‘While Water Is Scarce, Profits Abound!’ On World Water Day, Outraged Movements Demand Right to Water in Front of Águas do Rio, Rio de Janeiro’s Private Utility, and Call for Restatization.
On March 23, a day after World Water Day, an action organized by the Popular Network for Sanitation and Health Monitoring brought together civil society representatives and grassroots popular movements* to protest in front of private water utility Águas do Rio, in downtown Rio de Janeiro, demanding access to water and sanitation as a fundamental human right.
A Protest to Call Out Abuses
In front of an unmarked Águas do Rio headquarters (there was no company logo), with at least two Military Police vehicles and a few company employees present, protesters laid banners on the ground with messages such as: “End Águas do Rio’s contract,” “While water is scarce, profits abound!” and “Restatize water and sewerage.” The protest carried an indignant tone denouncing low quality, expensive services provided by Águas do Rio since privatization. The company today operates in most of the city of Rio and a few other municipalities in the state. But protesters also called out Iguá, responsible for water and sewerage in the city’s Southwest Zone and municipalities in the state’s interior, as well as Rio+Saneamento, which serves 24 neighborhoods in the West Zone and some municipalities in Greater Rio region, such as Itaguaí and Seropédica.
