Water for All chronicles how Bolivians democratized water
access, focusing on the Cochabamba region, which is known for acute
water scarcity and explosive water protests. Sarah T. Hines examines
conflict and compromises over water from the 1870s to the 2010s,
showing how communities of water users increased supply and extended
distribution through collective labor and social struggle. Analyzing
a wide variety of sources, from agrarian reform case records to oral
history interviews, Hines investigates how water dispossession in the
late nineteenth century and reclaimed water access in the twentieth
and twenty-first centuries prompted, shaped, and strengthened popular
and indigenous social movements. The struggle for democratic control
over water culminated in the successful 2000 Water War, a decisive
turning point for Bolivian politics. This story offers lessons for
contemporary resource management and grassroots movements about how
humans can build equitable, democratic, and sustainable resource
systems in the Andes, Latin America, and beyond.