World Water Day: Private Sector Still Eyeing to Own Every Drop

[Jack Rabbit]

From Inter-Press Service via CommonDreams
Dted Tuesday March 22

World Water Day: Private Sector Still Eyeing to Own Every Drop
Selling water rights to private institutions and then having people buy them back again is an issue that keeps rearing its ugly head at every World Water Day, which falls on Mar. 22
by Anil Netto

PENANG, MALAYSIA -- Selling water rights to private institutions and then having people buy them back again is an issue that keeps rearing its ugly head at every World Water Day, which falls on Mar. 22.

Goaded by international financial institutions and corporate interests, regional governments are pressing ahead with plans for more private participation in water services. And yet all across Asia, water privatization schemes are failing to deliver clean and safe drinking water to communities, despite forcing consumers to pay for a basic human right.

''If you look for a water privatization arrangement that works ... I cannot think of any,'' Manila-based Mary Ann Manahan, a researcher with Focus on the Global South, told IPS in a telephone interview.

In contrast, the sterling performance of some major publicly managed water utilities in Asia has demolished the argument that private sector participation is the only way to improve efficiency.

Read more.

[chlamor]

1. Predators-Water Barons

Thanks for three great posts- This, Klare's article and Hiro' article

[madeline_con]

2. Does that explain...

Google's image of water draining out of its text today?