Do you believe that every human being has a right to have water … for free?
Back in 2013, Peter Brabeck the Chairman of the Board of Nestlé upset the world when he began pushing for the privatization and control of water across the world. He created such a furore that he back-tracked his initial statement and gave his reasons.
Before I go into what those reasons were, let me say that Nestlé wanted to take control to the extent that in 2000 at the World Water Forum they successfully lobbied to
stop water being declared the universal right of every person.
Since then they have been pushing for control.
Already water is being pumped out by the millions of gallons, put into plastic bottles which are then sold to a gullible public to the point that it has become almost a status symbol of the wealthy.
Will it end up that just the wealthy will be able to afford clean water?
Peter Brabeck’s argument is that if the water is owned, then it is the responsibility of the owner to make sure that it is clean. He believes that as water remains “free” it is
“wasted, polluted and unsustainably managed … it is abused and polluted making it undrinkable in its natural state. And, if we’re not careful, the water will become so polluted that the citizens will not be able to use it in any way at all.”
You have to admit that he has a point – take the town of Flint in the USA as a classic example of water being polluted so badly it can’t be used.
Geez, even N.Z. is well on the way to having a drinking water problem as over 70% of all waterways are so badly polluted they are deemed to be toxic. Also, according to NZ ecologist Russell Death,
“We have the highest level of many of these waterborne gastrointestinal diseases in the OECD.”
that’s just insane for a country that tells the world we are clean and green.
However, I certainly am NOT in favour of privatizing water… not one little bit. In fact, I’d like to see companies who bottle water for the supermarket shelves to either stop doing it or replace the plastic with recyclable glass!!!!
Because there’s the other problem with “private water”…
Plastic is the bane of the modern world and it is time we face up to the fact that we just have to STOP using it.
All of this has been prompted by a petition to:
Tell Nestlé that humans have a right to water.
Stop locking up our resources!
You can sign the petition here: Tell Nestlé
I’d be very interested to read what you think about this so please feel free to scroll down and use the comments section below.
