Just at the time governments are backing away from their regulatory responsibilities, giant transnational water, food, energy and shipping corporations are lining up to take advantage of the world's water shortage, acquiring control of water through the ownership of dams and waterways; the development of new technologies such as water desalination and purification; control over the burgeoning bottled water industry; the privatization of municipal and regional water services, including sewage and water delivery; the construction of water infrastructure; and water exportation.
'Water is the last infrastructure frontier for private investors," says Johan Bastin of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Tragically, water is also the last frontier of nature and the commons.
The Globe and Mail of Canada states that privatizing water looms as the national mega-industry of the next decade, with potential investment in the tens of billions of dollars. "Water is fast becoming a globalized corporate industry." In May 2000, Fortune magazine stated that, in a world fleeing the vagaries of technology stocks, 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, with only 5 percent of the world's population currently getting its water from corporations, the profit potential is unlimited.
Water is the new oil, with the same level of corruption in government and industry control. The problem is that we can survive without oil, but not without water. Deprive people of convenience and they will complain. Deprive them of the necessities for life and they will tear the system apart.
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