No Water Gets No Attention

In a revealing article on Canadian Maude Barlow by Embassy Magazine, the newly minted senior adviser on water to the UN General Assembly, lets loose on what has driven her for the past 23 years: Water. With her new position, she is seeking to position water-related issues into the global forefront, alongside poverty and food issues.

Since WaterDrop started this blog, we’ve been continually seeking the information to show that water is a growing crisis that is looming underneath the world’s radar. Ms. Barlow frankly states that more deaths are caused by water-borne diseases than by war, traffic accidents and HIV combined. These alarming facts are true and the water crisis receives very little attention.

I find it astounding that in both this country and the United States, there was another federal election with not one mention of water. I find it astounding. I mean in the U.S., there are seven states in absolute crisis now. To me it’s such a disconnect and it’s still the biggest problem we have.

Ms. Barlow strives to ensure the clean water that we currently have is protected and that the private sector does not have the power to dictate costs over those who need pure, clean water the most. She believes that technology is not the answer to the question.

Can we protect the sources we have as best as we can or are we going to cavalierly destroy them and then assume technology will clean it up?

Check out the full article here.

Canada’s own Maude Barlow named senior UN water advisor

Maude Barlow, a world-renowned water activist and Canadian, has been named the senior water advisor for the United Nations. She will be working closely with Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, president of the 63rd session of the United Nations, to bring the water issue into a global light.

She is attempting to work with the United Nations to introduce a three-pronged plan.

Three goals: Use the incredible talent, research and resources that exist at the UN and give it direction, a vision and cohesion. Second: To shift the power balance around water from institutions like the World Bank and World Water Forum and give them transparency at the UN General Assembly. And third, he is supportive of the principle of the universal right to water. We will be unveiling a plan on Dec. 10, which is the 60th anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Maude Barlow.

Check out the full article here. It’s a great article with Ms. Barlow expressing great concern on the growing global water crisis. Not only does she talk about the water of the world at large, but the impact Canada has on the world’s water supply. Why don’t we prevent a problem before it begins? Canada is not impervious to water problems, there are growing water scarcities all over the country.

You can check out a documentary on water that recently came out here. The film is called “Flow” and has  been featured in film festivals all across the world (with Sundance being one of them). Maude Barlow is featured heavily in this film. The documentary asks us a vital question: can anyone really own water?

Maude Barlow on Water and Ecology

Who Owns Water?

Countless sources point out that water is headed towards a crisis. Little do we know, we are in the midst of a worldwide water crisis.

Is water a human right?

Many believe that water is a renewable resource, that once it is used, more can be manufactured, created, manufactured and so on. This is not true. Corporations believe that water is a commodity. In a study by the Environmental Business Journal, the United States alone generated over 100 billion dollars in revenue from water in 2003. The study also states that the industry is growing by 10 percent every year.

However, is water a commodity? In an article by Kathleen O’Hara of the Toronto Star entitled World Views Collide Over Water, she points to dedicated individuals like the Council of Canadians chair, Maude Barlow (she also wrote the book Blue Covenant: the Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right of Water). O’Hara points out that “on one side, large corporations with, as Barlow points out, the assistance of most First World governments, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and even the United Nations, are trying to promote the concept of water as a commodity, like oil, to be owned, sold and traded.” O’Hara also goes on to quote Barlow that these corporations and organizations “have established an elaborate infrastructure to promote the private control of water, and they work in close tandem with one another.”

On the other side of the fence, there are people that Barlow believes that water is “the common heritage of all humans and other species, as well as a public trust that must not be appropriated for personal profit or denied to anyone because of an inability to pay.”

Which side of the fence would you choose? Is water a human right or a commodity to be bought, sold, packaged, marketed, traded and bartered with? With the dwindling fresh water reserves around the world, do you want someone to control that water in order to make a profit or do you believe that it is something that must be guarded, protected and shared. It’s a simple choice, but a relevant one considering the global water crisis that is underway. We all have one thing in common, from the villager in the smallest African communities to the inhabitant of sprawling metropolitan centres; we need water to live. Do we deserve to own water?