Water Should Be Made Private Rather Than a Public Good - Essay Example

Water should be made private rather than a public good It is evident that by 2025, water will become a limited resourcesince the current populations are over utilizing these resources. Whenever the state finds it hard to meet its market demand, it always opts for privatization. Companies that take up such delegations or ownerships do it for economic befits. However, privatization of a natural monopoly such as water has raised different opinions and debates. Some are for the opinion that it is right to privatize water sources whereas some support the contrary. Reforms in the water supply sector tends to create more social gains such as increased coverage and quality but on the other side, it creates low political benefits such as loss of employments as well as hiked prices (Mandri- Perrott 24). US has enjoyed abundant supply of water for the last half of 20C but considering the rate of poor water management practices as well as the persistent droughts, these privilege will surely last for a short time. As much as future generations will demand more water systems, climate change predicts to decrease the currently available supplies. A Government Accountability survey of the Unites states found out that water managers in 36 states are likely to face water shortages during the first two decades of this century. A sustainable approach to using water resources is the only remedy to ensure regulation of water usage besides ensuring supply of quality water to Americans. The remedy to this critical water situation may just be the privatisation of water sources instead of making it a public good (Mandri-Perrott 24). As much as others may claim that water is a natural resource and should not be economic, they are wrong because the same water faces the forces of economics such as supply and demand. Despite the fact that God gives water freely for all humanity, water has to go through various economic processes such as collection, management, processing, treating as well as packaging of drinking water( Frerot 104). In addition, to supply this water to the Americans, there has to be installation of expensive systems of reservoirs, channels, treatment plants as well as pipes. Those who claim that providing clean water by the government is a responsibility duty fail to understand that the government has to invest a lot (Frerot 104). The government cannot afford the investment needed in ensuring removal of dirty wastewater and human wastes in sanitation systems hence making privatization necessary (Mandri-Perrott 24). Water is a limited natural resource and humankind should handle it carefully. If water provided to homes for household activities fail to become an economic good and hence remains unmetered, Americans tend to misuse the water and once they fail to pay attention to the quantity of water they are using, they make water unavailable for the rest of the market that needs it. If private companies do not take management of water supply, the state government will continue giving subsidies to farmers and industries to encourage industrial and agricultural development (Frerot 104). This action encourages wasteful use of water in inappropriate crops such as planting crops that need a lot of water in desert regions. The industries will also use the water wastefully and a form of regulation has to step in. Privatization will make such institutions responsible for any wasteful use as they will have to pay more for water wasted (Mandri-Perrott 24). They will there opt for environment friendly practices such as the use of drip-irrigation in arid areas and dry farming in agriculture. Huge investments are a requirement to provide enough water to meet the state demand. Decent fresh water is scarce and modes of treating and supplying besides maintenance are costly (Frerot 104). In Canada, up to 50% of water goes to waste through ageing infrastructure that needs constant repairs and maintenance in addition to leakages through pipes. Those who claim that the government should handle all matters concerning water supply. However, the government clearly has no enough means to provide enough money for these huge investments. The private companies therefore have to step in to provide the money. The private entities need to have the rights to make profits through charges that correspond to demand to make it more attractive to them so that they can invest. Proper regulations can effectively handle issues of quality, equity and environmental standards (Pahl-Wostl 707). Private companies will not agree to invest their money if they cannot have competitive pressures to drive up quality and drive down prices according to market demands. Over years, the rich have been getting water at subsidised costs. The middle class as well as farmers have been getting water at a fraction of its true cost whereas the poor areas do not have any supplies at all. Treating water as an economic good will have benefits to the poor contrary to those who claim that privations will be additional costs to the poor (Frerot 104). This group of contrary opinions fail to understand that the poor are already paying more for their water since they have to pay directly to personnel who carry the water up to the shanty slums. They also waste a lot of time, as their families have to fetch and carry water from distant miles. Through privatization, the private entities will ensure that water supply reaches these shanty areas hence preventing the poor from poor quality water and bad sanitations. This way, the poor will have good health and will not have to spend additional income in treating diseases caused by poor hygiene (Mandri-Perrott 24). They will be able to divert their attention form water problems to work and education hence they keep off poverty. Theories that oppose privatization claim that the private entity will not care for the environment and will just concentrate on maximizing their profits. They claim that private entities will only be liable to their shareholders and not to either the society or nature in general. This is however not the case because proper pricing of water reflects on all the costs of providing it and considers the environmental costs that come along with the processes (Pahl-Wostl 707). When the private entities price water through domestic metering, they prevent waste full use of water. By providing water to the population, the private entities reduce over dependence on water systems such as rivers and underground aquifers. In addition, the private entities make huge investments in areas touching on proper dirty water and waste disposal hence protect the environment by promoting sanitations (Frerot 24). 2. Water should be piped out of the Great Lakes to provide to water-restricted states. With the increasing human population, the water supply keep decreasing hence communities and states are working towards finding alternative water resources. Currently, more than one billion of the world’s population already do not have access to clean and enough water supplies. Since the population is continually growing, more people continue to abuse, pollute, and over-utilize natural resources hence depleting the current limited water supplies. Drawing water from Great lakes basin through water pipelines is an alternative option but it has raised controversial concerns. The Great lakes basin contains up to 25% of the world surface fresh water and 95% of US surface freshwater (Albalate, G Bel, & Geddes 335). These vast sources of water can supply millions of people with water. Pipelines are effectively useful in sharing water from this large resource to neighbouring cities, suburbs, and extending miles west and southwest. The limited water supply if affected through overuse and depletion through agricultural, industrial, and domestic uses. Implementing pipeline use to drive water from the Great lake basins will be useful in handling this crisis. Water pipelines provide a remedy to this crisis as it provides water to areas that are lacking continuous and sustainable water resources. The water pipelines transfer water from one area to another quickly and effectively without causing evaporation, which is the case for open water transfer or diversion (Changnon 119). This way, it conserves more water as it transports it over the long distances. The pipelines are large in diameter and can supply large quantities of water to industries, farms and homesteads over long and short distances. Pipelines come in handy because they are applicable in different ways. Constructors can install them underground or above the ground as in the case of surface water sources. Due to their power, water pipelines pumps can pump water from deep within the earth. In addition, pipelines are useful in transporting clean water as well as in collection and disposal of wastewater. Water transport through pipelines is possible because of the presence of pumps and the natural force of gravity (Changwon 119). Lake Michigan is the second largest of the Great lakes basin and the third largest in the world when it comes to volume. Piping water out of this lake has been quite advantageous, as it has provided water to the Chicago area (Changnon 119). The lake is a sustainable as well as renewable source and cities that benefit from it include Michigan, Indiana as well as Wisconsin and Illinois. Water from such lake basins is of highly quality because of the geographical characteristics around it as well as tight pollution regulations. Water from this sources need less water treatment procedures because it is clean. Compared to other surface water resources, water from Great lake basins has lesser residual additives. Less treatment processes is advantageous because huge treatment practices require the construction of treatment plants. As pipes in the plants age out, they form cracks hence leading to leakages (Changnon 119). Moreover, losses that occur in treatment plants include inefficiencies in the treatment process, higher stress on pumping facilities as well as increased energy costs. Most of the energy generated in coal-fired power plants is useful in pumping water to the filtration plants; treating the water as well as pumping it to the users. This activities release a lot of carbon to the environment and when water leaks at the treatment plants, all the energy that was useful in pumping it goes into waste. It is therefore evident that it is necessary to use Great lake basin water because it saves a lot of energy, time and equipment since it is of high quality and the fact that it requires less treatment processes. The Great Lake compact has however been formed between the Great lake states. In the agreement, the states agree to combine efforts to manage the water in the Great Lakes basin. The compact bans any diversion of the water basin with a few limited and strictly regulated exceptions. The Canadian and US government aim at upgrading the Great Lakes Water quality agreement to preserve the needs of their shared ecosystem. Activists on their part have advocated for adjustments the Great Lakes agreement to accommodate new environmental challenges such as invasive species, climate change, and new chemicals besides contamination (Albalate, G Bel, &Geddes 335). In addition, the pact regulates export of water out of the Great Lakes basin in pipelines and containers larger than 5.7 gallons. This pact however fails to consider that entrepreneurs will seek to exploit small streams to get bottled water for export. In addition, they will still export water from the Great lake basin in small quantities. Such entrepreneurs will be maximizing profits whereas there are people who lack water. The state government should therefore consider piping this water to the population instead of leaving it in the hands of the bottling companies that constantly make direct profits (Albalate Bel, & Geddes 335). The compact claims that diverting water from the great lake basin poses a threat to fish and wildlife habitats (Karkkainen 3). The state government should consider the people living in water- restricted areas and instead of banning piping of water to these areas, they should just implement water conservation and management plants to protect Great lakes water. The government can do this by limiting the amount of water that flows to such regions according to the demand. The government should come up with ways to regulate the rate of inflows and outflows to prevent wastage (Karkkainen 3). To ensure consistent supply of water, the government should ensure that they build the infrastructure well hence accessible and reliable. Americans opposing diversion of water claim that the process poses negative environmental harm. This is not true because piping water out of the Great lake basins involves use of pipelines. Pipelines protect the environment since they do not cause soil erosion (Changnon 119). Water from this basins is of high quality hence does not go through the treatment processes. The treatment process involves use of energy form coal fired power plants. This poses a danger to the environment since the coal-fired power plants generate and release carbon to the environment. Carbon is a greenhouse gas and therefore has many effects on the environment like depleting the ozone layer as well as leading to death of living organism hence affect the biodiversity of the ecosystem. The treatment process also involves use of chemicals which if not properly disposed, they end up going to the drains and hence the waterways leading to the lakes. Processes that accompany the process of treating and putting many restrictions on the Great Lake basins are costly and they fail to consider those residing in water-restricted areas. References Albalate, D. G Bel & R. R Geddes. "Recovery Risk and Labor Costs in Public-Private Partnerships: Contractual Choice in the US Water Industry." Local Government Studies 39.3 (n.d.): 332-351. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. Changnon, Stanley, A. "A Unique Solution to Chicagos Water Pollution: Tunnels and Reservoirs." Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science 103.3/4 (2010): 119. Supplemental Index. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. Frérot, Antoine. Water: Towards a Culture of Responsibility. Durham, N.H: University of New Hampshire Press, 2011. Print. Karkkainen, Bradley, C. "The Great Lakes Water Resources Compact and Agreement: Tran’s boundary Normativity without International Law." William Mitchell Law Review 3 (2013): Academic OneFile. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. Mandri-Perrott, X. C. Public and Private Participation in the Water and Wastewater Sector: Developing Sustainable Legal Mechanisms. London, UK: IWA Pub, 2009. Print Pahl-Wostl, Claudia, et al. "Towards a Sustainable Water Future: Shaping the Next Decade of Global Water Research." Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 5.Aquatic and marine systems (2013): 708-714. Science Direct. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. Read More