GEF

Unit 4  |  The Global Water Crisis 114 WATER CONCEPTS: WATER PRIVATIZATION AND THE COCHABAMBA PROTESTS Privatization means the transfer of a business, industry, or service from public to private ownership and control. Much of the opposition to the economic treatment of water has coalesced around the privatization of water and water systems in several developing countries. In many poorer countries, weak or corrupt governments have been unwilling or unable to supply viable public water infrastructure. As a component of economic reforms, several large companies have stepped in to build infrastructure and supply water and sanitation services. As these are private companies, their primary motivation is to make a profit rather than provide water to the world’s poor. Water privatization has sparked a number of grassroots protests in communities around the world that were forced to begin paying for previously free or nearly free water services. Probably the best-known of these erupted in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2000. In this case, the government of Cochabamba hired the private Aguas del Tunari consortium to build a large dam and run the city water supply. In order to cover the costs of its investments, Aguas del Tunari began charging residents dramatically higher costs for water. These cost increases represented an impossible financial burden on poor households, sparking street protests that claimed the lives of several people. Aguas del Tunari was eventually forced to withdraw from the water contract, and water services in Cochabamba were returned to public management. Although the privatization of Cochabamba’s water supply was not in the best interest of its citizens, it is notable that poor residents of the city still remain inadequately served by the public system. Water privatization remains a growing and extremely controversial component of the global water crisis.