Revisiting the Human Right to Water from an environmental justice lens

In this essay we investigate the discourses around the Human Right to Water (HRW) and the growing acceptance of the importance of this right in environmental justice (EJ) agendas. We argue that there is a need to constructively engage in conversations about what the HRW should mean and how it should be realized. We see significant promise in the aspirational value of the HRW as well as the potential discursive and conceptual possibilities it opens up. The HRW has the potential to directly question conditions of water access and governance and thus to also highlight key social and EJ concerns. The HRW debate also enables new legal bases of redress across scales, in addition to shifting discourses and aspirations that have the potential to reframe the terms of debate even when there seem to be no alternatives. For all of these reasons, we believe that there is value in further debates around the HRW with the goal of imagining more socially just and environmentally sustainable water futures for all.