Dangerous Waters

Every Starbucks in America sells bottles of “Ethos” water. Five cents from every bottle goes to help bring clean water to children in the developing world. But wait a minute. 2.5 billion people around the world lack access to clean water and sanitation. And someone is certainly making a profit on those trendy-looking bottles of water. Ethos begs the question: who owns the water?

Many of the developing world’s crippling problems are related to inadequate water supplies. Water-borne disease kills over three million people each year. Hauling water from sources miles from rural homes wastes tens of billions of labor hours each year. Scarcity has introduced a new reason to go to war in places already torn apart by conflict, and privatization of water systems is removing control of a common resource from the people’s hands.

Developing countries that lack basic water infrastructure have become investment opportunities in recent years. Private companies come in, build a water system, and operate it on a for-profit basis. Even in an ideal situation, when privatization increases the number of people who can access water and it remains affordable, government has lost control over a resource from the ground on which it sits. Government control traditionally extends to the land, water, and resources found within a country’s borders, so private control over something as essential as water threatens to undermine fledgling governments.

The problem of water is two-fold. There are immediate health concerns, and there are long-term human rights concerns. UN member states pledged in 2000 to halve the number of people without access to clean water by 2015 as part of the Millennium Development Goals. These goals are an effort to curb extreme poverty, fight curable disease, and empower women. The part of the water crisis that the MDGs fail to address is the long-term human rights question.

The global community is capable of improving sanitation and increasing water access in the developing world. Non-governmental organization support local groups with histories of success through private donations in the construction of simple, sustainable water systems in communities from Bangladesh to Honduras. EU governments continue to finance the planning and implementation of national water systems in 20 countries where progress toward the 2015 goal is slow.

Yet privatization threatens to turn water into blue gold—the better-tasting sister of oil. In a 2007 issue, Fortune Magazine wrote that water “would be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th”. Widespread privatization of water systems will force millions of people to purchase water from a for-profit monopoly. Instead, public investment in water systems must be supported both politically and financially, while funding continues for sanitation projects.

First, we must—as a community—continue the projects, investment, and innovation that will allow us to reach the Millennium Goal for clean water access by 2015. It is important that water-borne disease be eradicated and everyone have access to clean water. Second, we must address the long-term human rights issues associated with the water crisis. The privatization of water sources must be stopped. Privatization threatens to undermine the effectiveness of political development by ceding power to third parties. Governments must be able to provide water as a public utility. Successful infrastructure from which the government can earn both revenue and legitimacy will have myriad spillover effects in the developing world. Public water utilities represent relationships between infrastructure and people. This relationship will succeed when governments--ideally those that represent the people--are responsible gatekeepers of water resources.

World Water Day is March 22. On that day, leaders and groups around the world will host meetings and events to discuss another aspect of water scarcity—trans-boundary water. Bodies of water that cross borders are contentious even when the supply is not threatened. Government control over public water utility systems is crucial to diffuse potential water conflicts. Walk for water, support a local event, become involved, and become aware of the danger water privatization represents.

If we cannot reach the goals set forth by the United Nations in 2000, if we do not recognize the necessity of water rights, and if we do not acknowledge the long-term importance of governments’ sovereign control over water resources, then water will replace oil as the most fought-over resource on earth. And while it may seem difficult to imagine a life without oil in today’s America, imagine a world without water.