The dangers of speculation in water: ‘It is not considered a right, but a market product’.
Organisations and experts have warned Spain’s Congress of Deputies that water privatisation affects the quality of the service, makes access more expensive and threatens communities with less management capacity.
Water is a human right, recognised by the UN in July 2010. Yet 4.4 billion people, more than half the world’s population, do not have access to it, according to a study published in the journal Nature in the summer of 2014. Experts and activists speak of a water crisis, and on the occasion of World Water Day on 22 March, the Public Water Network (RAP) held a conference at the Congress of Deputies, warning of the dangers of the commercialisation and financialisation of this common good.
“Commercialisation and financialisation are processes that turn water into a product that can be speculated on”, explained Nuria Hernández, a member of RAP and the New Water Culture Foundation, who moderated the conference. Private management is ‘one of the factors that threatens access to water’, said Erika González Briz, coordinator of Ecologistas en Acción and founder of RAP, who attended the event. The environmentalist pointed out that in more than 50% of municipalities in Spain, private companies are in charge of managing this resource. “Their main objective is to maximise profits”, she denounced, which leads to job insecurity, cuts in maintenance and an increase in tariffs.
González Briz pointed out that local authorities are often confronted with large corporations when it comes to accountability for water management. “There is an asymmetry between a transnational company and a municipality”, as companies have greater economic, communication and legal resources. This makes it difficult for communities to demand good service.
In this sense, Pedro Arrojo, UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to drinking water and sanitation, stressed the role of states in ‘ensuring that municipalities are not sold out to large corporations’. “The market is good for what it is good for, but it is not a good tool for managing human rights,” he stressed.
This is a global problem. The Global Commission for the Economics of Water (GCEW) is pushing for public-private partnership models, explained Emmanuele Lobina of the University of Greenwich.
He described the GCEW’s proposals as “delusional” and criticised the fact that this type of relationship is asymmetrical: the public sector takes the risks and the private sector reaps the benefits. He also warns that this model could attract ‘predatory’ financial actors who would undermine the nature of water as a ‘common good’.
The importance of indigenous peoples
Iva Markovic, of the People’s Water Forum, argued that water is not only a common good, but also a social good, which is why it should be in the public domain. But she also believes that management should be participatory in nature, with local communities playing a prominent role.
“Indigenous and local people are important in the implementation of water policies. They are the guardians of natural resources, which is often neglected”, Markovic said in her speech. “We need a solution that is seriously adapted to each community. The problem is international, but there is a lot of room for cooperation with local communities that also face these problems”, she stressed.
Spain’s role in water justice
Markovic called on the Spanish government to promote and facilitate this participation, which has been called for by more than 500 organisations that have signed the Manifesto for Water Justice. Arrojo also called on the Spanish government to institutionalise the debate and governance of water so that it is at the heart of the United Nations and not at the mercy of private lobbies.
“Water is part of the commons and as such should be managed on a non-profit basis, with criteria of solidarity, equity, cooperation, mutual support and democratic control”, said Susana Gil of the RAP, reading out the conclusions of the event.
For this reason, the RAP has called on the government to draft a law on the vital minimum of water, which would guarantee that people in situations of vulnerability receive a minimum supply of water free of charge, while explicitly prohibiting water cuts in such circumstances.
