Contemporary Global Issue: Water - Essay Example

Contemporary Global Issue: Water Water is a public resource, which should not be commodified for commercial purposes. Industrial development depends on water; and the supply and redistribution of water are the two main paradigms of water management. It should be distributed to the needy people for their personal use. Historically, water engineering concentrated on this fundamental rule. At this juncture, it is important to recognize that water has become a scarce resource around the world. The pursuit of industrial development has imposed a heavy demand on water resources and their management. In addition, there are other concerns, like increased urbanization, heavy concentrations of population and increased agricultural activities, all of which draw heavily upon water resources(Finger & Allouche, 2002. P. xiii). This essay details with the reasons for water being a scarce resource. In addition, it describes the disadvantages ensuing from the privatization of water, especially in the poorer countries of the world. Furthermore, the harm caused by the World Bank’s support to indiscriminate privatization of water resources is also discussed. As such, water that is essential for life, should belong to the people and its management should be the bounded duty of the governments. Water is vital for life on the earth. It had been abundant in the past, due to the presence of vast resources of water like lakes and rivers. In the past there had been sufficient rain to fulfill the water requirements of the people. However, this situation has changed dramatically, and at present, water has become a scarce resource on earth. The earth’s climate had undergone drastic changes due to the greenhouse effect and global warming. This climate change has modified the weather patterns, and this has drastically affected the natural rain cycles. The outcome has been inadequate rain fall. The vastly depleted forests are no longer in a position to promote rains. The rivers are becoming dry and agricultural lands have been deprived of water. The water in the great lakes is being depleted, and the continuous discharge of pollutants into the lakes by industries has affected aquatic life. Most of the vast water resources on earth are either being depleted or rendered unfit for use(Bryce). A number of scientists have estimated that if the present situation continues, then there will be hydrological poverty by the year 2025. The world will have to suffer from the consequences of this water scarcity. It is portended that in the future, a number of wars will be fought over the sharing of water. Therefore, the comity of nations has to implement long term initiatives to avert water scarcity. Failure to respond to the situation, in a timely manner, would result in damage to the living planet that would be beyond repair. Humans will have to face dire consequences such as hunger, deprivation and disease(Bryce). Many nations in the West have already privatized their municipal water services. These private agencies are exploiting not only the water resources, but also their customers. Their main objective is to reap profits and rendering effective service to their customers is not on their agenda. These corporate profits have increased by nearly 700 percent. However, they have not taken any measure to preserve the quality of the water that they are supplying to their customers. These private corporations have caused irreparable damage to water resources by overusing them in order to make more money. Customers who cannot afford to pay the exorbitant amounts charged by these companies have to do without water. This creates an environment in which those who cannot pay for water will have to forfeit their life(Bryce). Provision of water and sanitation services by private multinational corporations is a new development. Water, since the past two hundred years, has been either public property or supplied by some government body in the interest of public good. However, this concept has changed gradually and now water is perceived as a marketable commodity. At present, water supply is managed by private enterprises to the extent of 5%. Until now, private companies were unwilling to foray into this area, because the provision of water and sanitary services was not lucrative. However, corporate companies have realized that a major fresh water scarcity is in the offing. Consequently, it would be to their great advantage, to control the supply of water to the public. These factors have served to allure multinational companies to acquire and sell water, just like any other commodity(Public Citizen’s Water for All program, 2003). The World Bank is departing from its earlier advocacy of regarding the privatization of water. The main reason for this departure could be the failure of water privatization in countries like Tanzania, Armenia, Zambia and India, where the interests of the common man had been seriously compromised due to such policies. The poor in those countries have no access to safe drinking water. These incidents proved to be a telling lesson to the World Bank, regarding its vested interest in privatizing the water sector. The risk inherent in privatizing water resources is clearly depicted in the horrendous example of UK’s Biwater, which undertook to supply water in Tanzania, by suitably influencing the World Bank to recommend its services to the Tanzanian government. The cost of safe and sanitary water in Tanzania skyrocketed and the general public found the cost of water to be beyond their means. The Tanzanian government expressed its inability to continue with this unjust arrangement, and Biwater initiated action against the former in the ICSID or International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, which functions under the aegis of the World Bank. The ICSID ruled that Tanzania owed nothing to Biwater and held that their contract was no longer valid. The outcome of this fiasco was that Tanzania was saddled with a $140 million loan, without any benefit whatsoever(The World Bank Botches Water Privatization Around the World, 2008). Water is a basic public resource. In the US, the water supply system in several states has been adversely affected by poor federal funding. In most of the cities the underground water pipes are old and fit to be condemned. These pipelines have been in use for more than a hundred years and have to be replaced with new ones. As such, various state governments have reduced monetary allocations, relating to the provision of safe and clean drinking water. Moreover, the Bush administration is strongly in favor of privatizing water management. Accordingly, the federal government is going ahead with its plans to privatize water management, and it refused to recognize the fact that water is a basic public resource. The government is not keen in making available clean and safe drinking water to its people at affordable prices. There were widespread droughts and climate changes, in many states, which required the government’s support. However the federal government failed to respond adequately to these events(Snitow & Kaufman, August 21, 2007; Pg. 12A ). There is widespread opposition to the government’s privatization program. In a recent opinion poll, it was revealed that nearly 86% of the citizens favored a federal trust fund for water management. Therefore, there is overwhelming consensus among Americans regarding what the federal government must do to provide safe drinking water. However, the state and federal level politicians and decision – makers have paid scant regard to public opinion and are not taking any supportive measures in this regard. The multinational companies have near total sway over Washington and their lobbyists ensure that the federal government apparently seems to be making huge profits. Some citizen watchdog groups have claimed that the private companies have adopted a preventive maintenance approach and that they have not replaced the worn out pipelines with new ones. The maintenance crew in these installations faces great difficulty in sustaining these water management facilities, due to the presence of dilapidated and damaged pipeline networks(Snitow & Kaufman, August 21, 2007; Pg. 12A ). The World Bank is very much insistent that some governments are to privatize their water utilities. In order to accelerate this process, the World Bank and the affected nations are exploring several ways to privatize water in their country. The Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria or ERA/FoEN is a nongovernmental organization, which opposes the privatization of water across the world. It contends that privatization of water is detrimental to the people and in breach of their fundamental rights. It has also argued that access to clean and safe drinking water is an inalienable right. Therefore, every government has to protect that right from infringement in any manner, what so ever. Water should not be converted into a saleable commodity for business purposes. It is a basic public resource and the essence of life, which should be owned by the populace and managed publicly. As such, the government is under an obligation to provide safe and clean water for its citizens; and it should not be privatized(Nigeria; Water Privatisation is Anti-People - ERA, November 3, 2006 ). A number of nations are indebted to the World Bank and have to repay the loans they have taken from it. Some nations have even taken huge loans from other agencies. Although, these nations have implemented several water projects, they continue to be beset with water related problems. It was pointed out by the ERA/FoEN that if the government had provided safe and clean water to the people, there would not have been any patenting of branded communal water. Therefore, it was incumbent upon the government to prohibit the bottling and sale of mineral water(Nigeria; Water Privatisation is Anti-People - ERA, November 3, 2006 ). Tanzania had approached the World Bank for financial assistance. The latter made it mandatory for Tanzania to privatize its water supply utilities, if the financial assistance was to be granted. This decision provoked widespread opposition against the privatization of water systems, especially in poor nations where water privatization has disastrous outcomes. Private companies do not follow the standard of service, agreed upon in the original contract. Not surprisingly, in Tanzania, the City Water Services failed to comply with the standards set out in the contract. Subsequently, this company went into liquidation. At that juncture, another company, named Biwater, was allotted the contract for supplying safe water. Subsequently, the Tanzanian government cancelled the water privatization project, and Biwater initiated legal action against the former, in the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes or ICSID(World Development Movement, January 11, 2008). The World Development Movement has raised a number of protests against the compulsory privatization of water utilities, at the behest of the World Bank. The negative outcome in Tanzania is a bitter lesson for the World Bank. Nevertheless, this is not an isolated case. There are several similar fiascos, and some instances are the negative experiences of water privatization projects in Bolivia, Mali and The Gambia. The private companies in these nations failed to provide affordable clean water to the people(World Development Movement, January 11, 2008). It has been assessed that nearly one billion people, around the world, are not provided with safe and clean drinking water. Approximately, twenty – five million people die each year due to the consumption of contaminated water. This situation is graver in the Latin American nations. Latin America has more than 55% of the total renewable water resources in the world. Paradoxically, nearly one hundred million people do not have access to safe drinking water, in this region. Countries like Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia and Colombia have already privatized their water supply units. These private concerns charge very high prices for water supply, which cannot be afforded by most of the people. As a result, the people in this region are compelled to consume contaminated water, which adversely affects their health. In Bolivia this situation is very drastic, and many people suffer from prolonged illness and die as a result of consuming contaminated water. In addition, it was recently discovered that the water in this region contains traces of cryptosporidium, a type of parasitic protozoa. Hence, the people have to boil the water before using it(Siggins, April 7, 2008. Pg. 2). The governments must prevent private corporations from the excessive use of water resources. Mining of water resources must be regulated by the governments, and water resources must be protected. The ERA argues that the federal government must establish a National Water Forum that is comprised of members of society, local communities and government officials. There should be a National Policy on water; and the government should prohibit the patenting of branded water(Nigeria; Water Privatisation is Anti-People - ERA, November 3, 2006 ). From the above discussion it can be surmised that only the multinational corporations had benefited from the World Banks’ initiative of privatizing water resources. It goes without saying that resources like water and air should never be allowed to pass into private hands. These resources belong to all and should remain in the province of the general public. Consequently, their management should be vested solely with the governments. As such, water is not a saleable commodity and its management should not be privatized. List of References Bryce, S. (n.d.). The Privatisation of Water. Retrieved October 25, 2008, from Citizen review online: http://www.citizenreviewonline.org/may_2001/the_privatization_of_water.htm#18 Finger, M., & Allouche, J. (2002. P. xiii). Water Privatisation. Taylor & Francis . Nigeria; Water Privatisation is Anti-People - ERA. (November 3, 2006 ). Africa News . Public Citizen’s Water for All program. (2003, March). Water Privatization Fiascos: Broken Promises and Social Turmoil. Retrieved October 25, 2008, from Public Citizen: http://www.citizen.org/documents/privatizationfiascos.pdf Siggins, L. (April 7, 2008. Pg. 2). Warning over water privatisation. The Irish Times . Snitow, A., & Kaufman, D. (August 21, 2007; Pg. 12A ). Taking back our water. USA TODAY . The World Bank Botches Water Privatization Around the World. (2008, September 22). Retrieved October 25, 2008, from AlterNet: http://www.alternet.org/water/99833/the_world_bank_botches_water_privatization_around_the_world/ World Development Movement. (January 11, 2008). Tanzania; Govt Wins Legal Battle Against British Water Company. Africa News . Read More