Syndics gather in front of the cathedral for the Tribunal de las Aguas.
Water. All life forms can’t survive without it. And we are reminded daily that, as the population grows and supplies are stretched, water becomes an even more precious commodity. Governments are constantly trying to manage and distribute water among those who need it for drinking and washing, as well as for manufacturing and—what some consider most important—agriculture.
Julia Hudson-Richards, assistant professor of history and women’s studies at Penn State Altoona, is well aware of the problems associated with water management. In fact, she says, it “is one of the most important issues we will face.” She rattles off problems worldwide, from “the crushing drought in the American Southwest” to “the religious and political issues water allocation brings to the Middle East.” The city of Detroit has been shutting off the water for people who can’t pay their bills, leaving the poor with no running water (a situation some consider inhumane and one that has brought the attention of the United Nations). In Bolivia the privatization of the local water supply led to weeks of riots in 2000, known as the Bolivian Water Wars. All these conflicts are part of what Hudson-Richards calls the “overarching global issue of water.”
This tension over water is not new. People have always fought over water and water rights. But not all people. While doing some research in Spain one summer Hudson-Richards came across a community that figured out a long time ago how to deal with water rights. She says, “I was walking around Valencia and I ran into the gathering of people around the cathedral. It was so fascinating.”
What she found is known as the Tribunal de las Aguas. Every Thursday in the city of Valencia, Spain, a group of people (no longer all men) in black robes gathers in front of the Door of the Apostles at the local cathedral. These local residents (called syndics) deal with complaints from the community concerning the use or misuse of water. Elected but not from a privileged class, the syndics make up the “longest-standing legal court that’s been operating continuously,” according to Hudson-Richards. “This organization has existed for over 1,000 years.”
How did this cooperative effort get started? Hudson Richards offers an explanation: “We assume that it originated in Islamic Spain. Valencia was under Muslim control until the 1230s. There were similar institutions across the Muslim world, right down to the location right in front of the mosque. But there were no records of it until after the Christian conquest and by then it was a well-oiled machine. Obviously it didn’t offend the new Christian officials because it continued.”
“Who is better placed to administer these resources [than the local community]?” she asks. “The area historically has not been one of large contiguous estates; instead it’s minifundia, small farms, small parcels of land. The water rights went along with the sale of land.” Landowners could be male or female. “Historically, women could inherit property so a lot of women owned property and would theoretically be part of the community. Until recently, though, you didn’t see a woman as part of the tribunal.”
In the times she witnessed the tribunal, “I never saw an argument. I wanted to see a water fight,” but it didn’t happen. Her experience led to an article, written with independent scholar Cynthia A. Gonzales, titled “Water as a Collective Responsibility: The Tribunal de las Aguas and the Valencian Community,” Bulletin for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies 38, no. 1 (2013), which gives “a really interesting glimpse of this local institution that allocates according to local need.”
While the tribunal may seem to be from another time as the black-robed people gather in front of a cathedral, it is actually very relevant to modern times. Hudson-Richards says that scholars in Israel and Palestine have begun exploring the possibility of distributing oil on a model similar to the Tribunal de las Aguas, which might help bring peace to the area. And anyone interested in following the work of the tribunal can Like them on Facebook!
–Therese Boyd, ’79