The Scarcity Of Clean Water

Bolivia is a Spanish speaking country in South America surrounded by other Spanishspeaking countries; Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, and Peru. Bolivia was conquered in the 1500’s by Spain, but became independent in 1825. Home to the Andes Mountains and several tropical rain forests, Bolivia is a major vacation spot. The country was named after a previous general from Venezuela who helped them gain their freedom from Spain. Interestingly enough, Bolivia has two capitols which are Sucre and La Paz. Despite the fun fact, that Bolivia has two capitols in their country, their history proves just how hard they had to work to get that freedom (World Book 442-446).

Though Bolivia is rich in resources, it is one of the poorest countries and least developed countries in South America with 50 percent of its population below the poverty line. Bolivia’s economy is based on agriculture, foresting, fishing, mining, and manufacturing goods. Bolivia has become dependent on its non-fuel materials to strengthen its economy. Bolivia’s economic freedom score is 46.8 making it the 163rd freest in the 2013 index. Bolivia is ranked 26th out of 29 countries in the South and Central American regions and its overall score is far below the world and regional averages.

The city of Cochabamba, Bolivia put its water system up for auction in 1999. The company Aguas del Tunari promised to expand water services, in exchange the contract guaranteed the company a fifteen percent profit. The first people to question water privatization were local professionals and peasant farmers who rely on irrigation. Citizens began calling public meetings to speak their concerns. Sadly, the government ignored them and their concerns. With no disregard for the public voice, people began to protest. With that, in early 2000, the historic water wars began.

Based on the demographic profile in CIA World Factbook, Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in Latin America. Their quality of life is poor because of lack of healthcare, poor education, life expectancy, malnutrition, among other factors. They have a very high income inequality rate. Bolivia lacks basic needs like clean air and water. Educational opportunities are very limited. Bolivians have to leave home to find work, there are very few opportunities in Bolivia. There is one small bright-spot, children are being vaccinated at a higher rate.

The chapter provided information on how water is constantly shaping society. One of the topics discussed in the chapter is Neoliberalism. Here it was discussed that today water is privately owned or also known as water privatization. With this water is treated like a commodity as if it was just an object in the local store. The chapter states that, “Neoliberalism is in the first instance a theory of political economic practices that proposes that human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms” (Citation). Although many

Bolivia is located in the central part of South America and is land locked a little to the west of Brazil and to the east of Chile. Bolivia has two capitols, an administrative and a constitutional capitol, La Paz is the administrative capitol and Sucre is the official capitol of Bolivia. In 2014 Bolivia had an estimated population of 10,918,674 people, and in 2011 almost 10% of Bolivia's population lived in El Alto which is the second largest and one of the poorest cities in Bolivia.

Water is one of the most important factors for any living thing, so much that cities and towns have been built around freshwater sources for centuries. The human body itself is made up of 60%, and the earth covered by 70% of water. Drinking water is consumed by every living thing, it is a source of entertainment, farmers rely on it to produce the crops that not only feed their families but families throughout the country. There are 14748 wastewater treatment facilities in the United states that provide potable water to consumers for drinking and for entertainment such as water parks. The use of a bacteria to contaminant a water point like one of these it would be an attack that one could not necessarily defend themselves against. Therefore,

Bolivia is located in the heart of South America, with the Andes Mountains surrounding north to south throughout the country and the famous Lake Titicaca is the highest body of water in the world. They have a population of about 10 million people, making Bolivia one of the least populated nations in the Western Hemisphere. Bolivia is a landlocked nation, meaning they are entirely enclosed by land, boarded by Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, and Peru. Bolivia is also known for being the only country for having two recognized capitals: Sucre (constitutional) and La Paz (administrative).

Bolivia is a located in South America. In the west central area, next to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru.

Although privatization seemed to help the economy at first, the country’s economy continued to decline in the late 90s. By then, the country had privatized their national airline, electric utilities, and national train services. But no privatization brought more public opposition as the privatization of the water of Cochabamba, Bolivia’s 3rd largest city, which became widely known at the “water wars”.

The New York Times article "The Risks of Cheap Water" provides a fascinating overview of the water crisis in the United States, with an emphasis on the situation in California. According to Eduardo Porter, the author of the article, California is facing a serious water drought but the deficiency of water is caused by price controls, subsidies and the lack of water markets. Porter states that water prices are too low and do not cover infrastructure services. Therefore, charging consumers with higher price would have more significant impact on conservation efforts. Porter then reports how the farmers, “who accounts for 80 percent of the nation's water consumption”, are wasting more water than regular people. Giving the farmers the right to use

Economic relations and resource management, 2. Ideology and culture including the way people think about the environment and water rights, 3.political agents like the state, transnational actors and organizations involved in water disputes and trade 4.the transnational social movements which endorse and resist water privatization, and 5.the power relations which engender unequal access to safe water (Bywater, 2008).

In this essay, I will address the issues caused by the privatization of the water supply in Bolivia, in accordance with the Washington consensus, defining the relevant terms and addressing whether it could have been prevented. The essay will also concentrate on whether organizations such as the world bank can action loans on a more independent manner than was witnessed there. Also covered will be whether less economically developed countries (LEDCs) are able to meet the demands of the World Bank or instead negotiate a more suitable agreement and this will tie in with the ability to prevent the negative consequences that were witnessed in Bolivia. The essay will also explain what eventually happened in Bolivia and whether it actually

Drinking a glass of water does not usually stir up thoughts of injustice. If it in someway did, it would probably be over concern for those in underdeveloped countries who struggle to get clean drinking water. Yet, the struggle to attain clean drinking water occurs in the United States as well and especially for minorities. Regulations in the Federal Safe Drinking Act often go unmet and the purpose of the Safe Water Drinking Act unfulfilled as minority dominant and poor communities often have the most severe and pervasive health violations of their drinking water. Unfortunately, this occurs right here in the San Joaquin Valley. The Valley demonstrates environmental injustice in the types of communities that experience nitrate

Water is a human right, not a commodity. It is the essence of life, sustaining every living being on the planet. Without it we would have no plants, no animals, no people. However, while water consumption doubles every twenty years our water sources are being depleted, polluted and exploited by multinational corporations. Water privatization has been promoted by corporations and international lending institutions as the solution to the global water crises but the only one’s who benefit from water privatization are investors and international banks. The essential dilemma of privatization is that the profit interests of private water utilities ultimately jeopardizes the safeguarding of the human right to water. Access to clean, sufficient