National Geographic News
Blue gold. The essence of life. The phrases reveal the importance many attach to water, the natural resource most fundamental to human survival. Though debate continues over who owns, or should own, water, few dispute that the abundance of fresh water resources on Earth is decreasing. And no one can deny the deep dependence of all life forms on the vital liquid.
Maude Barlow, an activist and chairperson of the Council of Canadians, a consumer non-profit, is one of the most outspoken opponents of the privatization of world water resources. Campaigning to have water declared as a human right, Barlow has written the book Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water, and has contributed to the essay collection Whose Water Is It? published by National Geographic Books.
National Geographic News recently spoke with Barlow by telephone from her home in Ottawa, Ontario.
Where are problems of water distribution greatest?
Twenty-two countries in Africa are without [safe drinking] water. People just have no access. South Africa is in very, very serious trouble. [In] many parts of Latin America, although there is water, the ordinary people have no access to water unless they're wealthy. Mexico City is running out of water; the whole Mexican Valley is in serious trouble. China is paying for its economic miracle, becoming the economic superpower of the world, so-called, by destroying its water tables. Two thirds of the cities in northern China are now in severe water scarcity situations. Seventy-five percent of all of India's rivers and waterways are polluted beyond use, as are 80 percent of China's. You just can't overstate it.
There are two [reasons why] water doesn't reach people. One is that the actual geographic area is running out of water. The other is that there's no delivery, no ability for people who can't pay to get it.
Latin America is a good example of a place that has an abundant water supply, generally. There are desert areas, but by and large in Latin America, there is water. But it doesn't get to the people. That's more political than about scarcity.
In the Middle East, the lack of water is because there's not enough water. Some places, like South Africa, it's a little bit of both. There's not enough water there. But the rich have enormous access to as much water as they want, and it's very, very cheap. The poor don't have any. So, sometimes it's a combination of both.
You state this quite plainly as a building water crisis.
To me, it's like those comet movies with the comet [heading toward] Earth. All of a sudden, everyone has more in common than they did yesterday. It doesn't matter what your religion, or how much you've hated each other—you're all just about to die. So they send Tom Cruise or Bruce Willis to shoot the comet out.
To me, this water crisis is the comet. It's here. … [T]he human family, the Earth is about to experience a water crisis of monumental proportions. It is, in my opinion, the worst, most frightening environmental threat that exists, more than climate change, more than the oceans, more than anything. This is the one.
As an activist, you work against what you describe as the commodification of water? What does that mean and why does it concern you?
