Dear Friends:
Let's do a quick "water math" class. As you know, a Bechtel affiliate bought rights to run the water system here in Cochabamba, Bolivia for 40 years under terms so draconian the entire city rose up and ran them out on a rail. Four months of on-again, off-again struggle culminated in 7 days of pitched battles April 4-11, which left one dead and scores wounded.
It's interesting to look at the math behind the problem. First, from the Spanish financial journal Empresas, we read:
"La adjudicación del contrato para el abastecimiento de agua potable en Cochabamba, tercera ciudad del país con seiscientos mil habitantes, iba a aportar unos ingresos anuales al consorcio de 63,1 millones de euros (10.500 millones de pesetas) durante cuarenta años, un total de 2.524,2 millones de euros." That is: "The adjudication of the contract to supply potable water to Cochabamba, the third largest city in the country with 600,000 in habitants, was to provide an annual income to the consortium of 63.1 million euros ... over 40 years, for a total of 2,524.2 million euros."
First, some conversions. The euro is worth $0.92 today (May 1, 2000 -- happy May Day!), so, the expected annual income was:
63.1 million euros = $58.052 million in annual income to the consortium.
Now, Cochabamba has 600,000 people, so this averages out to:
58.052/0.6 = $96.75 paid per person, per year to the consortium.
Next, from the National Statistics Institute of Bolivia, we find that the average urban family has 4.2 members. Thus, we can figure that the average household expenditures per year would be on average:
96.75 * 4.2 = $406.36 on water per household, per year.
Dividing by twelve months per year we get:
$406.36/12 = $33.86 on water per household per month.
Now, in Bolivia the minimum (monthly) wage is about $57.50, while the average personal income for the self employed in Cochabamba (the mass of informal sector workers and merchants, the ones who took over Cochabamba and ran Bechtel out) is about $156 for men and $125 for women. So:
Average water bill as a percentage of monthly minimum wage: 59%
Average water bill as a percentage of average self-employed man's monthly pay: 22%
Average water bill as a percentage of average self-employed woman's monthly pay: 27%
Any questions? Let's see hands please.
For more information the "water war" in Cochabamba, and to see what you can do to help, please visit www.americas.org, and click on "Bolivia: Waer War" on the home page.
Sources: 1. Padilla, J. L. "El grupo Abengoa se atraganta con el agua de Bolivia." Empresas, 12 de abril de 2000. <http://expansion.recoletos.es/2000/04/12/empresas/12emp.html> 2. Yahoo! Currencey converter 3. Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Bolivia). 1999. Encuesta Nacional de Empleo III, 1997.
Tom Kruse Casilla 5812 / Cochabamba, Bolivia TelFax: (591-4) 248242, 500849 TelCel: 017-22253 Email: tkruse at albatros.cnb.net