“Each and every American has the right to clean drinking water. It is simply wrong that in the United States of America today, millions of children still receive their water through lead pipes. It’s about time we fix that. “

These were the words of the President of the United States on March 31, as part of the campaign “it is time to invest again in our country.” Those of us who work in the human rights sector have interpreted it as the recognition of the human right to water, as declared by the United Nations in 2010 (https://lnkd.in/e-acity), however, Society must understand that the human right to water is much more than clean water, and it is much more than not having lead pipes at home. The human right to water means that water must be accessible to all people, without any discrimination, that it must be affordable, of quality, that we must receive it continuously in our homes, and it must also be acceptable in terms of colour and taste.

The upgrading of lead pipes is a good start, however, the recognition of the human right to water is an obligation that States have to adapt their internal regulations to the standards of the Inter-American Human Rights System, an obligation that it is derived inter alia, from the preamble of the American Declaration, from Article 2 of the American Convention, from Articles 26 and 27 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and from the fundamental principles of the OAS Charter.