The article focuses on a case involving the right to water brought by the Centre on Human Rights and Environment (CEDHA) based in Cordoba, Argentina to address pollution of drinking water and the failure to ensure sufficient water for all. The author, Romina Picolotti, provides an account of the case in which she discusses both the court ruling that the State was responsible for violating the right of access to safe drinking water, and the ultimate outcome of the litigation. She documents the actual improvements to the water provision that occurred as a result of this litigation.

She concludes that a request for the provision of permanent access to safe drinking water is not merely a simple request for the provision of a public service. Rather, it is founded on the desire to assure the full realisation of the human rights to health, food, an adequate standard of living, a healthy environment and of access to safe drinking water. The Court in this case established itself as the guarantor of the human rights of the residents of these neighbourhoods. This decision constitutes an important step towards the judicial enforcement of these rights.

Full article at http://www.cohre.org/downloads/Vol2-No1-Quarterly.pdf