Water
The wars of the next century will be about water.
--- The
World Bank
A number of key research and environmental organizations such
as Worldwatch Institute, World Resources Institute and the United
Nations Environment Program have been sounding the alarm for well
over a decade: If water usage continues to increase at current
rates, the results will be devastating for the earth and its
inhabitants.
--- Maude Barlow
It is a sacred duty to help someone who is suffering from
thirst. However, it is a sin to transfer water just so that people
can flush their toilets and wash their cars in dry areas...It makes
no sense and is ecological and economic madness.
--- Georg
Wurmitzer, mayor of the small town of Simitz in the Austrian
Alps
By U.N. estimates, two thirds of humanity will face shortages of clean freshwater by the year 2025. Transnational corporations are working to privatize water, deregulate it, and sell it to the highest bidder.
According to the
BBC report World Water Crisis, Mexico city is
sinking because of the amount of water being pumped out from
beneath its foundations. One of the largest and most populous
cities in the world, it was once a lush land of lakes. But over the
last 500 years the lakes have been drained and the surrounding
forests chopped down. As the city grew in size, the water problem
magnified. With no adequate drainage system, today rainwater mixes
with sewage and is used for irrigation. The city is now at serious
risk of running out of clean water. An estimated 40% of the city's
water is lost through leaky pipes built at the turn of the
century.
News & views
Debate over water privatization pits economics vs. human rights Two billion still without clean water, UN warns World Seen Straining to Double Food Output by 2050 Dennis Kucinich: Water is a Matter of Public Debate Why Does the WTO Want My Water? International Consortium of Investigative Journalists report "The Water Barons" Jon R. Luoma: Water for Profit Jon Jeter: South Africa's Driest SeasonAs world water demand has tripled over the last half-century, it has exceeded the sustainable yield of aquifers in scores of countries, leading to falling water tables. In effect, governments are satisfying the growing demand for food by overpumping groundwater, a measure that virtually assures a drop in food production when the aquifer is depleted. Knowingly or not, governments are creating a 'food bubble' economy.
Personalities
Maude Barlow
Maude Barlow occupies the positions of Chair of IFG Committee on the Globalization of Water and National Chair of the Council of Canadians. She is the author of Blue Gold: The Fight To Stop The Corporate Theft Of The World's Water.