Community water organizations in the state of veracruz. Analysis in light of the Latin American experience

Abstract

Mexico shares with the Latin American region the experience of more than fifty years of community-water management; in other words, there are organizations that have been created for the self-supply of water in rural and peri-urban areas, although they have not been strengthened as they have in other countries. This article presents an analysis conducted in Veracruz, the stale with the highest number of rural localities in the country- and one of those that lag furthest behind in drinking water, drainage and sewage coverage. In Latin America, community organizations for water and sanitation services (OCSAS) have employed various strategies to improve their functioning. Associativity is a key point for the suslainability of water systems in rural areas, which is not observed in Mexico due to the lack of institutional conditions to strengthen this type of social organization, which would make it possible to enforce the human right to water in rural areas where the Stale is not present.