A/HRC/36/45/Add.2 51. While welcoming programmes for indigenous communities to improve their access to water and sanitation, the Special Rapporteur found that in practice, numerous challenges remain to be addressed, including measures to better support community-managed systems. The challenges for local authorities relating to water shortages and provision of services to remote and dispersed rural communities in many municipalities are evident. In the communities of Manzanillo I and II, in Chiapas State, the Special Rapporteur was shown infrastructure projects including water pumping and filtration systems to pump and clean water from a local lagoon to a tank located at the community school, and rainwater collection reservoirs that allow rainwater to be harvested and chlorinated for use by the community. With relatively high rainfall in the region, he was told that the reservoirs provided an additional water source for three or four months each year for the community of some 500 inhabitants. While the Special Rapporteur acknowledged the efforts to provide infrastructure to the community, the sustainability and maintenance of such rural water and sanitation systems must be improved. 52. Community members and civil society representatives supporting them informed the Special Rapporteur that the pumping system had ceased to function effectively after a short period of operation. The lagoon had dried up at one time, and the indigenous people stated that they feared that they had “angered the lagoon” by pumping water out of it. Community members requested piped water from an alternative source other than the lagoon. Since the reservoir functioned in rainy seasons only, the community quickly returned to taking water directly from the lagoon, collecting the muddy brown water in plastic containers to be carried to their homes by donkey. In those communities, the Special Rapporteur was concerned that the quality of the available water was clearly unacceptable and potentially a threat to the health of community members. 53. The community members noted that they had tried to raise their concerns with the authorities, but that they felt that there was discrimination against them as poor and indigenous peoples. The situation and challenges experienced by the communities was reportedly replicated in thousands of other similar communities in Chiapas State. C. Women and girls 54. The mandate of the National Institute for Women includes examining ways to improve women’s access to water and sanitation, such as through the gathering of data and statistics and improving women’s participation in public policies and local decisionmaking. The representatives of the National Institute noted initiatives and programmes to empower rural women, promote equality in access to services including water and sanitation, and its efforts to ensure that gender perspectives were appropriately included in the National Development Plan. The National Programme for Equal Opportunities and Non-Discrimination against Women 2013-2018 is identified under goal 3 (strengthen water supply and access to drinking water, sanitation and sewerage services) of the National Water Plan 2014-2018 as a cross-cutting line of action. However, the Special Rapporteur expressed his concern that limited access to and availability of water and sanitation in Mexico has a disproportionately negative impact on women and girls. In that regard, he urges the Government to consider the recommendations contained in his report on gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation (see A/HRC/33/49). 55. In locations with poor or no water and sanitation infrastructure, members of local communities have to collect and carry water to their homes from local springs or other water sources. Significant time is spent by households engaged in securing alternative sources of water such as bottled water and tanker deliveries. The National Institute stated that a survey conducted every five years had found that in 2014, some 10.5 million persons were engaged in carrying water for an average of 2.5 hours per week. In some locations, such as Filomeno Mata in Veracruz State, that is an almost full-time occupation for many family members, mostly women and girls. Some families reported that they must carry water themselves, often without vehicles, having to make a 30 to 40-minute trip to queue for water from roadside springs five or six times a day. In indigenous communities visited in Chiapas, the same issue was encountered, with women reporting that they spend a large part of their day collecting and transporting water. That limits their ability to engage in 14