The World Bank: Driving the Corporate Control of Water
article from the Corporate Accountability Monitor
www.stopcorporateabuse.org/cms/...3.cfm
(We'll run outa oil and drinkable water will be the liquid gold)
Today, more than one in six people around the world lack access to enough water. When people don’t have clean water, they use whatever water is available to them—even if it is unsafe.
That’s what things were like in the U.S. around the turn of the last century. Many people were dying from waterborne diseases like cholera and typhoid. Water systems were privately owned, and less than 5% of the people in cities like New York had access to safe drinking water.
By late in the 19th century, private water systems began to be municipalized in a move to strengthen public health. Public control was backed by a sizable commitment of public revenue. Near universal access to water and sanitation was achieved. Within decades waterborne diseases were all but eliminated.
“Our national leaders seem to have forgotten this history,” said Kathy Mulvey, international policy director for Corporate Accountability International. “Once a source of pride and prosperity, U.S. public water systems are no longer getting the attention and funding they need. And in recent decades, water privatization by corporations has been presented as a cure-all for the global water crisis.”
The World Bank has been the engine behind this corporate takeover of water systems and services. The World Bank shapes how, from whom and on what terms people in developing countries receive their water—by investing $2 billion annually, and by influencing the policies of other international financial institutions.
Although it has shifted its rhetoric in recent years, the World Bank continues to press its privatization agenda:
*
By requiring countries to privatize water systems as a condition for receiving loans;
*
By advocating for water governance structures that favor large corporate users over individuals and communities;
*
By directly financing water giants like Suez, Veolia, Bechtel and Biwater;
*
By forcing municipal systems to adopt commercial approaches to water rates and service provision.
The stated mission of the World Bank is to alleviate poverty. Yet corporate control of water has proven a dangerous policy—in economic, social and environmental terms. There is much evidence that private sector involvement in water services delivery has failed to improve poor people’s access to water or save governments money. What’s more, it often leads to price hikes, reduced access, service cut-offs, loss of local jobs, contract renegotiations and broken promises for service delivery and network expansion.
article from the Corporate Accountability Monitor
www.stopcorporateabuse.org/cms/...3.cfm
(We'll run outa oil and drinkable water will be the liquid gold)
Today, more than one in six people around the world lack access to enough water. When people don’t have clean water, they use whatever water is available to them—even if it is unsafe.
That’s what things were like in the U.S. around the turn of the last century. Many people were dying from waterborne diseases like cholera and typhoid. Water systems were privately owned, and less than 5% of the people in cities like New York had access to safe drinking water.
By late in the 19th century, private water systems began to be municipalized in a move to strengthen public health. Public control was backed by a sizable commitment of public revenue. Near universal access to water and sanitation was achieved. Within decades waterborne diseases were all but eliminated.
“Our national leaders seem to have forgotten this history,” said Kathy Mulvey, international policy director for Corporate Accountability International. “Once a source of pride and prosperity, U.S. public water systems are no longer getting the attention and funding they need. And in recent decades, water privatization by corporations has been presented as a cure-all for the global water crisis.”
The World Bank has been the engine behind this corporate takeover of water systems and services. The World Bank shapes how, from whom and on what terms people in developing countries receive their water—by investing $2 billion annually, and by influencing the policies of other international financial institutions.
Although it has shifted its rhetoric in recent years, the World Bank continues to press its privatization agenda:
*
By requiring countries to privatize water systems as a condition for receiving loans;
*
By advocating for water governance structures that favor large corporate users over individuals and communities;
*
By directly financing water giants like Suez, Veolia, Bechtel and Biwater;
*
By forcing municipal systems to adopt commercial approaches to water rates and service provision.
The stated mission of the World Bank is to alleviate poverty. Yet corporate control of water has proven a dangerous policy—in economic, social and environmental terms. There is much evidence that private sector involvement in water services delivery has failed to improve poor people’s access to water or save governments money. What’s more, it often leads to price hikes, reduced access, service cut-offs, loss of local jobs, contract renegotiations and broken promises for service delivery and network expansion.
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Spain
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