Dear all The Daily newspaper New Age published editorial 29 june 2008 about water right. Water is a right, not an economic good Clean water has come to be one of the most expensive commodities in the world despite its apparent abundance. Only some 2.5 per cent of the world's water is sweet water of which some 0.4 per cent is available for human use with glaciers, permafrost and ground water accounting for most of that sweet water.
The Fortune magazine had termed water a trillion dollar industry at the beginning of the millennium and had pointed out that this sector held immense commercial potential. Since then, the water sector in general and the water supply system in particular have attracted significant attention.
Currently there are projects — worth almost a billion dollars — to corporatise the water supply and sewerage agencies of the large cities of Bangladesh, gearing for what can only presumed to be full fledged privatisation. These projects require the agencies to charge their subscribers with tariffs that ensure full cost recovery precluding the scope of providing services to the poor.
The recent report of the international corruption watchdog, Transparency International, highlights that the poor pay most dearly due to water corruption across the world. That the poor are the worst affected and end up paying much higher tariffs than richer citizens across the world has also been highlighted by a number multilateral lending agencies as a premise to push forward privatisation of the state-owned water agencies.
It is in this context that Transparency International's findings, and more importantly how they are used to reform the water supply agencies, takes on increased significance. There is no doubt that there is substantial corruption in water supply operations, which is inefficient, and worse still, the poor actually do pay much more than the rich. However, it is also not in doubt that privatisation of water supply, which is often the recommendation put forward from lending agencies and other organisations furthering corporate interest, has seldom worked in developing countries due to a host of reasons.
We believe that it is very important from which perspective actors use the water corruption report's findings and recommendations. This is because many agencies and organisations around the world, including in Bangladesh, consider water to be primarily an economic good over and above the fact that being essential to human life, it is not only a social good but must be considered a basic right of every human being. As such, water supply or access to clean water must not be viewed through the lens of commercial profitability of viability but as an obligation of the state that must be provided to every citizen regardless of their ability to pay for it. Syed Siful Alam Shovan
shovan1209@yahoo.com
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