Pros And Cons Of Water Privatization

Bottled water has become a controversial topic as of late. There are always two sides to every argument, some think that bottled water is beneficial to society, whereas some people think that it is detrimental to society as a whole. Bottled water is detrimental to society because it costs the country an abundance of money. It is also harmful to society because it is damaging to the environment. A lack of sanitation in bottled water has also been connected to illnesses among people who drink it. Bottled water is in no way shape or form worth the price that one will spend financially, nor is it worth the gamble of becoming sick from all the harsh chemicals that come from the bottle itself.

Water is one of life’s most precious resources. Without it, life as we know it would cease to exist. Almost all life is dependent on water for survival. Humanity uses water in almost everything they do in their daily lives, whether that be for consumption or production. However water itself is not enough to sufice, clean water is required for life to thrive. Dirty untreated water can be the cause for death as well, so it is integral that water be kept clean. The government has enacted laws to ensure that our water is maintained and kept clean. These laws cover industries, plumbing, and sanitation among other things. Unfortunately, the city government in Flint Michigan willfully failed to provide safe water for its citizens.

With 1,400 miles of water and 9 states using it- water is running out fast. Farmers that use the water are saying that they have more legal rights to use the water since they are growing food to give to everyone. Although, cities are needing water to keep their people alive as well.

The quality of water however falls solely on humans, who are the number one hazards to the precious water we have become so addicted to. The obligation for safe, clean, drinkable water is an individual responsible; if you die or fall victim to dehydration the blame falls on the suffering individuals. That being written, no person should have the right to revoke water from anyone. If an organization has taken it upon themselves to treat, facilitate, and distribute water in return for some compensation then any persons may purchase this service so long as the required payments are being

We all love water, but don’t know much about it. What I mean is that a lot of us don’t even know where our water comes from. That answer varies; for example, the city of Camarillo California gets its’ water in Camrosa Water District. It’s official website, “Camrosa Water District building Water Self- Reliance” provides information like what their purpose is, and as well as water conservation, building self-reliance, and other public information. This website states that Camrosa is currently in a state two water supply shortage. This means that there are restrictions on water use and a call for a voluntary fifteen percent reduction on the amount of water consumption. Also, according to Camrosa “Agricultural Water Management Plan”, water is being

Whilst watching the Tapped documentary I learned how important water is and how it has a bigger impact than I once expected. One thing that surprised me is how much freedom these water companies have. Many of the water companies can take water from an area and they do not have to ask for permission. At one point in the documentary, they discussed companies taking water from a lake even though there was a statewide drought. It makes me question the morals and ethics of these water companies.

The story Thirst reflects on how global corporations like Nestle, Suez, and Veolia are rapidly purchasing local water sources such as lakes, streams, and springs. Those companies are also taking control of public water services. While trying to privatize and turn a larger profit off of water, they have manipulated and bought politicians, have gone “under the table” to make deals and undermined the democratic process by trying to deny citizens a voice in fundamental decisions about their most essential public resource. The authors ' Thirst explain the emergence of a controversial new water wars in the United States and showing how communities here are fighting this battle, often against companies headquartered overseas. The three followed water privatization battles across the United States from California to Massachusetts and from Georgia to Wisconsin, documenting the rise of public opposition to corporate control of water resources. These towns find it hard to balance a budget, so when large companies come in and offer to control the water the town looks at it as a major way to cut costs, but what it ends up costing is much more.

According to McHarg et al. eds. (2010), in the last three decades world governments used to shed the burden of capital investment, especially in sphere of water, through privatization in order to achieve more efficiency of water supplies. This approach was developed deeply in European countries such as England, which is already famous for it’s the most highly regulated water companies. This method also enables the company to concentrate on the service, management and funding of the service, whereas the local government provides water services in developing countries and cannot afford investments in large hydraulic infrastructure. Those are the “Third World” countries and the most of them are Asian. However, I want to make a significant accent on one of the industrious world’s empires – China.

Furthermore , the government should take the responsibility manage the water supply. Farmers can find other ways to grow their crops in a more efficient way that requires less water nowadays because of technology. The citizens of towns cannot be going months without water to bathe or drink. It is for the better of the people the state and the land. Overall more good can come out of water regulation than

Court-ordered decisions of setting a maximum cap of pumping extractions were settled in the 1960’s. We can lower the maximum cap of pumping extractions again, just like we did in the 1960’s, when this problem began to occur. One of the main reasons that the land is depleting is because there is no government agency closely monitoring groundwater use in California due to it not being considered a public good. They need this groundwater to be considered a public good in order for it to be closely watched, otherwise the ground under Californians will just continue to sink. To summarize, when Californians pay their electricity bill, they are not only spending it on a third of their state’s energy to pump groundwater, but also for their property to

I think Barlow’s reading was important as a whole. It was surprising to learn that a natural resource like water is something that is not available to many people. People are struggling to get water that god provided every with equally. The purpose of privatization of water is to make it cheaper for poor people so they can afford it. Suez and Vivendi is two main role players in privatization of water. Their job is to make water cheaper and available for everyone but rather they are using water as a way of making money and becoming rich. They are providing water to poor people but not to all the poor people only to the ones that can afford to pay for it. Cooperation is not doing everything they are supposed to be doing to provide everyone with

Bywater, K. (2008). Globalization, privatization, and the crisis of sustainability: Examining the global water crisis. Conference Papers -- American Sociological Association, 1.

Privatization of water resources has both positive and negative impacts. Nevertheless, if you look at a bigger picture negative impact outweighs positive impact. Privatization increases production efficiency and diminishes water losses, but this is achievable at a huge cost:

According to Bakker, “in the paper, she explores these distinct response to water privatization” (Bakker, 2007, pg. 1). Some people live in areas where income is low. Some of these people live in Africa, Iraq, Iran, etc. Some people did not want international economic links.

There are basically three ways that water is privatized; bottled water, municipal services and bulk water sales. As a consumer of bottled water I wanted to research further and find out the truth about it. What I discovered was that we as consumers have been fooled by these water corporations. To begin with the cost of bottled water is two thousand times more than tap water. I found it absolutely ludicrous that we are willing to pay such a high price for bottled water considering it costs close to nothing to drink water from the tap. In reality, as I found out, most bottled water which we believe comes from some exotic spring is actually filtered tap water from a U.S. city. According to Food & Water Watch one third of all bottled water comes from a public water source. #4