BECHTEL VS. BOLIVIA
COCHABAMBA’S WATER BILLS FROM BECHTEL
For the poorest people in Cochabamba rates went up little, barely 10 percent.
- Gail Apps, spokeswoman for Riley Bechtel
January 3, 2002
That’s Bechtel Enterprises big lie about their water price hikes
in Cochabamba. Now the facts and the actual water bills to prove them.
First, a note of information about water rates. In Cochabamba, under
both Bechtel’s subsidiary, Aguas del Tunari, and the public utility
that ran the company before and after, SEMAPA, water rates depend on
how a home is classified. Basically, these classifications have to do
with how many water outlets a home has. According to the water company’s
current chief of pricing, Rosario Ayoroa, the classification works like
this: The poorest homes (R-2) usually have an indoor toilet, no indoor
shower and maybe a water tap in the yard. Typically these families survive
by selling vegetables or other items in the street and work well below
the current minimum wage of $67 per month. The next group (R-3) are
still poor by any standard. In addition to an indoor toilet they may
have an indoor shower as well and perhaps a kitchen faucet. Typically
these are households headed by workers who earn somewhere between $60
to $80 per month. Once a household has more than one bathroom it is
considered in a higher category (R-4), not necessarily affluent, but
not poor either.
THE TRUTH ABOUT BECHTEL’S INCREASE FOR THE POOREST OF THE POOR
Now look at Bechtel’s company’s (Aguas Del Tunari) actual
bills and see how big a lie it is to claim that, “For the poorest
people in Cochabamba rates went up little, barely 10 percent.”
Lucio Morales (click to see copy of water bill): In November 1999, before Bechtel’s
rate hikes took effect, Morales had a monthly water bill of 25 Bolivianos
(about $4.15). In February, after Bechtel’s price hikes took effect,
his water bill jumped to 39.80 Bolivianos ($6.63), a jump of 60% not
10%. As the bill indicates, there is not meter reading, no increase
in water use. This is one of many houses that have no water meter and
is billed based on a basic rate. Classified “R-2” Morales’
household is among the very poorest of the poor. This bill would amount
to more than 10% of the monthly minimum wage at the time.
Jose Aramayo (click to see copy of water bill): In November 1999, before Bechtel’s
rate hikes took effect, Aramayo had a monthly water bill of 25 Bolivianos
(about $4.15). In February, after Bechtel’s price hikes took effect,
his water bill also jumped to 39.80 Bolivianos ($6.63), a jump of 60%
not 10%. As the bill indicates, there is no meter reading, no increase
in water use. Classified “R-2” Aramayo’s household is
also among the very poorest of the poor. This bill would amount to more
than 10% of the monthly minimum wage at the time.
THE TRUTH ABOUT BECHTEL’S BLAMING THE INCREASES ON INCREASED WATER USE
Acknowledging that they often hiked water rates by a great deal, Bechtel
seeks to blame the Bolivians for using much more water. Again quoting
Bechtel’s formal response:
Unfortunately, water bills sometimes went up a lot more than rates.
That's because as Aguas del Tunari improved service, increasing the
hours of water service and the pressure at which it was delivered, people
used a lot more water.
Consider these two examples, both families classified as just a notch
above the poorest, but still poor by any standard:
German Jaldin (click to see copy of water bill): In December 1999, before Bechtel’s
rate hikes took effect, Aramayo had a monthly water bill of 82 Bolivianos
(about $13.67) in which he used 35 cubic meters of water. In January,
after Bechtel’s price hikes took effect, his water bill jumped
to 157.60 Bolivianos ($26.27) for the use of 38 cubic meters of water.
This means that while his water use increased by less than 10% his water
bill from Bechtel jumped by more than 90%. Mr. Jaldin’s monthly
increase was equal to more than 20% of a monthly minimum wage salary,
a typical earning for households with his water rate classification.
Saturnino Marin (click to see copy of water bill): In December 1999, before Bechtel’s rate hikes took effect, Marin had a monthly water bill of 88.5 Bolivianos (about $14.75) in which he used 39 cubic meters of water. In January, after Bechtel’s price hikes took effect, his water bill jumped to 131.80 Bolivianos ($21.96) for the use of 32 cubic meters of water. This means that while his water use actually decreased by 18% his water bill from Bechtel still jumped by nearly 50%. This clearly contradicts Bechtel’s claim that big increases were the fault of water users using more water and not the company increasing water rates. Write To Riley Bechtel Today!
BECHTEL'S INCREASES OVERALL - DIRECTLY FROM THE WATER COMPANY'S OWN COMPUTERS
In addition to these specific examples of Bechtel's water price hikes,
the current water company conducted a computer analysis of Bechtel's
water rate hikes overall (click here
to see the complete analysis). This analysis shows that Bechtel's
company raised rates for the very poorest by an average of, not 10%
(as Bechtel claims), but 43% and often much higher. The analysis also
shows that, as a result of Bechtel's forced departure and the return
of water prices to what they had been before, Cochabamba families and
businesses saved more than $3.4 million in 2001, money that would otherwise
have gone to Bechtel's company.
Bechtel Vs. Bolivia
Write To Riley Bechtel Today!
Riley Bechtel’s Response
The Democracy Center’s Response To
Riley Bechtel
Cochabamba’s Water Bills From Bechtel
Bechtel’s Legal Action Against
Bolivia
The Bolivian Water Revolt