San Salvador, El Salvador, Jun 13, 2018 / 23:39 pm
In a statement issued Monday, the Catholic bishops of El Salvador urged preventative legislation against the privatization of water sources.
A "General Water Law that guarantees this fundamental human right" to water access should be pushed in the lawmaking process, the statement said. It added that leaving the allocation of water to private entities is "absolutely anti-democratic."
El Salvador legislators have begun debate on a national water law. Some lawmakers are pushing for more private-sector involvement in managing water in the country.
Several data sources show that El Salvador lacks consistently safe water for its citizens. According to the Water and Sanitation for Health Watch (WASHwatch), Salvadorans are increasingly using water from a "limited" source - one that takes a total of over 30 minutes to collect water from.