Cancun judge forbids cutting water service off for lack of payment

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Darío Alejandro Villa Arnaiz, Seventh District Judge in the State of Quintana Roo, granted amparo 123/2019 in favor of a mother and daughter who live in Cancun, to whom Aguakan cut the water in their home for almost two years.

CANCUN, Q. ROO.- The human right to receive drinking water may not be violated or conditioned by Aguakan, resolved a Federal Judge.

And it established that the basic obligations of the company are to guarantee that the provision of water is sufficient and suitable for personal and domestic use, as well as ensuring the right of access on a non-discriminatory basis against vulnerable groups, such as children and marginalized people. .

Darío Alejandro Villa Arnaiz, Seventh District Judge in the State of Quintana Roo, pointed out that the obligations of Desarrollos Hidráulicos de Cancún, SA de CV must also guarantee physical access to facilities or services.

It is also required to supply a sufficient and regular quantity of safe water, to have a sufficient number of outlets to avoid prohibitive waiting times, to have intakes at a reasonable distance from the home and to ensure an equitable distribution.

By granting protection 123/2019 in favor of a mother and daughter who live in Cancun, to whom Aguakan cut the water in their home for almost two years (from July 11, 2017 to April 6, 2019), the provider of justice determined that the lack of liquid in homes contravenes articles first and fourth of the General Constitution.

The precepts of the Magna Carta establish that all people in Mexico will enjoy the guarantees established without being restricted or suspended and that all also have the right to health protection, the precepts of which were violated by Aguakan.

“Being a private initiative company that is in charge of water supply, it is obliged to guarantee the human right of access to water in a continuous, healthy, acceptable and sufficient way to cover personal and domestic uses”.

In the analysis on the merits, she stated that the lack of provision to the detriment of those affected violated the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.

They also violate the Law of Drinking Water and Sewerage of the State of Quintana Roo, as well as the Law of Quotas and Rates for Public Services of Drinking Water and Sewerage, Treatment and Disposal of Wastewater of the State of Quintana Roo, which guarantee the right to uninterrupted supply of water service.

The amparo trial was filed because the victims had their supply cut due to an alleged debt in the payment of the service, the amount of which increased for almost two years for a service they did not receive and whose reconnection was conditioned until the entire debt.

The Seventh District Judge ruled that article 24 of the Drinking Water Law and

Sewer of the State of Quintana Roo, establishes the possibility of suspending or limiting the service in case of non-compliance with the fees derived from the provision of services.

But “the aforementioned general rule establishes the specific obligations to provide access to water, especially to certain groups such as users of domestic supplies and public health services, without access to it being suspended under any circumstances.”

He invoked the isolated thesis “Drinking water service. In the absence of payment, it is inappropriate to suspend it for users of domestic outlets (State Legislation of Quintana Roo), assumption in which only the reduction or limitation of the service, but never its suspension, proceeds. ”

The constitutional protection determined that Aguakan must supply the drinking water service “in a continuous, healthy, acceptable and sufficient way to cover personal and domestic uses… it will not be able to cut off the supply of drinking water to the complainants’ address, before the non-payment”.

Source: lucesdelsiglo.com

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