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Water Privatization: Issues & Debates |
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As the world's water becomes scarce and corporations seek to
exploit this scarcity for profit, people around the world are losing ownership
and control of water resources on which they depend. Water is a human right; to
the extent one has the right to live, one has the right to water. Public
Citizen's Water for All Campaign is dedicated to protecting water as a common
resource, stopping water privatization and bulk water sales, and defending
access to clean and affordable water around the world.
A worldwide crisis over water is brewing. According to the United Nations, 31
countries are now facing water scarcity and 1 billion people lack access clean
drinking water. Water consumption is doubling every 20 years and yet at the same
time, water sources are rapidly being polluted, depleted, diverted and exploited
by corporate interests ranging from industrial agriculture and manufacturing to
electricity production and mining. The World Bank predicts that by 2025,
two-thirds of the world's population will suffer from lack of clean and safe
drinking water.
Today, people around the world are losing ownership and control of the water
which remains.
Instead of protecting their citizens’ water resources from
self-interested profiteers, governments are retreating from their
responsibilities and bending to the will of giant transnational corporations
that are poised to profit from the shortage of water. Fortune magazine
has predicted that "water is the oil of the 21 century," and now corporations
are rushing to invest in the new get-rich economy of water. Giant water, energy,
food, and shipping companies have plans to buy water rights, privatize
publicly-owned water systems, promote bottled water, and sell "bulk" water by
transporting it from water rich areas to thirsty markets. At the same time, to
ensure maximum profits, these companies are lobbying to weaken water quality
standards, and pushing for trade agreements that hand over the U.S. water
resources to foreign corporations.
Why oppose privatization of water?
Water privatization schemes throughout the world have a track record of
skyrocketing prices, water quality problems, deteriorating service and a loss of
local control.
Privatization advocates argue – usually without any supporting evidence –
that switching from publicly owned and operated utilities to private sector
firms will lead to greater economic efficiency, stabilized rates, reduced public
debt and improved budgetary management.
In reality, privatization more often than not fulfills none of these
promises, and instead creates a number of new problems. Vulnerable to
corruption and operating according to a profit-driven corporate agenda
fundamentally incompatible with delivering an essential service, private water
companies are failing to provide citizens with safe, affordable water. Private
corporations seek to increase profit margins by cutting costs; hence
privatization is almost always accompanied by lay-offs.
Water Privatization Fiascos
A New Social Experiment?
The role of multinational corporations in providing water and sanitation
services is relatively new. In fact, one could say water "privatization" is a
global social experiment. Historically, water has been viewed as a public good,
not a market commodity. Over the last 200 years, most water utilities have been
publicly owned and managed. And, the vast majority of people around the world
receive water and sanitation services from publicly owned and operated
facilities. Most countries have only recently begun to consider privatization of
their water utilities. Only 5% of the world’s water services are run by private
companies. Water and sanitation services have been publicly run because private
companies were not interested in owning or managing water utilities. There was
little or no profit to be made. But, with the specter of growing freshwater
scarcity and the prediction that water will be the oil of the 21st
century, major global corporations have been moving into the "water market."
Promises made.
The multinational water corporations, their government allies, the IMF, the
World Bank and the regional development banks have claimed that water
privatization (or public/private partnerships) is the answer. They claim that
bringing the private sector into water and sanitation service provision will
ensure access to the more than a billion people worldwide who lack clean and
affordable water, and the 2.4 billion who lack sanitation services. The water
corporations and their allies argue that the private sector is more efficient,
cost-effective and competitive. And, the private sector can bring needed
financing.
Alternatives to Water Privatization
Water is a basic human right and governments have a responsibility to ensure
universal access to water and sanitation services. Water and sanitation services
that are publicly funded, managed and operated are the most common approach
around the world. This approach has evolved in the course of human history due
to the adverse public health outcomes (cholera and other water-borne diseases)
when major portions of the population are excluded from access to adequate water
and sanitation facilities. The public health literature makes it clear that
expanding access to clean water has such great human and economic benefits that
it is worth considering having governments provide it at a loss, to be
subsidized by other sectors that benefit.
Yet many governments have failed in their obligation to provide universal
access to water and sanitation services. This has enabled the World Bank and
other international institutions to claim that the public sector is not
efficient and cost-effective and the private sector is the answer. Most people
are not convinced that the answer can be found in ceding their public water
systems to private profit-making corporations. Instead, around the world, local
communities have developed their own creative water management solutions. This
section will explore a range of dynamic alternative models of publicly-owned or
collectively-owned water services that focus on democratic participation, local
accountability and community activism.
Public Partnerships
Private companies have offered themselves as the solution, but have not posted a
good record. Many cities have concluded that their vital water and wastewater
services could be operated more efficiently in the public sphere. A number of
communities have reorganized operation and management under local, public
control. It has saved money, rewarded employees, maintained or improved water
quality and kept money in the community.
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