Derecho al agua potable en Colombia: evolución de la teoría del mínimo vital frente al derecho al agua desde la constitución política del 1991

Abstract

After the 1991 Constitution, are produced in Colombia, both politically and in the field of law, an overriding interest about the "fundamental” rights, as they were denominated by some autors. Writers, judges, politicians, teachers and students started to study the new Constitution and all rights in this consecrated, including all kinds of issues of society, primarily those conected with life and human dignity were addressed. From this antecedent, the Constitutional Block begin to be incorporated into human rights legislation under division three generational stages, where the first treat essentially about freedom and political life, the seconds about dignified life, and third focus on a healthy environment for the development of humans. It is important saying that some of these rights, although are not part of the constitutional libel, at practice must also have the character of fundamental, because within their peculiarities are found to be: universal, inalienable, inalienable, inviolable, unconditional, and inherent the person, among others. Thus, as progressively through the rulings of the Constitutional Court related to the subject arrived at issue that really concerns us, access to clean water recognized as a fundamental right, which is framed within the economic, social and cultural rights, its connotation essential for life and human survival. While our Constitution is a range of rights and duties, access to water resources is not exactly recognized as a fundamental right, but this characteristic is given after an analytical and conscientious exercise of the Constitutional Court, after the study of different events that nowadays are regarded as case law milestones. This investigation was made in order to be a theoretical reference to the historical and legal developments that have taken the right to drinking water in Colombia, starting with the creation of the Constitution of 1991, which introduces the concept of the right to water under a double connotation to consider it as a fundamental right and an essential public service, continuing with the development of the theory of the “mínimo vital” which resulted after initiatives such as the colombian “Referendo al agua” which raised the ineffectiveness of the current legislation, concluding with a description of the legislative gaps in this area.