Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on April 11, 2015
Who Will Control The World’s Water: Governments Or Corporations?
Water is perhaps the world’s most important resource, and one of the most common resources. For decades water was regarded as a common good, and it was plentiful enough that in most parts of the world there was little money to be made off of it. Now as the world’s population continues to grow, all of that is changing. Late in March, Tetra Tech was awarded a $1B five year contract to help support the US Agency of International Development (USAID) and its water development strategies. Tetra Tech will help USAID by collecting data related to water use, develop water management strategies, and help improve access to water in select areas.
This contract is far from the first in the area of water management. Today there are numerous companies focused on earning a profit based on water management, water provision, and water remediation. There are at least ten major corporations working in the area including three that between them supply water to 300 million people in 100 countries. These three corporations, RWE/Thames, Suez/ONDEO, and Veolia control vast swaths of water systems in Europe and are now looking at a less saturated market; the United States. The US has its own share of large water companies including American Water Works, ITT Corp, and GE Water, but most Americans are still served by publicly owned utilities and this presents a new opportunity for corporations in the space.
Water is so critical a resource that any discussion of privatizing water resources predictably draws a frequent public outcry as the fight over a water infrastructure bill in Congress last year showed. The truth is though, that water access is no more or less safe in the hands of corporations than in the hands of governments. There are certainly cases of corporations abusing their customers, but there are equally many cases of governments using their considerable power to oppress their citizens. Corporations are often owned by and responsible to shareholders (i.e. the general public). Further, while government objectives are often murky and depend on the people in office, corporate objectives are more straightforward – earn a profit.
None of this is to say that people should be racing to sell off water rights, but the realities of the 21st century will require hard choices. The world’s population is growing most in countries which are less developed and have less infrastructure. Rich nations like the US, Europe, and Japan are seeing slow or no population growth while under-developed nations like India and Indonesia continue to see booming growth. This will lead to challenges that unstable governments are ill-equipped to handle, but which require serious investment efforts.
Even in the United States, the on-going drought in California is taxing the ability of the government to handle the problem. Perhaps what is needed is a system of interstate pipes to enable the transfer of water resources between areas of the country in the same way that the interstate highways facilitate traffic flow. Such a system would enable the movement of water from say, the water-soaked northeast (which had a very wet winter) to the parched southwest. Traditionally major projects like this have always been the purview of the government. But in today’s dysfunctional political environment, it is unclear if the US government is even remotely prepared for the challenges that would accompany building a national canal system.
Regardless of one’s views on the efficiency of government or the effectiveness of corporations, it is clear that the world is entering a new era where water is now fair game as an economic resource. And that is a scenario that presents both major risks and major opportunities for mankind.
By Michael McDonald for Oilprice.com
17 Comments on "Who Will Control The World’s Water: Governments Or Corporations?"
Rodster on Sat, 11th Apr 2015 8:38 am
In the 21st century water will become more important and valuable than oil or gold. Which is why we’re seeing big corps like Nestle’s buying up water rights. Then we waste and pollute so much clean water which adds to the problem.
Apneaman on Sat, 11th Apr 2015 9:43 am
Drought leaves Utah’s farmers wondering what they can grow
http://www.capitalpress.com/Water/20150410/drought-leaves-utahs-farmers-wondering-what-they-can-grow
Apneaman on Sat, 11th Apr 2015 9:46 am
A Megacity Runs Dry
https://www.adbusters.org/magazine/119/megacity-runs-dry.html
Rodster on Sat, 11th Apr 2015 10:01 am
Great article you posted Apneaman !
Apneaman on Sat, 11th Apr 2015 10:15 am
The Privatization of Water: Nestlé Denies that Water is a Fundamental Human Right
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-privatisation-of-water-nestle-denies-that-water-is-a-fundamental-human-right/5332238
Apneaman on Sat, 11th Apr 2015 10:21 am
Why desalinated water is not going to solve California’s problem
https://thesenecaeffect.wordpress.com/2015/04/07/why-desalinated-water-is-not-going-to-solve-californias-problem/
Dredd on Sat, 11th Apr 2015 10:39 am
“Governments Or Corporations?”
there is a difference that matters?
Joda Solomon on Sat, 11th Apr 2015 11:46 am
I have heard nothing about how to redistribute the country’s water or renegotiating the Columbia River pact with Canada so that the water is diverted to the US instead of running into the ocean. Obama seems to think the west US’s drought can be solved by building more reservoirs. What planet is he on?
Apneaman on Sat, 11th Apr 2015 12:21 pm
Joda, I suspect that many people will be heading towards the water – not the other way around.
Plantagenet on Sat, 11th Apr 2015 12:45 pm
Global Warming is creating mega-droughts. The problem isn’t whether governments or corporations control the water—the problem is that Global Warming is creating water shortages no matter who controls the water.
Wayne A. Biszick on Sat, 11th Apr 2015 1:16 pm
The last time I heard, the water supply is under Gods’ purview.
Apneaman on Sat, 11th Apr 2015 1:30 pm
Apparently your God is not happy with y’all worshiping Mammon.
ghung on Sat, 11th Apr 2015 1:47 pm
The question I have is how much water will be even worth controlling. We hear stories of how water in places like China is highly polluted, but it’s all over. The US military industrial complex has a long legacy of rendering waterways and ground water unfit for consumption. My first wife was stationed for two years at Camp Lejeune, NC (1981-1983), and shortly after joining me at Norfolk Naval Base we lost our first child (stillborn). I’m pretty sure what the cause was:
Camp Lejeune and the U.S. Military’s Polluted Legacy
It was only about a year later that we found out that the water there was contaminated; now a ‘Superfund’ site.
I recently read an article downplaying the dangers of leaking storage tanks at the Hanford site in Washington State. The gist of the article was that any contamination that may(?) reach the Columbia River would be downstream from the point where most farmers get their irrigation water, so it shouldn’t be a problem. WTF?! As the article, linked above, mentions, these sites are nationwide (worldwide, actually).
I think bottled water will be big business for a long time, as if it’s really any safer. As some soldiers in Afghanistan found out a few years ago, that isn’t always the case.
Anyway, I consider myself lucky for now as we have three great springs on the place and own the entire watershed; no one upstream to fock things up. The so-called ‘pristine’ reservoirs downstream have fish consumption warnings; high levels of mercury, primarily from coal-burning west of here. Not sure anyone is safe these days, and I’m sure we haven’t seen the worst of it.
Apneaman on Sat, 11th Apr 2015 2:46 pm
My condolences for your loss.
ghung on Sat, 11th Apr 2015 3:47 pm
Thanks, Ap; ancient history now, but we often think these things generally affect other folks in other places. We’ll all be realizing the consequences of neglect and indifference at some point, IMO.
Makati1 on Sun, 12th Apr 2015 4:59 am
Some here like to point out China’s pollution problems to counter my Us claims, but they are only ~50 years behind the Us in pollution production. None of the Us rivers are safe to drink. Not even close. Nor is most of the ground water from wells and springs if you really had it tested.
Us corporations have been dumping toxins for decades before it became a pubic topic of conversation. And they still do. What do you think the Us would be like if we brought all of our manufacturing back from Asia? Think Beijing on it’s worst days.
Davy on Sun, 12th Apr 2015 7:22 am
Makster, Cat Piss, the US has had years to clean up its act. Much of the worst pollution has been exported to Asia through globalization. Asia took our low paying jobs but it also got the pollution. Your comment on our rivers is truly a lie. US water is safe enough by industrial man standards to drink after purification. The majority of groundwater is safe and all community wells are tested. I had my ground water tested and it is fine.
There have been and are super fund sites that will never be cleaned up but many have been. Asia on the other hand is just now starting to confront the massive and overwhelming destruction it is doing to its environment by cancerous growth never seen before by man. Asians don’t care about the people they care about growth. This is a growth at all cost strategy to trickle back down to the masses. The problem is it is killing the masses it is supposed to trickle down to. This growth is happening so fast with such a large population that there is little chance of mitigation and clean ups. Collapse will come and there will not be money to clean up places like China that have been destroyed by modern industrialization