Activist’s Corner

To All:
Remember the documentary film “Thirst”? Did you know that the producers have now published a book? “Thirst: Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water” from Wiley imprint Jossey-Bass.
Brock

Thirst: Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water,”
Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman

Is water a human right, or a commodity to be bought, sold, and traded in the global marketplace? Will it become the oil of the 21st century? A source of profit for those in control, and a commodity available only to those who can afford to pay?

Out of sight of most Americans, global corporations like Nestle, Suez, and Veolia are rapidly buying up our local water sources –lakes, streams, and springs– and taking control of public water services. In their drive to privatize and commodify water, they manipulate and buy politicians, clinch back room deals, and subvert the democratic process by denying citizens a voice in fundamental decisions about their most essential public resource.

The citizen response has stunned some of the world’s largest companies. It’s an apple pie, grassroots rebellion that crosses conventional political lines. Democrats, Republicans, radicals, evangelicals converge to defend their water and their democracy from government complicity in corporate globalization. It’s a hometown resistance with global reach, and it is the template for a future movement to take back democratic control of public space, resources, and institutions from corporate oligarchies.

THIRST investigates eight recent high-profile controversies over the corporate takeover of water (and wastewater treatment) in the U.S, and illuminates how citizens are fighting back in heartland communities like Stockton, CA, Lexington, KY, Holyoke, MA, and Mecosta County, MI. Political corruption, high stakes financial takeovers, and behind the scenes maneuvering by some of the richest corporations characterize a David and Goliath battle in which local citizens muster creative and often surprising organizing methods to preserve their right to local, public control of this precious resource.

The PBS documentary Thirst showed how communities around the world are resisting the privatization and commodification of water. Now THIRST, the book, picks up where the documentary left off, revealing the emergence of controversial new water wars here in the United States.
THIRST exposes the corporate attempts to:
• Take over municipal control of water in communities around the country
• Buy up rights to groundwater in the US
• Create and corner the market on bottled water

It also shows how people in affected communities are fighting back to keep water affordable, accessible, sustainable and public:
• By creating new methods to challenge the corporate juggernaut in an age of globalization
• By challenging tired clichés of Republican and Democratic political alignments

We are at the tipping point in the new, global water wars. The United States is ground zero. What happens in the next few years will determine the fate of water and our basic democratic rights. THIRST is a battlefield account of the conflict.

From C/Net News, March 30, 2007

Artificially low prices of water are preventing investment in technologies to improve infrastructure and provide fresh water to people, according to a report published on Thursday.

Sustainable investment research firm Progressive Investor said that there is impending water crisis in its “Investing in Water” report.

Fresh water supplies are being stressed because of population growth, industry and agriculture and climate change, the report said. In addition, $1 trillion is needed to upgrade the worldwide infrastructure of distributing freshwater.

There are available technologies to clean or desalinate water but utilities can’t afford to invest in them or upgrade infrastructure because water prices are subsidized at “absurdly low” rates.

The report notes, however, that there is growing awareness or water issues which will mean steady investments by utilities

“A few niche segments are experiencing rapid growth,” said Rona Fried, CEO of Progressive Investor. “Ultraviolet radiation and membrane filtration are growing 15% a year, as they replace chlorine for disinfection. Metering and monitoring are strong growth areas, as is desalination.”

Mandatory Restrictions:
Water Agencies May Impose Summer Cutbacks

Wyatt Buchanan,
Christopher Heredia,
Chronicle Staff Writers

April 12, 2007

More than 2 million Bay Area water users could face mandatory water restrictions this summer if they do not cut back on consumption now, the head of the San Francisco Public Utility Commission said Wednesday.

The Sierra snowpack — the major water source for people in San Francisco, parts of the Peninsula, the South Bay and southern Alameda County — is less than half of what it should be for this time of year. As of the beginning of the month, the snow pack was at 46 percent of normal.

Additionally, precipitation at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is at the lowest level since 1987 and at the fourth-lowest level since record-keeping started in 1919. The reservoir is the source San Francisco’s water.

The water and snow levels are being measured every two weeks. Officials will look at the measurements at the end of May and make a recommendation on mandatory restrictions for San Francisco’s 2.4 million users, said Susan Leal, general manager of the city’s Public Utilities Commission.

Mandatory restrictions could mean reducing consumption up to 20 percent. Customers who do not comply could face fines or have their water turned off.

Calls for conservation have also been sounded in the North Bay. The Sonoma County Water Agency is asking its 750,000 users in Sonoma, Marin and Mendocino counties to cut back voluntarily.

Lake Mendocino, which supplies those users, is predicted to be at its lowest level since the 1970s by September, said Brad Sherwood, spokesman for the water agency.

“It’s basically going to be a puddle in the lake,” Sherwood said.

The agency is not looking at mandatory restrictions, but “if conditions maintain and we don’t get any major rains the rest of the spring, then anything is a possibility,” he said.

The East Bay Municipal Water District, which serves 1.3 million customers, hasn’t decided whether to call for voluntary conservation. District staff members plan to announce any such measures at a meeting on April 24, said Charles Hardy, spokesman for the district.

“Until then, we’ll just watch and wait,” Hardy said, adding that the last time the district had mandatory rationing was 1989-91 and before that the mid- to late 1970s. “We know it’s dry and could lead to voluntary conservation. We just don’t know yet.”

In the Contra Costa Water District, officials are encouraging people to conserve but not making a formal request that they do so.

“We’ll be rolling out a higher level of awareness for people to be careful, because while the situation is tenable this year, if next year is dry, it could be much more serious,” said Patty Friesen, spokeswoman for the district, which provides water to 550,000 customers in fast-growing eastern and central Contra Costa County.

Other water agencies in Marin and Santa Clara counties do not anticipate any need for voluntary restrictions, representatives said.

Rainfall has been below average statewide, and Southern California is especially dry, said Maury Roos, chief hydrologist with the California Department of Water Resources.

Previous years have seen above-average rainfalls, however, which can help mitigate that for agencies with large groundwater storage capacity, he said.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission recommends a number of water-conservation steps, including: turning off the faucet when brushing teeth or washing dishes; taking shorter showers; cleaning sidewalks with a broom and not water; running washing machines only with full loads; planting drought-tolerant plants; and replacing old toilets.

The last time Bay Area residents experienced mandatory water-use restrictions was during the six-year drought that ended in 1993.