The Fight Over Water

There have always been debates, conflicts and wars over who has the rights to water, who has the power to control it. In 1929, Hebert Hoover expressed that "True conservation of water is not the prevention of its use. Every drop of water that runs to the sea without yielding its full commercial returns to the nation is an economic waste" p.16, Whose water Is It.
Today, the most powerful stakeholders of our water are private companies such as Suez, Vivendi and Thames Water. Many assume that governments are the ones who control public water systems, and in theory they are right. But during the past decades, governments have been forced to hand over their public water services to these private companies, who's main responsibilities are to  shareholders and not to the public that they are supposed to serve.

 
Watch this this clip from the documentary FLOW  for a greater explanation!

 

Source: YouTube

Private water companies are not the only ones to "mess" with public water! The well known conflict between Coca Cola company and local farmers affected by its activities in India is a prime example. Coca Cola had been pumping water from local wells and aquifers which led to farmers having less and less access to this vital resource. This brought about violent protests in the state of Kerala which led to the closure of Coca Cola company in that location.

Everybody is involved in water issues, but their seems to be the reoccurring trend of rich companies against the less wealthy public. Even though these elite companies have power, people will not give up the fight when something as important as their access to clean drinking  water is threatened. 
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