Water as a human right - Water as an essential service: Does it matter?

Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights

Volumn 26, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 391-424

  Vandenhole, Wouter ^a   Wielders, Tamara ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ANTWERP   (Belgium)

^b Juridische Hogeschool Fontys Avans   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 54149091792     PISSN: 01693441     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/016934410802600304     Document Type: Article

References (176)

1. See, inter alia, Filmer-Wilson, E., 'The Human Rights-Based Approach to Development: the Right to Water', Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights (NQHR), Vol. 23, No. 2, 2005, pp. 213-241;
2. Tully, S., 'A Human Right to Access Water? A Critique of General Comment No. 15', NQHR, Vol. 23, No. 1, 2005, pp. 35-63;
3. Langford, M., 'Ambition That Overleaps Itself? A Response to Stephen Tully's Critique of the General Comment on the Right to Water', NQHR, Vol. 24, No. 3, 2006, pp. 433-459;
4. Tully, S., 'Flighty Purposes and Deeds: a Rejoinder to Malcolm Langford', NQHR, Vol. 24, No. 3, 2006, pp. 461-472;
5. and Langford, M., 'Expectation of Plenty: Response to Stephen Tully', NQHR, Vol, 24, No. 3, 2006, pp. 473-479.
6. See also Riedel, E. and Rothen, P. (eds), The Human Right to Water, Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin, 2006.
7. For the purpose of this article drinking water is considered as water intended for human consumption and domestic uses (food preparation, personal hygiene, etc.).
8. UN Water was established in 2003 to promote coherence and coordination of UN actions, see www.unwater.org (last visited 31 January 2008);
9. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Technical Paper on Climate Change and Water, www.ipcc.ch/ (last visited 18 June 2007);
10. United Nations Development Programme, Summary Human Development Report 2006, Beyond Scarcity: Power Poverty and the Global Water Crisis, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2006.
11. In the Millennium Development Goals too, drinking water is given attention. In Goal no. 7, States undertake to reduce by half, by the year 2015, the proportion of people unable to reach or afford safe drinking water. An International Decade for Action, 'Water for Life', 2005-2015 was proclaimed by the General Assembly in order to encourage a greater focus on water-related issues (UN Doc. GA RES 58/217, 23 December 2003). The 1999 London Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes introduced a social component into cooperation on water management (London Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, UN Doc. MPWAT/2000/1; EUR/ICP/EHCO 020205/8Fin, Article 1).
12. See, e.g., The Mar del Plata Declaration; CoM European Charter on Water Resources, Recommendation 14, 2001, para. 5;
13. Dublin Principles (Dublin Statement on Water and Sustainable Development), UN Doc. A/CONF.151/PC/112, 31 January 1992;
14. Agenda 21; Programme of Action of the UN international Conference on Population and Development (Cairo), Principle 2, UN Doc. A/CONF.171/ 13, 13 September 1994;
15. European Parliament resolution on the Commission communication on water management in developing countries and priorities for EU development cooperation, Doc. P5_TA(2003)0377, 4 September 2003. See also the Complementary Ministerial Declaration at the fourth Water Forum, singed by Bolivia, Cuba, Uruguay and Venezuela, at www.worldwaterforum4.org.mx/files/Declaraciones/ Complementary_Ministerial_Declaration.pdf (last visited 17 August 2007).
16. Hildering, P.A., International Law, Sustainable Development and Water Management, dissertation, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Eburon Academic Publishers, Delft, 2004, p. 122.
17. Ibidem, p. 116, citation from the WTO, at: www.wto.org/english/ tratop_e/serv_e/gats_factfiction8_e.htm (visited 20 August 2008).
18. Ibidem, p. 117.
19. Compare Briscoe, J., 'Managing water as a economic good: rules for reformers, Water Supply, Vol. 15, No. 4,1997, pp. 153-172, at p. 160
20. with Savenije, H.H.G., Why water is not an ordinary economic good, Value of Water Research Reports Series no. 9, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, October 2001, pp. 11-14.
21. Briscoe emphasises that an impetus for change can be created by the natural challenges, being scarcity and pollution, or by the economic and institutional machinery, namely the incentive to efficient use of water. Today again, it is shown both in the Netherlands and in Ireland for instance, that the environment, public health and efficiency are the main drivers for reform. One extra point of attention is dealing with the exceptionalism syndrome. The exceptionalism syndrome is the tendency to consider water as special or different from any other good. It is therefore believed to require a fundamentally different treatment than all other goods. The exceptionalism syndrome makes water susceptible to any exception on 'any rule'. Whether this syndrome is a good or a bad thing is not yet clear but it has often led to scepticism towards reform. Even more so, the syndrome has led to changes that do not always appear to be objectively made. Still, we see a shift from an exceptionalism syndrome to a valid exceptionalism argument.
22. Hildering, A., 'Water as an Economic Good', in: Boisson de Chazournes, L. (ed.), Les Ressources en Eau et le Droit International, Nijhoff, The Hague 2005, pp. 209-238, at p. 210 including footnotes,
23. Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000, establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, Doc. 2000/60/EC, Official Journal of the European Communities L 327, 22 December 2000, pp. 1-72, p. 1, recital 1: Water is not a commercial product like any other but, rather, a heritage which must be protected, defended and treated as such.
24. Dublin Principles (Dublin Statement on Water and Sustainable Development), op.cit. (note 4), Principle 4.
25. Hildering, op.cit. (note 5).
26. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No. 15, The right to water (arts. 11 and 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), UN Doc. E/C.12/2002/11, 26 November 2002, para. 3.
27. For a criticism of this legal basis, see Tully, 'A Human Right to Access Water? A Critique of General Comment No. 15', loc.cit. (note 1), pp. 35-45.
28. For an overview of relevant provisions, see Kok, A., 'Privatisation and the Right to Access to Water', in: De Feyter, K. and Gómez Isa, F. (eds), Privatisation and Human Rights in the Age of Globalisation, Antwerp, Intersentia, 2005, pp. 259-287, at pp. 259-262.
29. Drinking water is usually defined by its quality, not by its use. Reference will therefore be made to 'water for drinking purposes'rather than to 'drinking water', whenever the use made of it is meant to be emphasised.
30. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, supra note 12, para. 6. This definition seems to rely predominantly on the WHO's understanding of the right to water.
31. Realization of the right to drinking water and sanitation. Report of the Special Rapporteur, El Hadji Guissé, UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2 /2005/25, 11 July 2005, Annex - Draft Guidelines for the Realization of the Right to Drinking Water and Sanitation, para. 1.1.
32. Ibidem, para. 3.
33. Sub-Commission on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, Resolution on the Promotion of the Realization of the Right to Drinking Water and Sanitation, UN Doc. A/HRC/Sub.1/58/2006/10, 24 August 2006, para. 4. They were transmitted to the Human Rights Council for consideration and adoption (para. 9).
34. Human Rights Council (HRC), Resolution on human rights and safe drinking water and sanitation, UN Doc. A/HRC/RES/7/22,28 March 2008.
35. UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/25, op.cit. (note 15), para. 3.
36. Ibidem, para. 12(a).
37. Tully, 'A Human Right to Access Water? A Critique of General Comment No. 15', loc.cit. (note 1), p. 60.
38. See Commission on Human Rights, Resolution 2004/27 on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, UN Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2004/27, 16 April 2004, para. 12.
39. HRC, Decision 2/104 on Human Rights and Access to Water, UN Doc. A/HRC/DEC/2/104, 27 November 2006.
40. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, supra note 12, para. 12(a).
41. Langford, 'Ambition that Overleaps Itself? A Response to Stephen Tully's Critique of the General Comment on the Right to Water', loc.cit. (note 1), pp. 447-448.
42. UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/25, op.cit. (note 15), Annex - Draft Guidelines for the Realization of the Right to Drinking Water and Sanitation, para. 4.
43. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, supra note 12, para. 12(b).
44. Available at: www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/guidelines/en/ index.html (last visited 17 August 2007).
45. Compare Graham, C., 'Human Rights and the Privatisation of Public Utilities and Essential Services', in: De Feyter and Gómez Isa (eds), op,cit. (note 12), pp. 53-54, who refers to access and affordability.
46. World Health Organization, The Right to Water, 2003, Health and Human Rights Publication Series No. 3, WHO, Geneva, p. 13.
47. UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/25, op.cit. (note 15), Annex - Draft Guidelines for the Realization of the Right to Drinking Water and Sanitation, para. 6.2.
48. Ibidem, para. 6.4.
49. Payment in order to cover financial costs associated with the production and utilisation of water resources, see CoM European Charter on Water Resources, Recommendation 14 (2001), para. 19 and infra at section 3.1.
50. This raises the question from an economic perspective who is then to pay for the water.
51. UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/25, op.cit. (note 15), Annex - Draft Guidelines for the Realization of the Right to Drinking Water and Sanitation, para. 3.2.
52. See also CESCR, General Comment No. 15, supra note 12, para. 16.
53. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, supra note 12, para. 13.
54. Ibidem, para. 15.
55. Ibidem, para. 17.
56. Ibidem, para. 12(c)(iv).
57. UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/25, op.cit. (note 15), Annex - Draft Guidelines for the Realization of the Right to Drinking Water and Sanitation, para. 8.3.
58. Ibidem, paras 8.1 and 8.2.
59. UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/25, op.cit. (note 15), Annex - Draft Guidelines for the Realization of the Right to Drinking Water and Sanitation, para. 9.1.
60. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, supra note 12, para. 21.
61. Ibidem, para. 31.
62. Ibidem, paras 23-24;
63. Compare Sub- Commission, Resolution on the Promotion of the Realization of the Right to Drinking Water and Sanitation, UN Doc. A/ HRC/Sub.1/58/2006/10, 25 August 2006, para. 3;
64. and UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/25, op.cit. (note 15), Annex - Draft Guidelines for the Realization of the Right to Drinking Water and Sanitation, para. 2.3(e).
65. UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/25, op.cit. (note 15), Annex - Draft Guidelines for the Realization of the Right to Drinking Water and Sanitation, para. 2.3(e).
66. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, supra note 12, para. 33.
67. This sub-obligation too has been said to have an external dimension, i.e. States should facilitate realisation of the right to water in other countries, depending on the availability of resources. See CESCR, General Comment No. 15, supra note 12, para. 34.
68. Ibidem, para. 25.
69. Ibidem, paras 18 and 19.
70. Ibidem, para. 19.
71. Ibidem, para. 42.
72. Ibidem, para. 37.
73. Ibidem, para. 40.
74. Ibidem, para. 38.
75. UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/25, op.cit. (note 15), Annex - Draft Guidelines for the Realization of the Right to Drinking Water and Sanitation, para. 2.3(a).
76. Ibidem, para. 5.1.
77. Ibidem, para. 3.3.
78. Ibidem, para. 4.3.
79. Bakker, K., An Uncooperative Commodity, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003, p. 74.
80. De Moel, P.J., Verberk, J.Q.J.C. and Van Dijk, J.C., Drinkwater principes en -praktijk [Drinking water principles and practice], SDU, The Hague, 2005, p. 95, Tabel 1 (paraphrased and translated by TW).
81. Ibidem, p. 208.
82. Leflaive, X., Dunet, D., Michel, F. and Baciocchini, S., BIPE, Prix de l'eau, January 2006, p. 78 (copy with authors).
83. Idem.
84. Byatt, I., Balance, T. and Reid, S., 'Regulation of water and sewerage services', in: Crew, M. and Parker, D. (eds), International Handbook on Economic Regulation, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2006, pp. 370-394, at p. 371.
85. Prosser, T., The Limits of Competition Law. Markets and Public Services, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005, pp. 176, 186 and 205-206.
86. Commission of the European Community, Green Paper on Services of General Interest, Brussels, 21 May 2003, COM(2003) 270 Final, pp. 17-21.
87. Ibidem, p. 17.
88. This follows from the classification and categorisation given by Coronel in: Coronel, S.S. and Reclam, C., Levensregelen: Ernst en Luim uit de Gezondheidsleer [Rules of living: Seriousness and mirth in health studies], Blomhert & Timmerman, Nijmegen, 1881.
89. Ibidem, p. 276.
90. Ibidem, pp. 3-4.
91. Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000, establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, Doc. 2000/60/EC, Official Journal of the European Communities L 327, 22 December 2000.
92. McCaffrey, S., 'The Human Right to Water', in: Brown Weiss, E., Boisson de Chazournes, L. and Bernasconi-Osterwalder, N., Fresh Water and International Economic Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005, pp. 107-108;
93. and Howard, G. and Bartram, J., Domestic water quantity, service level and health, Doc. WHO/SDE/WSH/03.02, WHO, Geneva, 2003.
94. This is contested however, see Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 23 October 2000: recital 1: 'Water is not a commercial product like any other but, rather, a heritage which must be protected, defended and treated as such. See also the Dublin Principles: the ecological principle, requiring the holistic management of water; the institutional principle, requiring participatory management with responsibility at the lowest appropriate level; the instrument principle, meaning that water should be managed as a economic resource'. Compare Briscoe, loc.cit. (note 8), p. 160;
95. and Savenije, op.cit. (note 8), pp. 11-14.
96. Cullet, Ph.,'Water Law Reforms: Analysis of Recent Developments', p. 2, published in: Journal of the Indian Law Institute, Vol. 48, No. 2, 2006, pp. 206-231.
97. Idem.
98. Tully, 'A Human Right to Access Water? A Critique of General Comment No. 15', loc.cit. (note 1), p. 48.
99. Woods, J.M. and Lewis, H., Human Rights and the Global Marketplace: Economic, Social and Cultural Dimensions, Transnational Publishers, New York, 2005, p. 189.
100. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, supra note 12, para. 35.
101. CRC Committee, The Private Sector as Service Provider and its Role in Implementing Child Rights, Excerpted from UN Doc. CRC/C/121, 31st Session, 20 September 2002.
102. Kok, loc. cit. (note 12), p. 262, footnote 16.
103. For a more extensive discussion and literature references, see ibidem, pp. 265-266.
104. Ibidem, p. 287.
105. CESCR, General Comment No. 3, The Nature ofState Obligations, 1990, para. 8.
106. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, op.cit. (note 12), paras 1 and 11.
107. Ibidem, paras 24 and 27.
108. According to Tully, this is due to the company Suez' inappropriate influence on the process (Tully, 'A Human Right to Access Water? A Critique of General Comment No. 15', loc.cit. (note 1), pp. 53 and 58).
109. The same author has, on the other hand, also criticised the Committee, in that '[b]y imposing human rights obligations [on governments] the Committee prefers mechanisms of governance and not markets for ensuring universal water access' (ibidem, p. 63).
110. De Feyter, K. and Gómez Isa, F.,'Privatisation and Human Rights: An Overview', in: De Feyter and Gómez Isa (eds), op. cit. (note 12), pp. 1-8, at p. 8.
111. Ibidem, p. 3.
112. The latter question will not be explored here. An introductory note on the issue can be found in ibidem, p. 5.
113. Tully has criticised General Comment No. 15, for '[I]egal accountability is disproportionately skewed towards governments notwithstanding the delegation of functional responsibility' (Tully, 'A Human Right to Access Water? A Critique of General Comment No. 15', loc.cit. (note 1), p. 53).
114. See also more generally, Clapham, A., Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006;
115. and Jägers, N.M.C.P., Corporate Human Rights Obligations: In Search of Accountability, Intersentia, Antwerp, 2002.
116. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, op.cit. (note 12), paras 23-24;
117. Compare Sub-Commission, Resolution on the Promotion of the Realization of the Right to Drinking Water and Sanitation, UN Doc. A/ HRC/Sub.1/58/2006/10, op.cit. (note 44), para. 3,
118. and UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/25, op.cit. (note 15), Annex - Draft Guidelines for the Realization of the Right to Drinking Water and Sanitation, para. 2.3(e).
119. UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/25, op.cit. (note 15), Annex - Draft Guidelines for the Realization of the Right to Drinking Water and Sanitation, para. 2.3(e).
120. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, op. cit. (note 12), para. 44(b).
121. Ibidem, para. 33. There is a corresponding obligation for domestic States to take into account their international legal obligations regarding the right to water when entering into agreements with other States or with international organisations (see ibidem, para, 44(c)).
122. Similarly, potential programmes and projects, as well as donor-specified conditions requiring such programmes and projects, that privatise the management of water services, without regulations being put in place to ensure extension of access and affordability or without support for privatisation from users, would be inconsistent with human rights standards applicable to donor States (see COHRE, Manual on the Right to Water and Sanitation, COHRE, Geneva, 2007, p. 151).
123. COHRE, op.cit. (note 92), p. 73.
124. CESCR, Concluding Observations: Nepal, UN Doc. E/C.12/l/Add.66, 24 September 2001, para. 60.
125. CESCR, Concluding Observations: Norway, UN Doc. E/C.12/t/ Add.109,23 June 2005, para. 18;
126. and CESCR, Concluding Observations: Czech Republic, UN Doc. E /C.12/1/Add.76, 5 June 2002, para. 19.
127. CESCR, Concluding Observations: Italy, UN Doc. E/C.12/1/Add.43, 23 May 2000, para. 31.
128. CESCR, Concluding Observations: Zambia, UN Doc. E/C.12/1/Add.106, 23 June 2005, para. 48.
129. CESCR, Concluding Observations: Czech Republic, UN Doc. E/C.12/1/ Add.76, 5 June 2002, para. 10.
130. Ibidem, para. 27.
131. CRC Committee, The Private Sector as Service Provider and its Role in Implementing Child Rights, Excerpted from UN Doc, CRC/C/121, 20 September 2002, Recommendations para. 4.
132. Vandenhole, W., Non-discrimination and Equality in the View of the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies, Intersentia, Antwerp, 2005, pp. 135-145.
133. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, op. cit. (note 12), para. 27.
134. CESCR, Concluding Observations: Benin, UN Doc. E/C.12/1/Add.78, 5 June 2002, para. 22.
135. CESCR, Concluding Observations: Morocco, UN Doc. E/C.12/MAR/CO/3, 4 September 2006, para. 26.
136. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, op. cit. (note 12), para. 27.
137. Ibidem, para, 56.
138. De Feyter and Gómez, loc.cit. (note 86), p. 4.
139. Compare Kok, loc. cit. (note 12), p. 275.
140. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, op. cit. (note 12), para. 44(a).
141. Kok, loc.cit. (note 12), p. 286.
142. Relationship between the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights and the promotion of the realization of the right to drinking water supply and sanitation. Final report of the Special Rapporteur, El Hadji Guissé, UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2004/20, 14 July 2004, para. 60.
143. A hearing on the merits took place late October - early November 2007. The parties filed post-hearing briefs on 18 June 2008.
144. Amicus Curiae Submission in ICSID case No. ARB/03/19, between Suez, Sociedad General de Aguas de Barcelona, S.A. and Vivendi Universal, S.A. and the Republic of Argentina, 4 April 2007, available at: www.icsid.worldbank.org (last visited 20 August 2008). A discussion of the privatisation of water services more generally in Argentina can be found in Courtis, C., 'Social Rights and Privatisation: Lessons From the Argentine Experience', in: De Feyter and Gómez Isa, op.cit. (note 12), pp. 201-203.
145. However, even liberalised or privatised markets need (State) supervision so they would never be completely deregulated. See Joskow in the Introduction to the book Joskow, P.L. (ed.), Economic Regulation, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, 2000.
146. This has not been as huge a success as anticipated. The arguments were based on the old economic argument that perfect competition is superior to pure monopoly. This unequivocal choice between either perfect competition or pure monopoly is not available however in the real world. See Crew, M.A. and Parker, D., 'Development in the theory and practice of regulatory economics', in: Crew, M.A. and Parker, D. (eds), International Handbook on Economic Regulation, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, 2006, pp. 1-33, at pp. 4-5.
147. Auby, J.F., La délégation de service public. Guide pratique [Delegation of Public Services. A practical guide], Dalloz, Paris, 1997, pp. 58-68 including footnote 125.
148. Ibidem, pp. 58, 61-62 and 64-66.
149. Blokland, M, Braadbaard, O. and Schwartz, K. (eds), for the International Institute for Infrastructural, Hydraulic, and Environmental Engineering (UNCESCO-IHE), Private Business, Public Owners. Government shareholding in water enterprises, The Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment and Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, The Hague, 1999.
150. Local Water Utilities Administration, www.lwua.gov.ph/news/news_oct_07/ News_philwater.htm (viewed 24 October 2007).
151. Sector of residential consumers having the lowest capability to pay for water service.
152. www.lwua.gov.ph/water⇁tes/rates_one.htm (viewed 25 October 2007).
153. www.environ.ie/en/Environment/Water/WaterServices/WaterChargesMetering/ (viewed 25 October 2007).
154. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, op.cit. (note 12), para. 10. Compare the European Committee for Social Rights' (ECSR) position that public authorities 'must guard against the interruption of essential services such as water, electricity and telephone' (ECSR, Conclusions 2003, France, Article 31(1), p. 221).
155. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, op.cit. (note 12), para. 44(a).
156. Ibidem, para. 56.
157. Kok, loc.cit. (note 12), p. 286.
158. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, op.cit. (note 12), para. 56.
159. CoM European Charter on Water Resources, Recommendation 14 (2001), para. 5.
160. Residence of Bon Vista Mansions vs Southern Metropolitan Local Council 2001, High Court, Application No. 12312 (South Africa). For a discussion, see Kok, loc.cit. (note 12), pp. 279-280.
161. Kok, loc.cit. (note 12), p. 280.
162. Section 1 Water Industries Act 1999 (WIA 1999) amending section 61 of the Water Industries Act 1991 (WIA 1991), and Schedule 1 to the WIA 1999 inserting Schedule 4A into WIA 1991.
163. Also see the Explanatory Note at: www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/actsl999/en/ ukpgaen-19990009-en-1 (last viewed 21 January 2008). It does not literally state on the basis of what principle the new entitlements were created. The Parliamentary debate shows that the public health interest had been in mind when the new rules were drafted.
164. See www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cml99899/cmhansrd/vo981207/ debtext/81207-11.htm, Water Industries Act 1999, House of Commons Second Reading Hansard reference Vol. 322 Col 41 (last viewed 21 January 2008).
165. Article 3p. Only available in Dutch at: www.wetten.nl/waterleidingwet.
166. Tully, 'A Human Right to Access Water? A Critique of General Comment No. 15', loc.cit. (note 1), p. 62.
167. CESCR, General Comment No. 15, op.cit. (note 12), para. 21.
168. Ibidem, para. 22.
169. Ibidem, para, 44(a).
170. Ibidem, para. 44(b).
171. Ibidem, para. 28.
172. ICESCR Committee, Concluding Observations: Yemen, UN Doc. E/C.12 /1/Add.92, 19 December 2003, para. 38.
173. Teissonnier-Mucchielli, B., l'Impact du droit communautaire sur la distribution et l'assainissement de l'eau en France [The impact of community law on water distribution and sewerage in France], La Documentation Française, Paris, 2003, p. 21.
174. Heyes, A. and Liston, C., 'Economics of environmental regulation: instruments and cases', in: Crew and Parker, op.cit. (note 114), pp. 256-257.
175. Teissonnier-Mucchielli, op.cit. (note 137), pp. 335-336.
176. It should be pointed out that from a right to property perspective, the European Court of Human Rights has held that the burden of a social housing policy should not be exclusively imposed on one social group (ECtHR, Hutten-Czapska vs Poland, 19 June 2006, para. 225, available at: www.echr. coe.int (last visited 20 August 2008).