Water, water everywhere, but not a drop for free

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop for free

The Vrishabhavathi River, which flows through Karnataka

By Desiree Alemao

BANGALORE (Feb. 2)—Looking at the current situation of water in the country, we see what can be soon called a water crisis rapidly spreading across the country.

There are two perspectives that one can have in terms of privatization of water. First: How can a private company take control of something that belongs to entire community, and how is the community compensated for it? How can the government assume authority to hand these rights over without consulting the communities that will be directly affected by privatization of water supply?

The second angle that may be looked at is how outsourcing the management of water sources to private institutions can make the supply of water more efficient and consistent.

Another assumption is that with people now paying for their water, something they took for granted, they will not waste it.

A little girl at a public water tank that soon won't exist

What we need to realize is that the places that indulge in wasting water the most—the urban areas and industries—will continue to do so as paying a certain amount doesn’t mean much to them. The rural communities and poor farmers are the ones that will be affected the most by this move towards privatization of water as they are entirely dependant on natural water sources for most of the livelihood and day-to-day activities.

Low-income families already face a lot of issues with the inflation in food prices and the consequent rise in the cost of living. They cannot afford to spend half their wages on water.

Several big corporate houses are pushing for the complete privatization of water as it would be highly beneficial for them. For instance: In the Sheonath Project in the state of Chattisgarh, a section of the Sheonath River was handed over to Radius Water Ltd., a company floated by a local Mr. Soni. In 2001, he was given a “concession” to build a dam and has full rights to the 23.6-kilometer reservoir and the water collected behind it.

Since the industrial estate has very few industries right now and there is little possibility of more industries coming up soon, the Chattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation had given large sums of money to Radius Water for nothing. The government assured the people of Chattisgarh that they would receive an efficient supply of water by ensuring releases from the dam upstream, and even gave the company money to construct the project.

If this how privatization works, then I do not see how it is benefit the people in any way. In this situation, there would only be a handful of beneficiaries which would negate the larger objective of reaching out to all. The primary aim of making water more accessible will not be achieved.

Villagers have been left high and dry since the dam was constructed as their livelihood largely depended on water from the river. Whether they get water to irrigate their fields depends entirely on the company. There were about 16 villages downstream that were affected since the water flow to their region was entirely cut off by the dam.

This one example of what a private company’s partial control over a source of water makes us wonder what the outcome would be like if water was entirely privatized.