Deep Dive: Guatemala’s Manufactured Indigenous Water Crisis
Inkstick. July 11, 2025
A new Human Rights Watch report, “Without Water, We Are Nothing,” documented Guatemala’s severe water crisis and its disproportionate impact on Indigenous communities, particularly women and children. Despite having more freshwater per capita than most countries, Guatemala failed to provide safe, reliable access to water and sanitation, with 40% of the population lacking indoor running water. The report underscored how decades of structural discrimination, poverty, and government neglect — rooted in racist policies — left Indigenous people especially vulnerable.
Researchers interviewed 108 residents across Indigenous-majority departments like Totonicapán, Jalapa, and Santa Rosa. Many described exhausting routines to collect water from contaminated wells or ravines. María Osorio Osorio, a 41-year-old Indigenous Maya woman, said, “Sometimes we each only drink one glass of water [a day] … There is no more water than that.” Her family bathed once a week and shared a blind pit latrine with seven others. Her children frequently suffered from diarrhea and flu-like symptoms.
The report revealed that 50% of Indigenous Guatemalans lacked indoor running water, compared to 33% of non-Indigenous citizens. Indigenous people were nearly three times more likely to rely on unsanitary latrines or blind pits, while non-Indigenous households were twice as likely to have toilets connected to sewage systems. These disparities reflected entrenched racism in Guatemala’s public service delivery and infrastructure planning.
Human Rights Watch emphasized that the Guatemalan military’s legacy of racist policies continued to shape water access. During the country’s civil war, military campaigns targeted Indigenous communities, destroying infrastructure and displacing populations. Post-war reconstruction efforts largely excluded Indigenous areas, perpetuating inequality. The report stated, “The Guatemalan military’s historical role in marginalizing Indigenous communities laid the groundwork for today’s water crisis. Infrastructure development has consistently prioritized urban, non-Indigenous regions.”
In addition to historical neglect, the report criticized current governance failures. Guatemala lacked a national water law, despite constitutional recognition of water as a common good. Multiple ministries held overlapping responsibilities, creating inefficiencies and undermining accountability.
The absence of regulation allowed businesses and local authorities to divert or contaminate water sources with impunity. Over 90% of surface water was contaminated, and only 42% of households had toilets connected to drainage networks.
Women bore the brunt of the crisis. Two-thirds of adults who collected water daily were women. Rosalía Maribel Osorio Chivalan, a 24-year-old mother, described waking at 5 a.m. for a two-hour round trip to fetch water, followed by a 40-minute walk to take her children to school. “Sometimes I despair to see them walking, carrying water,” she said. Children often drank the water they carried before reaching home due to thirst.
The health consequences were dire. Guatemala had the highest under-five mortality rate in Central America, with diarrhea accounting for nearly 8% of deaths. Chronic malnutrition affected nearly half of children under five. In 2019, the World Health Organization reported Guatemala’s mortality rate from unsafe water and sanitation at 15.3 deaths per 100,000 — more than double that of neighboring countries.
Human Rights Watch called on President Bernardo Arévalo’s administration to urgently pass a comprehensive water law. The proposed legislation should guarantee the human rights to water and sanitation, establish clear regulatory frameworks, and enforce penalties for contamination and resource diversion. It should also recognize Indigenous rights under international instruments like ILO Convention 169 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, stated, “Guatemala’s authorities should urgently approve a national water law as a key step to guarantee safe, reliable, and universal access to water and sanitation services for all.” The report concluded that meaningful reform must center Indigenous voices and address the racist legacy embedded in Guatemala’s water governance.
As one Indigenous woman told researchers, “Without water, it is an impossible life. … What I am suffering, my children are going to overcome.”
