iCochabamba! Water War in Bolivia.

• Author: Brownstein, Shanna
• Position: FURTHER READING - Book review

iCOCHABAMBA! WATER WAR IN BOLIVIA

Olivera Oscar and Tom Lewis

(Cambridge, Mass.: South End Press, 2004), 208 pages.

iCochabamba! Water War in Bolivia is a fragmented compilation of essays, adapted speeches, reports and interviews that chronicle the impact of the successful community uprising in 2000, known as the "water wars," to regain public control of the privatized Cochabamba Water & Sewer Company (SEMAPA). The Bolivian government privatized the poorly run agency in 1999, handing over a lucrative contract to the firm Aguas del Tunari. The result was widespread protests over inconsistent water service and rapidly rising fees.

In the first section of the book, Oscar Olivera, organizer of the water wars, details the results of the protests, which included returning SEMAPA to government control and gaining democratically elected representation on SEMAPA's board of directors. The next two sections of the book meander away from water issues to explore the social significance of the Coordinadora de Defense de Agua y de la Vida (Coordinadora), the organization led by Olivera to protest the privatization. Here, the authors discuss the...