“privatization means transforming citizens into customers”

Water statistics  Image
About 1.1 billion people worldwide do not have access to clean drinking water.

Image In the past ten years, three giant global corporations have quietly assumed control over the water supplied to almost 300 million people in every continent of the world.

A 12-month investigation by journalists in Canada, the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America shows that the results range from questionable to disastrous. And it shows how well-meaning municipal governments in the U.S. and Canada can become vulnerable to the persuasive techniques of these high-powered corporate giants. Image

The road to privatization is in many cases being encouraged by federal, not municipal, government.  In the U.S., the Bush administration is actively working to gain more control over cities and towns public water, enabling corporations to own the water supply.

 Documentary filmmakers Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman recently teamed up with author Michael Fox to write "Thirst: Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water" (Wiley, 2007).

  Image The three followed water privatization battles across the United States, documenting the rise of public opposition to corporate control of water resources.They found that the issue of privatization ran deep.

Image

"We came to see that the conflicts over water are really about fundamental questions of democracy itself:  Who will make the decisions that affect our future, and who will be excluded?"  they wrote in the book's preface. "And if citizens no longer control their most basic resource, their water, do they really control anything at all?"As the effects of climate change are being felt around the world, including decreasing snowpacks and rainfall, water is quickly becoming a more marketable commodity.

Image In 1990, 50 million people worldwide got their water services from private companies, but by 2002 it was 300 million and growing.

 Maude Barlow is chair of the Council of Canadians, a Canadian citizens’ group with 100,000 members, she states

Image "There is a common assumption that the world's water supply is huge and infinite. This assumption is false. At some time in the near future, water bankruptcy will result."

She cites a United Nations study that says by the year 2025 – less than 25 years – two-thirds of the world will be "water-poor."  Image

"The wars of the future are going to be fought over water," Barlow has declared.

She endorses a 1999 paper from the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) that says: "Water is an essential need, a public trust, not a commodity. It belongs to everyone and to no one."  The CELA paper continues:

"Even large-scale water exports cannot possibly satisfy the social and economic needs of distant societies. Water shipped halfway around the world will only be affordable to the privileged and will deepen inequities between rich and poor. International trade in bulk water will allow elites to assure the quality of their own drinking water supplies, while permitting them to ignore the pollution of their local waters and the waste of their water management systems."

"Globally, corporations are promoting water privatization under the guise of efficiency, but the fact is that they are not paying the full cost of public infrastructure, environmental damage, or healthcare for those they hurt," said Ashley Schaeffer of Corporate Accountability International.

"Water is a human right and not a privilege." Image

“The human right to drinking water is fundamental to life and health. Sufficient and safe drinking water is a precondition for the realization of human rights."

On November 27, 2002, water was formally recognized as a human right for the first time when the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted the ‘General Comment’ on the right to water, and described the State’s legal responsibility in fulfilling that right. 

"The simple fact is, this model of privatization doesn’t work. You cannot marry the profit motive to something like water or air which people need to survive. We have to take this notion of fresh water out of the market place and say that it belongs to the earth, it belongs to all species, it belongs to future generations, and no one has the right to commodify it for personal gain.  We believe that water is a lifeline and we should have an international convention that declares water as a fundamental human right and that everyone on earth should have the right to enough to live on."
— Maude Barlow, CBC Interview, March 2004

Privatizing municipal water systems is globalization come home, said Deborah Kaufman. In 2000 Bechtel privatized water in Cochabamba, Bolivia, with such miserable consequences that it was shortly driven out of the country in an incredible feat of cross-class organizing. But just a few years later, it was awarded a $680 million contract to "fix" Iraq's ruined water systems.It turns out the United States is an attractive place for multinationals looking to make inroads in the water business. The three main players are the French companies Suez and Veolia (formerly Vivendi), and the German group RWE.

Image The companies first pushed water privatization in developing nations. "But in many instances, those attempts didn't pan out as planned, it being difficult to gouge governments and customers that don't have a lot of money," Public Citizen reports. "The U.S., by contrast, presented the promise of a steady, reliable revenue stream from customers willing and able to pay water bills." 

Image Corporate interest in water systems in the United States exists because that country has a water crisis. Drinking and wastewater systems were largely designed a hundred years ago and in many places, little improvements have been made.  Aging systems combined with the pressures of increasing population, development, and pollution have left many communities close to disaster. 

As a result, corporations have swooped in to offer public officials an easy out -- not only will they run these aging plants, but they'll save the city millions of dollars in the process. At least that's the promise. "Whether clean and safe water will remain accessible to all, affordable and sustainable into the future, depends on us," write Snitow, Kaufman and Fox. "The stakes could not be higher. The outcome will surely be a measure of democracy in the 21st century."

Report Links on Water:

On World Report:
The World Bank
How the World Bank encourages poor countries to privatize their water systems. Critics say it subsidizes the private water barons. Bob Carty reports.
Listen to report 1 (Runs 1:37)
Listen to report 2 (Runs 1:28)

No Silver Bullet
Atlanta, Georgia embraced privatization five years ago, and saw a drastic drop in quality and service. The city broke a $500-million contract with multinational Suez and took back the utility to run it publicly.
Read Frank Koller's report
Listen to the report (Runs 11:08)

“privatization means transforming citizens into customers”

Water statistics  Image
About 1.1 billion people worldwide do not have access to clean drinking water.

Image In the past ten years, three giant global corporations have quietly assumed control over the water supplied to almost 300 million people in every continent of the world.

A 12-month investigation by journalists in Canada, the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America shows that the results range from questionable to disastrous. And it shows how well-meaning municipal governments in the U.S. and Canada can become vulnerable to the persuasive techniques of these high-powered corporate giants. Image

The road to privatization is in many cases being encouraged by federal, not municipal, government.  In the U.S., the Bush administration is actively working to gain more control over cities and towns public water, enabling corporations to own the water supply.

 Documentary filmmakers Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman recently teamed up with author Michael Fox to write "Thirst: Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water" (Wiley, 2007).

  Image The three followed water privatization battles across the United States, documenting the rise of public opposition to corporate control of water resources.They found that the issue of privatization ran deep.

Image

"We came to see that the conflicts over water are really about fundamental questions of democracy itself:  Who will make the decisions that affect our future, and who will be excluded?"  they wrote in the book's preface. "And if citizens no longer control their most basic resource, their water, do they really control anything at all?"As the effects of climate change are being felt around the world, including decreasing snowpacks and rainfall, water is quickly becoming a more marketable commodity.

Image In 1990, 50 million people worldwide got their water services from private companies, but by 2002 it was 300 million and growing.

 Maude Barlow is chair of the Council of Canadians, a Canadian citizens’ group with 100,000 members, she states

Image "There is a common assumption that the world's water supply is huge and infinite. This assumption is false. At some time in the near future, water bankruptcy will result."

She cites a United Nations study that says by the year 2025 – less than 25 years – two-thirds of the world will be "water-poor."  Image

"The wars of the future are going to be fought over water," Barlow has declared.

She endorses a 1999 paper from the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) that says: "Water is an essential need, a public trust, not a commodity. It belongs to everyone and to no one."  The CELA paper continues:

"Even large-scale water exports cannot possibly satisfy the social and economic needs of distant societies. Water shipped halfway around the world will only be affordable to the privileged and will deepen inequities between rich and poor. International trade in bulk water will allow elites to assure the quality of their own drinking water supplies, while permitting them to ignore the pollution of their local waters and the waste of their water management systems."

"Globally, corporations are promoting water privatization under the guise of efficiency, but the fact is that they are not paying the full cost of public infrastructure, environmental damage, or healthcare for those they hurt," said Ashley Schaeffer of Corporate Accountability International.

"Water is a human right and not a privilege." Image

“The human right to drinking water is fundamental to life and health. Sufficient and safe drinking water is a precondition for the realization of human rights."

On November 27, 2002, water was formally recognized as a human right for the first time when the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted the ‘General Comment’ on the right to water, and described the State’s legal responsibility in fulfilling that right. 

"The simple fact is, this model of privatization doesn’t work. You cannot marry the profit motive to something like water or air which people need to survive. We have to take this notion of fresh water out of the market place and say that it belongs to the earth, it belongs to all species, it belongs to future generations, and no one has the right to commodify it for personal gain.  We believe that water is a lifeline and we should have an international convention that declares water as a fundamental human right and that everyone on earth should have the right to enough to live on."
— Maude Barlow, CBC Interview, March 2004

Privatizing municipal water systems is globalization come home, said Deborah Kaufman. In 2000 Bechtel privatized water in Cochabamba, Bolivia, with such miserable consequences that it was shortly driven out of the country in an incredible feat of cross-class organizing. But just a few years later, it was awarded a $680 million contract to "fix" Iraq's ruined water systems.It turns out the United States is an attractive place for multinationals looking to make inroads in the water business. The three main players are the French companies Suez and Veolia (formerly Vivendi), and the German group RWE.

Image The companies first pushed water privatization in developing nations. "But in many instances, those attempts didn't pan out as planned, it being difficult to gouge governments and customers that don't have a lot of money," Public Citizen reports. "The U.S., by contrast, presented the promise of a steady, reliable revenue stream from customers willing and able to pay water bills." 

Image Corporate interest in water systems in the United States exists because that country has a water crisis. Drinking and wastewater systems were largely designed a hundred years ago and in many places, little improvements have been made.  Aging systems combined with the pressures of increasing population, development, and pollution have left many communities close to disaster. 

As a result, corporations have swooped in to offer public officials an easy out -- not only will they run these aging plants, but they'll save the city millions of dollars in the process. At least that's the promise. "Whether clean and safe water will remain accessible to all, affordable and sustainable into the future, depends on us," write Snitow, Kaufman and Fox. "The stakes could not be higher. The outcome will surely be a measure of democracy in the 21st century."

Report Links on Water:

On World Report:
The World Bank
How the World Bank encourages poor countries to privatize their water systems. Critics say it subsidizes the private water barons. Bob Carty reports.
Listen to report 1 (Runs 1:37)
Listen to report 2 (Runs 1:28)

No Silver Bullet
Atlanta, Georgia embraced privatization five years ago, and saw a drastic drop in quality and service. The city broke a $500-million contract with multinational Suez and took back the utility to run it publicly.
Read Frank Koller's report
Listen to the report (Runs 11:08)