Journal article Open Access
The vital role of cooperatives as providers of water and sanitation services in the Province of Santa Fe, Argentina (in Spanish)
Orta, Melisa; Portapila, Margarita; Muñoz, Alberto; Pérez, Iván
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<creatorName>Orta, Melisa</creatorName>
<givenName>Melisa</givenName>
<familyName>Orta</familyName>
<affiliation>National University of Rosario, Argentina</affiliation>
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<creator>
<creatorName>Portapila, Margarita</creatorName>
<givenName>Margarita</givenName>
<familyName>Portapila</familyName>
<affiliation>National University of Rosario, Argentina</affiliation>
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<creator>
<creatorName>Muñoz, Alberto</creatorName>
<givenName>Alberto</givenName>
<familyName>Muñoz</familyName>
<affiliation>Argentina's Union of Users and Consumers</affiliation>
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<creator>
<creatorName>Pérez, Iván</creatorName>
<givenName>Iván</givenName>
<familyName>Pérez</familyName>
<affiliation>Cooperative Funds Managing Institute (IMFC), Argentina</affiliation>
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<titles>
<title>The vital role of cooperatives as providers of water and sanitation services in the Province of Santa Fe, Argentina (in Spanish)</title>
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<publisher>Zenodo</publisher>
<publicationYear>2019</publicationYear>
<subjects>
<subject>cooperatives</subject>
<subject>water and sanitation</subject>
<subject>public policies</subject>
<subject>role of the State</subject>
<subject>Santa Fe</subject>
<subject>Argentina</subject>
</subjects>
<dates>
<date dateType="Issued">2019-07-16</date>
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<description descriptionType="Abstract"><p>Argentina, and particularly the province of Santa Fe, has an important cooperative&nbsp;movement. Cooperatives have played a fundamental role in the provision of essential&nbsp;water and sanitation services in small and medium towns. Firstly, the article addresses&nbsp;the historical development of the cooperative movement in Argentina. Secondly,&nbsp;it describes the development of the management system for water and sanitation&nbsp;services in the province of Santa Fe, to contextualize the normative and institutional&nbsp;framework in which cooperatives operate. Thirdly, it provides information about the&nbsp;water and sanitation cooperatives in Santa Fe, looking at the services they provide, their&nbsp;water sources, levels of service coverage, the challenges they face, and existing public&nbsp;policies for the cooperative sector. A brief concluding section highlights the potential of&nbsp;water and sanitation cooperatives in contributing towards the solution of the problems&nbsp;affecting these services.</p>
<p>______________________</p>
<p>This is Article 3, Vol. 5, No 4, of the WATERLAT-GOBACIT Network Working Papers (http://waterlat.org/publications/working-papers-series/)</p>
<p>This issue is part of the activities of the WATERLAT-GOBACIT Network&rsquo;s Thematic&nbsp;Area 3 (TA3), the Urban Water Cycle and Essential Public Services (http://waterlat.&nbsp;org/thematic-areas/ta3/). TA3 brings together academics, students, professionals&nbsp;working in the public sector, workers&rsquo; unions, practitioners from Non-Governmental&nbsp;Organizations, activists and members of civil society groups, and representatives of&nbsp;communities and users of public services, among others. The remit of this TA is broad,&nbsp;as the name suggests, but it has a strong focus on the political ecology of urban water,&nbsp;with emphasis on the politics of essential water services. Key issues &nbsp;addressed within&nbsp;this framework have been the neoliberalization of water services, social struggles&nbsp;against privatization and mercantilization of these services, the politics of public policy&nbsp;and management in the sector, water inequality and injustice in urban areas, and the&nbsp;contradictions and conflicts surrounding the status of water and water services as&nbsp;a public good, as a common good, as a commodity, as a citizenship right, and more&nbsp;recently, as a human right.&nbsp;The publication is a product of a long-term collaboration with the Capacity&nbsp;Development of Water and Environmental Services (CADWES) Research Group, which&nbsp;holds the UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Water Services at Tampere University of&nbsp;Technology (TUT) in Finland under the coordination of the issue&rsquo;s co-editor, Prof. Tapio&nbsp;S. Katko. The idea of developing a series of publications on the history and relevance of&nbsp;water-service cooperatives around the world has been an important component of our&nbsp;common research plans and initiatives, and we decided to start with this issue on the&nbsp;challenges and opportunities facing cooperatives in the current context. Consistently&nbsp;with our Network&rsquo;s inter- and transdisciplinary approach, the authors include academics&nbsp;and post-graduate students from the social sciences, history, and engineering, as well&nbsp;as professionals and leaders of civil society organizations working in areas relevant to&nbsp;the topics addressed in the publication.</p>
<p>The issue features four articles, two of them addressing the situation of waterservice&nbsp;cooperatives in Finland, and the other two focused on experiences from&nbsp;Argentina. Article 1 is authored by Pekka E. Pietil&auml; from CADWES-TUT and Joni Vihanta,&nbsp;who is the Managing Director of Kannus Water Cooperative in Kannus Municipality,&nbsp;Finland and simultaneously a PhD student doing research on water cooperatives at&nbsp;TUT. The paper presents a synthetic overview of the situation of water cooperatives in&nbsp;Finland, including an analysis of the challenges and opportunities they face in a context&nbsp;of rising consumer expectations and stricter service standards. Article 2 by Petri S. Juuti&nbsp;and Riikka P. Rajala, also from TUT, complements the first paper by focusing attention&nbsp;on the case of the first water cooperative created in Finland, Pispala Water Cooperative,&nbsp;which was founded in 1907 near the city of Tampere in the south of the country.&nbsp;Both articles highlight the fact that in the late Nineteenth Century, before becoming&nbsp;independent from Russia in 1917, Finland decided that essential water and sanitation&nbsp;services should be delivered by municipal public bodies or cooperatives run by users&nbsp;and community organizations, rather than by profit-making private companies, which&nbsp;remains a significant principle for the organization of these services in the country until&nbsp;today.&nbsp;Article 3 is led by Melisa Orta, a PhD student in Politics at the National University of&nbsp;Rosario (UNR) on a studentship from the National Scientific and Technical Research&nbsp;Council (CONICET), Argentina, and was co-authored with Margarita Portapila, from&nbsp;the International French-Argentinean Centre of Information Sciences and Systems&nbsp;(CIFASIS), CONICET and UNR, Alberto Mu&ntilde;oz, from Argentina&rsquo;s Union of Users and&nbsp;Consumers, and Iv&aacute;n P&eacute;rez, from the country&rsquo;s Cooperative Funds Managing Institute&nbsp;(IMFC). The article discusses in some detail the history of the cooperative movement&nbsp;in Argentina since the late Nineteenth Century, and the development of water-service&nbsp;cooperatives in the country. It focuses on the case of water-service cooperatives in the&nbsp;Province of Santa Fe and highlights the significance of cooperatives in the provision of&nbsp;services in small and medium cities and rural areas. The authors also address the wide&nbsp;range of obstacles and threats facing water cooperatives, from the lack of safe water&nbsp;sources and adequate financial and technical resources to the systematic antagonism&nbsp;showed since the 1980s by neoliberal governments that seek to erode and eventually&nbsp;dismantle the cooperative movement, which they see as an obstacle to their plans to fully&nbsp;privatize essential services and other important areas. Finally, Article 4 was authored by&nbsp;Joaqu&iacute;n Ulises Deon, a PhD student in Social Agrarian Studies at the National University&nbsp;of Cordoba (UNC) on a studentship from CONICET, Argentina, also working on a joint&nbsp;PhD on Urban-Regional Studies between the Bauhaus Universit&auml;t Weimar, Germany,&nbsp;and UNC, Argentina. The article partly complements the previous one by addressing&nbsp;important aspects of the history of the cooperative movement in Argentina, highlighting&nbsp;the fact that not all cooperatives adhere to cooperative principles, and many are in fact&nbsp;private enterprises in disguise. The paper addresses the development of cooperatives,&nbsp;and particularly water-service cooperatives, in the arid Province of Cordoba, Argentina,&nbsp;and focuses in more depth on four cases that the author considers are examples of&nbsp;genuine cooperative experiences. The article presents a very critical assessment of&nbsp;government policies against water-service cooperatives at the national, provincial&nbsp;and local levels, and shows evidence of the multiple pressures facing the cooperative&nbsp;movement in the province. Cooperatives have developed successful strategies to cope&nbsp;with these pressures, by establishing alliances with social movements and civil society&nbsp;organizations, exercising legitimate leadership in local and regional struggles to defend&nbsp;their water sources from the aggressive expansion of extractivist activities, including&nbsp;mining, agribusinesses, and private urbanizations.</p>
<p>Argentina, and particularly the province of Santa Fe, has an important cooperative&nbsp;movement. Cooperatives have played a fundamental role in the provision of essential&nbsp;water and sanitation services in small and medium towns. Firstly, the article addresses&nbsp;the historical development of the cooperative movement in Argentina. Secondly,&nbsp;it describes the development of the management system for water and sanitation&nbsp;services in the province of Santa Fe, to contextualize the normative and institutional&nbsp;framework in which cooperatives operate. Thirdly, it provides information about the&nbsp;water and sanitation cooperatives in Santa Fe, looking at the services they provide, their&nbsp;water sources, levels of service coverage, the challenges they face, and existing public&nbsp;policies for the cooperative sector. A brief concluding section highlights the potential of&nbsp;water and sanitation cooperatives in contributing towards the solution of the problems&nbsp;affecting these services.</p>
<p>______________________</p>
<p>This is Article 3, Vol. 5, No 4, of the WATERLAT-GOBACIT Network Working Papers (http://waterlat.org/publications/working-papers-series/)</p>
<p>This issue is part of the activities of the WATERLAT-GOBACIT Network&rsquo;s Thematic&nbsp;Area 3 (TA3), the Urban Water Cycle and Essential Public Services (http://waterlat.&nbsp;org/thematic-areas/ta3/). TA3 brings together academics, students, professionals&nbsp;working in the public sector, workers&rsquo; unions, practitioners from Non-Governmental&nbsp;Organizations, activists and members of civil society groups, and representatives of&nbsp;communities and users of public services, among others. The remit of this TA is broad,&nbsp;as the name suggests, but it has a strong focus on the political ecology of urban water,&nbsp;with emphasis on the politics of essential water services. Key issues &nbsp;addressed within&nbsp;this framework have been the neoliberalization of water services, social struggles&nbsp;against privatization and mercantilization of these services, the politics of public policy&nbsp;and management in the sector, water inequality and injustice in urban areas, and the&nbsp;contradictions and conflicts surrounding the status of water and water services as&nbsp;a public good, as a common good, as a commodity, as a citizenship right, and more&nbsp;recently, as a human right.&nbsp;The publication is a product of a long-term collaboration with the Capacity&nbsp;Development of Water and Environmental Services (CADWES) Research Group, which&nbsp;holds the UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Water Services at Tampere University of&nbsp;Technology (TUT) in Finland under the coordination of the issue&rsquo;s co-editor, Prof. Tapio&nbsp;S. Katko. The idea of developing a series of publications on the history and relevance of&nbsp;water-service cooperatives around the world has been an important component of our&nbsp;common research plans and initiatives, and we decided to start with this issue on the&nbsp;challenges and opportunities facing cooperatives in the current context. Consistently&nbsp;with our Network&rsquo;s inter- and transdisciplinary approach, the authors include academics&nbsp;and post-graduate students from the social sciences, history, and engineering, as well&nbsp;as professionals and leaders of civil society organizations working in areas relevant to&nbsp;the topics addressed in the publication.</p>
<p>The issue features four articles, two of them addressing the situation of waterservice&nbsp;cooperatives in Finland, and the other two focused on experiences from&nbsp;Argentina. Article 1 is authored by Pekka E. Pietil&auml; from CADWES-TUT and Joni Vihanta,&nbsp;who is the Managing Director of Kannus Water Cooperative in Kannus Municipality,&nbsp;Finland and simultaneously a PhD student doing research on water cooperatives at&nbsp;TUT. The paper presents a synthetic overview of the situation of water cooperatives in&nbsp;Finland, including an analysis of the challenges and opportunities they face in a context&nbsp;of rising consumer expectations and stricter service standards. Article 2 by Petri S. Juuti&nbsp;and Riikka P. Rajala, also from TUT, complements the first paper by focusing attention&nbsp;on the case of the first water cooperative created in Finland, Pispala Water Cooperative,&nbsp;which was founded in 1907 near the city of Tampere in the south of the country.&nbsp;Both articles highlight the fact that in the late Nineteenth Century, before becoming&nbsp;independent from Russia in 1917, Finland decided that essential water and sanitation&nbsp;services should be delivered by municipal public bodies or cooperatives run by users&nbsp;and community organizations, rather than by profit-making private companies, which&nbsp;remains a significant principle for the organization of these services in the country until&nbsp;today.&nbsp;Article 3 is led by Melisa Orta, a PhD student in Politics at the National University of&nbsp;Rosario (UNR) on a studentship from the National Scientific and Technical Research&nbsp;Council (CONICET), Argentina, and was co-authored with Margarita Portapila, from&nbsp;the International French-Argentinean Centre of Information Sciences and Systems&nbsp;(CIFASIS), CONICET and UNR, Alberto Mu&ntilde;oz, from Argentina&rsquo;s Union of Users and&nbsp;Consumers, and Iv&aacute;n P&eacute;rez, from the country&rsquo;s Cooperative Funds Managing Institute&nbsp;(IMFC). The article discusses in some detail the history of the cooperative movement&nbsp;in Argentina since the late Nineteenth Century, and the development of water-service&nbsp;cooperatives in the country. It focuses on the case of water-service cooperatives in the&nbsp;Province of Santa Fe and highlights the significance of cooperatives in the provision of&nbsp;services in small and medium cities and rural areas. The authors also address the wide&nbsp;range of obstacles and threats facing water cooperatives, from the lack of safe water&nbsp;sources and adequate financial and technical resources to the systematic antagonism&nbsp;showed since the 1980s by neoliberal governments that seek to erode and eventually&nbsp;dismantle the cooperative movement, which they see as an obstacle to their plans to fully&nbsp;privatize essential services and other important areas. Finally, Article 4 was authored by&nbsp;Joaqu&iacute;n Ulises Deon, a PhD student in Social Agrarian Studies at the National University&nbsp;of Cordoba (UNC) on a studentship from CONICET, Argentina, also working on a joint&nbsp;PhD on Urban-Regional Studies between the Bauhaus Universit&auml;t Weimar, Germany,&nbsp;and UNC, Argentina. The article partly complements the previous one by addressing&nbsp;important aspects of the history of the cooperative movement in Argentina, highlighting&nbsp;the fact that not all cooperatives adhere to cooperative principles, and many are in fact&nbsp;private enterprises in disguise. The paper addresses the development of cooperatives,&nbsp;and particularly water-service cooperatives, in the arid Province of Cordoba, Argentina,&nbsp;and focuses in more depth on four cases that the author considers are examples of&nbsp;genuine cooperative experiences. The article presents a very critical assessment of&nbsp;government policies against water-service cooperatives at the national, provincial&nbsp;and local levels, and shows evidence of the multiple pressures facing the cooperative&nbsp;movement in the province. Cooperatives have developed successful strategies to cope&nbsp;with these pressures, by establishing alliances with social movements and civil society&nbsp;organizations, exercising legitimate leadership in local and regional struggles to defend&nbsp;their water sources from the aggressive expansion of extractivist activities, including&nbsp;mining, agribusinesses, and private urbanizations.</p>
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- Publication date:
- July 16, 2019
- DOI:
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- Keyword(s):
- cooperatives water and sanitation public policies role of the State Santa Fe Argentina
- Communities:
- License (for files):
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International