Water Privatization Of Water

The article “Water Works”, published by Orion Magazine and written by environmental specialist Cynthia Barnett intends to inform the reader anyone can make water an important factor. Overlooking it has become common many people in the United States have adapted to through the changes that have occurred in society over time. At the beginning of her article, she describes an area that does not make water care a priority, whereas in another location they make it very evident water is important. The location she describes is gloomy, grey, and is a populated area that has old water systems that are damaging environmental factors. Barnett continuously emphasizes that people are the ones who can help restore nature. This is at a less cost than

Throughout the article, Barnett analyses the idea of water scarcity. She accentuates the fact that aging infrastructure hampers our ability

The world revolves around water. Without it, organisms would cease to exist. With that being said, humans depend on it on a daily basis. In the documentary “Thirst”, it covers the controversy of water privatization in Bolivia, India, and Stockton. All of these regions are opposed to water privatization by the powerful corporations that operate in the area. The people living in these places believe that water privatization negatively affects their control of their water, because it a human right. On the other hand, the multinational corporations believe that water is an economic resource that should be bought and sold, for profit. I believe that water should not have the ability to be privatized.

The author, Maude Barlow, begins her article by stating that there is a problem concerning the world’s water and how it can affect the people’s way of living. She includes three possible outcomes that could result from how people are mistreating the water supply. Sources of freshwater are becoming scarcer as people keep polluting and depleting them. As the lack of clean freshwater decreases, the amount of children dying increases, more so than war and diseases altogether which occurs more frequently with those that are of low socioeconomic status. Those that belong to companies dealing with water exchange are taking advantage of the shortages by selling them to regular people at expensive rates; this could ultimately lead to the market’s dictating

Ineffective or corrupt government makes things worse by opening the doors to illegal logging and other crimes in the developing countries. Kenyan government denies using forest land for patronage, and says the areas will be used to resettle poor, needy landless people, but in truth the forest land is being handed over by the government to supporters as a way of currying favor before the next elections. It is too bad that the poor and needy happen to actually be the rich and politically powerful people of Kenya. It is not the poor that the environmentalist and ecologist are dealing but the government and their corruption where they encourage mismanagement of resources and complain that they are poor. Before the election in 1997, Kenyan President

The Doctrine of Discovery, elements of the Eugenics Movement and Neoliberal Capitalism are being practiced individually, however, in the case of water privatization these components come together. The Doctrine of Discovery is still used today to justify the actions similar to those of settler colonialists. It is present in the actions of expanding capitalists. Remnants of Manifest Destiny lead people to believe that it’s their god given right to take the resources they need and want. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz wrote, “Awareness of the settler-colonialist context of US history writing is essential if one is to avoid the laziness of the default position and the trap of a mythological unconscious belief in manifest destiny.” These ideas lead to the concepts of white supremacy and white privilege, the idea that the white class is

Water is the most important substance in the universe today, without it people would not be able to continue existence. Water covers most part of our planet, only a small number of the world’s water is fresh water. People need freshwater to drink, bathe, and irrigate our farm fields. But the shortage of water resources has become one of the main problems of the 21st century in the world, more and more regions are affected by long-term water shortage problems. Everyone has the right to require access to enough clean water. Using and drinking clean, safe water is a human right. However, water privatization has been increasing, more and more corporations have

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).

Of all the water on earth, 97% of it is unusable and undrinkable, which leaves us with a measly 3% of freshwater. But about 2% of the water is polluted or unsafe for us to drink, which allows us to use only 1% of the Earths water. These are astonishing facts, because it seems like we always have water whenever we need it, but we are just the lucky ones. People in India and Bolivia don’t always get water when they want to, and when they do, it is usually unsafe water packed with amoeba, e-coli, and many different diseases. A problem that we have regarding this issue is whether the government should allow private companies to take over the water system. Private companies will bring safer and cleaner water to people,

Bolivian citizens revolted into a violent protest that ended the water contract. Similar situations are still happening around the world today. The construction that goes into digging and reaching fresh water supplies is expensive, so China has become open to foreign investments and has raised water rates to more than the public can afford to pay for, despite water being a necessity (Interladi). If not protesting, citizens simply skip buying water or cut down on how much of it they buy immensely because they cannot afford the high rates (Runyan). My point is that charging consumers more than they can afford for a necessity does not guarantee profit. Private companies and investors assume the consumers have to buy a necessity like water, so they immorally take advantage and force some families to choose between water and other necessities. After paying more than they can for so long, consumers will simply stop buying and many will even revolt. So far, private companies ' main targets have been developing and poor countries since they could use the financial support to gain funds and improve their infrastructures and communities. According to Erica Gies, "Developing countries are often pushed into water privatization deals against their will because they need loans from international development agencies." (Gies). Countries with already developed infrastructures like the United

“Freshwater accounts for only 3 percent of Earth’s water; the rest is in the oceans” (Weeks 533). As members of the global community, humans need to understand the impact of contaminating and wasting water. Even though it may seem like there is an abundance of water for human use that is definitely not the case.

Water is a utility service for many people since its treatment, distribution, and recycling is funded by the taxpayer. Water is also a scarce commodity among some communities around the world. Privatization of water would allow firms to make it a profitable venture. Both domestic and global business environments have interesting ethical dilemmas to navigate. Peter Brabeck, the former Nestle CEO noted that water is not a basic human right but a commodity that should be privatized and controlled. Although the Universal Bill of Human Rights declares that withholding the resource takes away human dignity it fails to specifically grant the right to water. However, if water is a basic human right, it should be justly and freely available to all. Therefore, water is a right entitled to all human beings and thus should not be privatized.

Water privatization is private sector provision of water services and sanitation. It is most often credited for turning a public good into a private one. Nearly always plastic water bottles come to mind for many when they think of the topic. This is rightfully so, as due to water privatization, we have companies like Dasani producing these commodities. Water privatization is intended to help aid the depleting freshwater supply yet there is a standing debate on if it actually aids the cause.

Water is a necessary commodity for humans around the globe. People need water in order to survive, and thankfully water is plentiful in most areas around the globe. For some regions, however, water access is limited in amount and cleanliness. To combat this issue, some areas have allowed private companies to take over the water supply and sell the water at a fixed price. The method, known as water privatization, does not benefit the people living in the area; rather, it benefits the company owning and operating the water. Water privatization limits the supply of water and the recipients of the water, but the issue can be resolved with government intervention.

Imagine waking up one morning and realizing that you have no access to water. You can’t shower, you can’t brush your teeth, and you can’t hydrate yourself as much as you want too anymore. Water isn’t something that we consider a luxurious product. Our lungs are made up of 90% water, our brains are made up of 70% water, and our blood is made up of more than 80% water. An average family of four uses 146,000 gallons of water per year. Put into simplest terms, we need water to function, and to stay healthy. While society knows that water is a limited resource, they are not acting responsibly to conserve water and our planet’s water reserves is decreasing at an alarming rate. Conserving water is beneficial to all living things because it’s