Nestlé CEO Says Water Is Food That Should Be Privatized – Not A Human Right

[dballance]

31. Water is Already Being Managed in Most Developed Countries - But as a Public Resource

If you pay a water and sewer bill (it may be hidden in your rent or condo association fees) you are already paying for water. You're paying for the reservoirs or wells that supply the raw water product. You're paying for the filtration and purification of what gets delivered to your tap. The difference between what Brabeck wants and what is happening right now is that water is being managed as a public resource for the good of the public. This has been done quite well by all sorts of municipalities since the late 1800s here in the US.

Brabeck wants to take a public resource that is being managed quite well right now and make it a private resource. I doubt anyone believe for a moment he has the noble motives to bring that resource to the poor people of undeveloped countries. In fact, I suspect he'll make things worse for them. If huge corporations are allowed to privatize water resources in the poor and underdeveloped countries (which they're already doing by buying large tracts of land over aquifers) they're not going to give it to people for free - which he clearly states. Some one will have to pay for it. Will it be the governments of these countries - as if that matters because where would they get the money but from the people? Will it be the people directly - those poor people who barely get buy now as they haul water from publics wells that are sometimes miles away from where they need it?

My answer is yes. People do have a basic human right to water. It should never be privatized completely.