Privatization Of Water

In the current state of the world water is a commodity that is becoming more scarce and is terrifying as it is a necessity of life. It is sad to think that we live in a society that is extremely sophisticated and smart; however, we cannot provide water to the millions of people that do not have it or cease to find smarter means of obtaining it. Water is renewed by the natural processes of the Earth; however, we are polluting and degrading our water ways in such a drastic way that they are rendered unsafe and unhygienic. Much of the water available to us either being underground or on land are being depleted which is causing a major difficulty in provided people with potable water. There are many factors to consider when taking into account …show more content…
Numerous government agencies such as the World Bank, World Trade Organization, and United Nations are major contributors to this dilemma as they are encouraging the privatization of water by providing loans to poorer countries who have no means to oppose the conditions set forth in which they agree to give water rights to companies. This has allowed for companies to come into poorer countries as well as other regions and begin pumping water out of underground aquifers which have been around for millennia as well as utilize other resources such as waste water treatment and purification and sell the water to other areas in order to make a profit. In many of these areas water was already scarce due to water ways being polluted by many things including raw sewage. And with the addition of big companies, the displacement of water has become a great concern as water ways are being dried up and drastically changed farther worsening the issue. Additionally, with the diversion of water by countries building large damns to arrogate farm land and to provide potable water to large cities has caused water ways to dry up farther making the matter worse and leaving many without water. Along with privatization causing major issues, misuse is another contributing …show more content…
She also uses facts about the water companies which are major players in privatization and details current methods being explored to provide clean water to people. Corporations are much more concerned with making a profit than benefiting the people and has led to massive amounts of corruption, failing to alleviate the situation at hand. Privatization has displaced water where it is needed most and has had a negative impact on poorer people as well as countries. To fix this issue Barlow believes that the key is conservation as well as democracy and that water needs to stop being treated as property but rather a human right. I believe this to be the reason she cleverly titled her work “Blue Covenant” as covenant is a word meaning contract and is similar to how we are treating water today. Barlow opened my eyes to the real issues at hand regarding water supply and I will think twice before reaching for a bottle of water the next time I am parched as well as try and practice conservation whenever