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DAM-L Fwd: World Water Day - 22 March/LS (fwd)
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Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2001 11:11:29 -0800
To: irn-safrica@netvista.net
From: Lori Pottinger <lori@irn.org>
Subject: Fwd: World Water Day - 22 March/LS
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>
>PSI press release <<...>>
>
>PUBLIC SERVICES INTERNATIONAL B.P. 9, 01211 FERNEY-VOLTAIRE CEDEX, FRANCE
>Tel +33 (0)4 50 40 64 64 Fax +33 (0)4 50 40 73 20
>E-mail psi@world-psi.org WEB http://www.world-psi.org
>
>One Trillion US Dollars down the drain
>for World Water Day 2001
>
>The annual market value of the world's water supplies is estimated at about
>US 1 trillion dollars. It is this money value that is putting enormous
>pressure on governments throughout the world to sell supply services to
>private firms. The pressure is coming from the private firms themselves that
>are mainly giant multinational corporations chasing opportunities for
>profit.
>
>Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux (SLE) is an example of the sort of corporation that
>now controls water supplies in more and more countries. SLE operates on all
>five continents and profits from water supply service contracts from
>Casablanca in Morocco to San Diego in Chile.
>
>The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are the allies of the
>corporations in this rapidly increasing takeover. Over the past decade, the
>Bank and the Fund have been loaning money to cash-strapped governments only
>on the basis of privatisation of public water assets. In the year 2000, for
>example, 12 countries received IMF loans on the condition that they
>privatise their water services. Eight of these were in sub-Saharan Africa.
>
>According to Hans Engelberts, General Secretary of Public Services
>International, the privatisation of public water supplies benefits everyone
>except the most critical groups: those who consume water and those who work
>in the water industry. Our research has shown time and time again,
>Engelberts says, that the pursuit of profit and the supply of water services
>are incompatible.
>
>As a result of consumer pressure, the giant corporations are being forced
>out of water. Recently SLE was kicked out of Grenoble, France for
>overcharging and corruption. The same thing happened in Cochabamba, Bolivia
>where water was wrested from US giant Bechtel and returned to public
>control.
>
>Engelberts said that recent developments in South Africa, where the
>government has pledged to ensure 6000 litres of safe water per month to all
>poor households, are a step in the right direction.
>
>But, he said, there is no reason to sell off public water supplies at all.
>As with most other public services, the real causes of poor public water
>supply are lack of funding and poor management. Public water should be a
>top priority for all governments. This means that it should be given both
>priority funding and top quality management.
>
>****************************************
>
>For more information contact :
>
>
>David Boys
>Public Services International
>45 avenue Voltaire, BP 9
>F-01211 Ferney-Voltaire Cedex
>France
>http://www.world-psi.org
>Tel: +33 4 50 40 11 65
>Mobile: +33 6 07 09 26 47
>Fax: +33 4 50 40 73 20
>e-mail: David.Boys@world-psi.org
--
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network <'})))>><
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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