65 supply of drinking water and its bad quality at La Joyita Penitentiary Center in the year 2004.241 215. The Court considers proven that, in June 2003, while Mr. Vélez Loor was held at La Joyita Penitentiary Center, there was a problem in the supply of water that affected the prison population. The evidence furnished demonstrates that the deficiencies in the supply of drinking water at La Joyita penitentiary center had been frequent (supra para. 197), and in the year of 2008, the State had adopted some measures in that respect.242 The Tribunal notes that the lack of drinking water is a particularly important aspect of the prison conditions. In relation to the right to drinking water the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights mentioned that States Parties must adopt measures to ensure that “[p]risoners and detainees are provided with sufficient and safe water for their daily individual requirements, taking note of the requirements of international humanitarian law and the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.”243 Furthermore, the Minimum Rules establish that “[p]risoners shall be required to keep their persons clean, and to this end they shall be provided with water and with toilets as are necessary for health and cleanliness,” as well as “[d]rinking water shall be available to every prisoner whenever needed.”244 In consequence, States must take steps to ensure that prisoners have sufficient safe water for daily personal needs, 241 In the Special Report of the Public Defender of the Republic of Panama on the quality, analysis of drinking water for human consumption at the La Joya-Joyita Penitentiary Center and in the Investigation of the Public Defender at the La Joya Penitentiary Complex in relation to the situation of residual water, deficiencies and absence in the water supply for human consumption and its bad quality were documented. Cf. Special Report of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Panama on the quality, analysis of water for human consumption in the Penitentiary of La Joya–Joyita Panamá, September 17, 2004, pages 8 to 9 and 23 to 25 (case file of the evidence, compact disc, annex 31 to the autonomous brief of pleadings, motions, and evidence). Furthermore, in the Special Report of the Public Defender of the Republic regarding the Right to Health in the Penitentiary Centers of the year 2008, this state organ noticed that, in agreement with report No. 05-1773-2007 issued by the Experimental Center of Chemical Laboratory Engineering and Applied Physics, the La Joyita Penitentiary Center “included a water treatment plant which ran to a storage tank, which currently functioned by gravity, since the pumps were damaged;” furthermore, “the supply of water was received from the IDAAN [Instituto de Acueductos y Alcantarillados Nacionales (Institute of National Aqueducts and Sewer Systems)] with an alternate supply;” also, “the pipes which conducted the black water from the different cell blocks, generally have collapsed, almost all of them are shut off, since they are blocked,” and “[t]he residual waters run in open air.” Special Report of the Ombudsman's Office of the Republic of Panama in regard to Health in the Penitentiary Centers in 2008 and its annex II (case file of the evidence, tome VIII, annex 43 to the answer to the application, folios 3452 to 3453 and 3467 to 3469). In turn, the Harvard University International Human Rights Clinic, in the visits made in March and October, 2007 to said center, also documented, inter alia, the problems with the access to drinking water and the lack of water, due to the shortage of water and the frequent suspensions of the supply over long terms, coupled with the bad quality of the water and the overflowing of waste water. Cf. Report prepared by the Harvard University International Human Rights Clinic, entitled “Human Rights Stop at These Doors: Injustice and Inequality in Panamanian Prisons,” in March 2008 (case file of the evidence, volume III, annex 27 of the application, folio 1326, 1342, 1349, 1362 and 1363). 242 In this regard, in the proceedings before the Inter-American Commission, the Director General of the Penitentiary System of the Republic of Panama reported that "[t]he water problems were evident with the increase in the population of La Joya Complex,” and that after many efforts “in late 2008, adequacy of the water treatment plant with suction equipment, processing, storage and new distribution, was achieved, which gives total coverage of potable water, 24 hours a day, to all of the La Joya Complex.” Note No. 0045-DGSP-AFP issued by the Director General of the Prison System Addressed to the Deputy Minister of Public Security on May 27, 2009 (case file of the evidence, tome VIII, annex 29 of the answer to the application, folios 3242 and 3243). 243 United Nations, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Observation No. 15 (2002) on the Right to Water (Articles 11 and 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights), approved by the Committee in its 29th period of sessions (2002), HRI/GEN/1/Rev.7, 2002, para. 16.g) (case file of the evidence, tome V, annex 23 to the autonomous brief of pleadings, motions, and evidence, folio 2002). See also, Organization of American States, General Assembly, AG/RES. 2349 (XXXVII-O/07), Order on “water, health, and human rights,” Approved in the fourth plenary session, celebrated on June 5, 2007, Operative Paragraphs 1 to 3. 244 Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, adopted by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held in Geneva, 1955, approved by the Economic and Social Council by its resolutions 663C (XXIV) of July 31, 1957 and 2076 (LXII) of May 13, 1977, Rules 15 and 20(2).