Radical Noesis - Thinking outside the box

Water has been in the news a lot recently because of the of the 4th World Water Forum that came to a weak ending on March 22 with the only agreement being support for hydro-electric dams. There were certainly larger concerns - such as access to water as a human right - which might have moved to the forefront but did not.

At the center of the conflict, particularly in the exploited nations, is the privatization of water supplies. This policy of turning over control (and sometimes ownership) of local and national water supplies to transnational corporations, is one of the factors dramatically reducing access to drinkable water for growing portions of the world's population.

Despite the low profile of this issue, the water crisis is now 'one of the greatest causes of mass suffering'. A child dies every 14 seconds from dehydration caused by diarrhea caused by contaminated water. Many people walk miles each day to get drinking water, and the supply is becoming both more restricted less available.

Climatic changes caused by global warming are threatening the amount of water available. The situation is global as snow pack doesn't form, glaciers melt, and rivers run dry. Pollution from industry, agriculture, lack of sanitation facilities, and private control of water supplies removes even more. It is a situation that is likely to only get worse, and it is causing a reaction from people and governments. From Latin America to Africa, to Asia, a revolt is occurring against private water corporations and international policies. The increasing cry is that "water is a human right."

Given shrinking supplies, privatization is being pushed. There is not only big profit to be made by owning a fundamental resource. There is also power. If you control water, then you control everything else. Nothing can survive without it. Given that the poor (and economically deprived nations) pay much more for water that those with economic resources, it is clear that access to potable water is being defined as a privilege - a privilege of the rich and rich nations.

This is truly a case as business as usual and exploitation as usual. Environmental racism is alive and well when it comes to this fundamental necessity for life. Like the growing conflicts over oil, the response to the dwindling supply of water is to mobilize the militaries:

" Yesterday, Britain's Defence Secretary, John Reid, pointed to the factor hastening the violent collision between a rising world population and a shrinking world water resource: global warming.

In a grim first intervention in the climate-change debate, the Defence Secretary issued a bleak forecast that violence and political conflict would become more likely in the next 20 to 30 years as climate change turned land into desert, melted ice fields and poisoned water supplies."

Water is becoming scarce rapidly enough on its own without profiting from the suffering and death of billions of people on the planet.

Other Resources
Food & Water Watch is an excellent new organization and information source on these issues - particularly U.S. policy. It is a spin off from Public Citizen which is a long term citizen advocacy organization founded by Ralph Nader.

Green, Guardian, 3/22/06, Water with strings attached

Stevenson, AP, 3/16/06, World Water Forum Opens in Mexico

Watkins, Guardian, 3/02/06, We cannot tolerate children dying for a glass of water

Al Jazeera, 3/21/06, Bolivia: Water is a human right