Water is acknowledged as a human right in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and at the 1997 Water Conference. In 2000, the World Trade Organization declared that “access to safe water and to sanitary means of excreta disposal are universal needs and indeed, basic human rights.”

The amount of water on planet earth is the same today as at the time of the creation of the planet. It’s also the same water. 70% of the earth’s surface is water. However, only 2.6% of all water on earth is useable fresh water. The world cannot increase its supply of fresh water: we can change the way we use it.

The world is running out of fresh water. By the year 2025, as many of 2/3 of the people will be living in areas with a serious water shortage. Demand may exceed availability by 56%. In 2004, 31 countries suffered from water scarcity.

All the best and cheapest sources of water are now being used. In some regions we are approaching the limits: in the Middle East, 58% of all reasonably available fresh water is already being withdrawn. In Eastern Europe the figure stands at 41%.

1/6 of the world’ population does not have access to safe water.
2/5 do not have access to adequate sanitation.
12% of the world’s population uses 85% of its water and the 12% don’t live in the “Third World”.

Most of life’s necessities are dependent on water. It takes 1,000 tons of water to grow one ton of wheat in China. It takes 39,000 gallons of water to produce a car in the USA. That includes the tires.

A leaking faucet can waste 100 gallons a day.

80% of the diseases in developing countries come from consumption of and exposure to unsafe water. 25,000 people die from this cause each day.

Water borne disease kills a child every eight seconds. If we added the amount of money people in the United States spend on cosmetics each year ($9B) to current expenditure it would be enough to provide water and sanitation for all the people in the developing world. Each American uses 153 gallons of water per day. Each Briton uses about 88 gallons, each Asian uses 23 gallons and each African uses 12 gallons. Gambia and Mali are the countries whose people use the least amount of water. Gambians use about 11/2 gallons and Malians 21/2 gallons. Researchers estimate that 13 gallons per day is what is needed for a human life. The good news is that clean water and sanitation is getting to more people each year. However, the growth in people benefiting is being outstripped by the yearly growth in the human population.

Water is often distributed inequitably by class, gender, and even ethnic group. The poor usually pay more for water than the rich. In Lima, Peru, for example, poor people may pay a private vendor as much as $3 for a cubic meter of water, which they must collect by bucket and which is often contaminated. The more affluent pay 30 cents per cubic meter for treated water provided through the taps in their house. In Lusaka, Zambia, low income families pay, on average, half their household income on water.

Women in Asia and Africa walk for an average of 2 1/3 miles to collect water each day.
The weight of water that women in Asia and Africa carry on their heads is the equivalent to your airport luggage allowance.

Economic globalization has made water a commodity. When water is transported for sale across international boundaries, trade laws like those found in CAFTA, NAFTA and WTO can be used to limit the ability of governments to regulate the withdrawal of water from its rivers and aquifers. In May 2000, Fortune Magazine stated that water is the best investment sector for the century. The World Bank places the value of the current water market at close to $1 trillion. However only 5% of the world’s population currently is getting its water from corporations. Already profit from the water sector is just a little less than that coming from the oil sector. Alaska was the first jurisdiction in the world to permit the commercial export of bulk water.

Globalization’s imperative of unlimited growth makes it impossible for countries to make water preservation a priority. In 1998, in the midst of a three year drought that dried up rivers and depleted aquifers, the Cyprus government cut the water supply to farmers by 50% while guaranteeing the country’s tourists all the water they needed.

In 2000, over 8 billion gallons of water was bottled and traded globally, over 90% of it in non-reusable plastic containers. In 2001, bottled water was worth $22 billion. Americans drank 7 billion gallons in 2004. 1.5 million tons of plastic is used to make bottles each year. Science tells us that bottled water is often not as pure as tap water in developed countries. Bottling companies are not obligated to follow the same standards as municipal water companies.

Bottling companies have moved their production facilities to those countries where they can acquire water at a low cost. This sometimes creates severe water shortages in that country and health problems as water that could supply wells is diverted to bottling operations.

Privatization of municipal water services often leads to higher prices. When water service was privatized in France, customer fees rose 150%. There was also an increase of instances of water contamination. Once a company purchases the right to provide water for a municipality, trade rules make it very difficult to reverse that decision.

Principles of Water Protection -

Maude Barlow, Chair of the International Forum on Globalization Committee on the Globalization of Water offers for discussion the following principles for water protection:

-Water belongs to the earth and all its species. Only by redefining our relationship to water and recognizing its essential and sacred place in nature can we begin to right the wrongs we have done.
-Water should be left where it is when possible. Tampering with nature has the potential to ruin ecosystems.
-Water must be conserved for all time. The only way to solve the global water scarcity is to radically change our habits.
-Polluted water must be reclaimed. The human race has collectively polluted the water and must collectively take responsibility for reclaiming it.
-Water is best protected in natural watersheds. Watersheds, not political boundaries, will lead to more collective and wise decision-making.
-Water is a public trust to be guarded at all levels of government. Therefore, water should not be privatized, commodified, traded or exported in bulk for commercial purposes.
-An adequate clean water supply is a human right. Governments everywhere must implement a “local sources first” policy to protect the basic rights of their citizens to fresh water.
-The best advocates for water are local communities and citizens. The public must participate as an equal partner with governments to protect water. The public must always be consulted when water policy is being made. Economic globalization policies are not watersustainable. To protect water we must live within our watersheds and stop viewing the world as one large consumer market. Greater regional self-sufficiency, not less needs to be the goal.

Sources: Corporate Examiner- Dec. 2004, BBC News, The UN Committee on Economic Social and Economic Rights, Rethinking Schools, Blue Gold: a Special report by the International Forum on Globalization, YES –Winter 2004