ABSTRACT
This chapter explores various strategies implemented by Public Enterprises of Medellin (EPM) to recover revenues, whilst at the same time responding to pressures of supplying water provision in low-income areas and carwash sites. Although Colombia has not formally recognized the right to water in its Constitution, the court has made significant efforts to give a wide interpretation of such a right by deriving from other fundamental rights. At the national level, the court basically bases its claims by recognizing that access to water is consistent with the constitutional rights to life and health. In 2008, EPM embarked on a program called Community Brigades for Risk Mitigation in response to the dramatic proliferation of informal and illegal water connections in the peripheries of Medellin. As water constantly leaks, EPM proves that it has failed to fully control water in informal settlements. In 2010, EPM launched a program to formalize carwash activities with the aim of reducing commercial losses and recover revenues.
