Global water summit sparks protest

Late last week at the World Water Forum, large, mostly peaceful demonstrations were carried out against the meetings in Mexico City. The seven-day forum, which began on Mar. 16, pledged to focus on the world's poor, many of whom live on less than 2.5 gallons of water per day–one-thirtieth of the daily usage in some developed nations. But protesters said the conference represented big corporations interested in running water systems for profit. Among the thousands of demonstrators were people who came from the ranks of those living daily with sewage pollution, indigenous Indians whose water is being diverted to supply big cities, and farmers whose lands are scheduled to be flooded by hydroelectric projects. "You feel rage, you feel sadness," said Delfino Garcia Velazquez, a construction worker from the town of Tecamac on the outskirts of Mexico City. "We just want to have a say over our own water and manage it ourselves." "Nobody is talking about privatizing a resource; that is something inalienable, sovereign," said Mexico's Environment Secretary, Jose Luis Luege. Still, he said he strongly supported granting water concessions to private firms. That appeared unlikely to convince many demonstrators. "We don't want privatization because it will only serve as a business for someone," said Cristina Hernandez. "Services get more expensive with privatization, but not better." Hernandez said she lives on Mexico City's northern outskirts near a lake that fills regularly with sewage from the metropolis. She said fish are dying and brownish green foam is forming on top of the lake. Asked if she thought the water forum would solve any of these problems, Hernandez said, "I don't have faith in any officials anymore." As the forum began, some 10,000 people marched through the streets of the Mexican capital chanting slogans like "water belongs to all, the land gave it to us, let's stand together to block privatization." Laborers, eco-activists and students combined forces with protesters from Europe, South and North America against the threat of water privatization in a generally calm march under the watch of thousands of riot police. Protesters from UNAM, Mexico City's autonomous university, convened with theater acts, a drum corps and banners. Despite the calmness of the protest, afterwards violence ensued. Small isolated groups of people leaving the march were assaulted by plain clothed police and thrown into trash cans and then arrested. One group of youths, many of them in ski masks, battled with police, attacked a squad car with sticks and rocks, while riot police fired tear gas into the crowd. Fights about water are getting increasingly violent, with some experts warning of a future "water war." "It makes me mad that while the rich waste water like crazy, we just want a little water and we can't get it," said Francisca Banos, who lives in a neighborhood where water truck drivers are sometimes held hostage until they turn over their liquid cargo. "Every day, we wake up and wonder if today we'll have water," said Marcela Rivas, a street merchant in Iztapalapa who relies mostly on water trucks to supply her family of eight. "All this suffering," she said, wringing her hands in frustration. "All for water." Water clashes have already occurred in Mexico. In 2004, Mazahua Indians took over a treatment plant and cut off part of the capital's water supply, to protest against water extraction from their land. Although there is enough water in the world for everyone, 1.1 billion people have no access to this vital resource. The forum, composed of 11,000 delegates from 121 countries met to discuss topics such as the evolving role of national and local government, the lending community, the private sector and other stakeholders in the governance of water supply and sanitation provisions for the world's supply of fresh water. Previously held in the Marrakech, The Hague, and Kyoto, the event is a product of the World Water Council, created in 1996 as "an international multi-stakeholder platform for a water secure world," according to their website. Anti-privatization proponents accused the organizers of convening to advance the concept of corporate involvement in water management and distribution. Corporate Forum sponsor Coca-Cola has been accused of not paying for the water it uses in Mexico and according to Amit Sirvastava of the Indian Resource center, Coca-Cola turns 63 percent of the fresh water it uses into wastewater.