According to the UN Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights, governments have an obligation to provide access, at the very least, to a minimum amount of water.[33] This means that officials cannot disconnect a water system for failure to pay, if doing so jeopardizes access to this minimum essential amount of water. International standards are clear that “under no circumstances shall an individual be deprived of the minimum essential level of water.”[34] The committee has emphasized that the government must ensure water services are affordable and that the lack of access to water does not threaten the realization of other basic rights.[35]