The Price of Thirst

The Global Water Crisis

The great water heist is underway. A group of multinational corporations, abetted by national governments, quasi-government organizations and various investment firms, seek control of the world’s water supplies. In 2001, five companies controlled about 75% of the world’s privatized water. By 2025, estimates predict that 21% of the world’s population and 39% of US citizens will be buying water from private sources. Selling privatized water for profit goes on while one billion people worldwide lack clean drinking water and waterborne illnesses kill more people than any other cause.

The main for-profit water companies are two French firms – Suez and Veolia – followed by China’s Beijing Enterprises. Suez and Veolia began as corporations in North African nations under French colonial control. Suez, the world’s longest continuously operating multinational corporation, entered the water and electricity businesses in 1880. Napoleon created Veolia Water in 1835 by decree. Both firms are multinational and opaque.

The World Bank has promoted policies favoring the construction of dams, which displaced 40 million to 80 million people worldwide and ...