto

- Case 9: First Nations’ Struggle for Water: The Cases of Black Mesa and St’át’imc Peoples

- Case 10: Public Management of Water in Porto Alegre, Brazil

- Case 11: Public-Public Partnerships in Water

- Case 12: Employee Cooperatives in Water: The Case of Dhaka WASA

- Case 13: Retaking Public Control of a Large Water Utility: Yorkshire Water and Welsh Water

- Case 14: Water Democracy in Action: Delegated (or shared) Water Governance Partnerships

- Case 15: Challenging the Myth of Public Penury: Alternative Financing Mechanisms

- Case 16: MAMA-86 and Water in Ukraine

- Case 17: Tarun Bharat Sangh and Common Water in Rajasthan

- Case 18: “Common Assets Trusts” as a Political and Economic Project

- Case 19: The Fight for Public Water in Felton, California

- Case 20: A Trust Fund to Keep Water Clean, Safe and Affordable

- Case 21: Establishing Limits on Groundwater Withdrawals for the Public Good

- Case 22: Latin-American Water Tribunal: Using National and International Law to Form a Basis of Water Ethics

View each case study on "Our Water Commons"

Or download a PDF of the full report here