Water and the WTO

THE WILLAMETTE FALLS

Willamette Falls Power Station was formed at the end of the Oregon Trail in 1888. It was the first station in North America to transmit power over electric lines between two cities. Before then, the falls were an important fishing and trading location for many tribes. After the power station was constructed, it became home to paper mills that are crumbling and falling into the river today. A tribal coalition plans to restore the falls to its pre-industrial condition with a new public access project on the river’s west side.

Water and the WTO

The World Trade Organization (WTO) conference was hosted in Seattle in 1999. It initiated one of the largest protests the city had ever seen. I never understood why my neighbors to the north were so agitated. As the world’s largest international economic organization with an overall objective to use trade to raise living standards, create jobs, and improve people’s lives, their goals sound more than reasonable. The intergovernmental organization provides a framework for countries to negotiate trade agreements and resolve differences, and it promotes free trade by reducing barriers to it, like tariffs. Don’t developing nations need our help? And don’t we like the inexpensive gadgets provided by companies that manufacture abroad?

Free trade sounded good to me, so why the protests? And why were tensions so high during this February’s annual WTO conference? The meeting revealed bad feelings between industrialized nations, like those between China and the United States, and the conflicts between industrialized nations and activists who want a greater say in rules managing their country’s trade. 

Protesters view WTO as an organization devised to increase the profits of international corporations. Their regulations allowed foreign companies to take over critical services with little oversight.  WTO rules say little about unfair trade practices like cartel agreements, price fixing, and the abuse of dominant position on the market.  Economists  Dan Rodrik and Ha Joon Chang and anthropologist Marc Edelman argue that the WTO “only serves the interests of multinational corporations, undermines local development, penalizes poor countries, [and] is increasing inequality.” All too many agreements have led to restricted access to food, water, and healthcare, causing large numbers of deaths.

I delved further into water rights and water and wastewater management systems to understand the relationship between the WTO, the World Bank, The International Monetary Fund, and international corporations repairing infrastructure problems. I label the WTO as the Fixer. The Fixer goes into a country to deregulate its industry, softening the reluctance of elected officials to protectionist policies.  This opens the way for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to offer loans with interests that can tax a fragile economy to the hilt. With money guaranteed and oversight slight, international water cartels are willing to take over community water systems. This often leads to rising water rates and draining aquifers farmers have depended on for generations. Companies are able to acquire water rights to bottle and sell it back at 2,000 times the cost of getting it from a kitchen faucet or pumping it from a well.

Water is also vital to manufacturing. When it’s diverted to produce widgets, companies abuse the privilege by polluting the rivers with industrial waste, making the water inaccessible for livestock and human consumption. When diverted to large agriculture, small farmers losing water rights are forced off the land with nowhere to go. Peasant protests are becoming common. “Take agriculture out of WTO” is a familiar protest cry.  Indigenous and peasant communities are also affected and are seen campaigning for rights to land, water, and governance of their own people.

Understanding the positive and negative aspects of the WTO is complex. International trade can reduce production costs, lower prices, and provide more choices. Looking at the U.S., you can understand what happens when production is outsourced to countries with struggling economies. It leaves our workers struggling to make a living wage. However, protections in affluent markets raise domestic prices and affect consumers in poorer countries.  When global food imports are sky-high, the least developed countries that depend on them suffer. According to an article in Sage Magazine, “Since 2004, attention in the WTO has shifted from overarching human rights concerns toward a focus on technical detail constraining developing countries from acting to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to food.”  This goes for water as well.

This review scratches the surface of a multifaceted issue that forms a backdrop for The Water Factor, a Rightfully Mine eco-thriller about corporate crime. The book will be available to pre-order on Amazon. Look for my announcement next Saturday. 

Please share your thoughts below.

The Willamette Falls Painting is in a private collection. To see other works by Eichinger, go to www. echingerfineart.com or for information, contact me at marilynne@eichingerfineart.com

The Water Factor will be available for pre-sale on Amazon by April 1st in paperback and ebook editions. Help me make its launch a success.

Book Launch — April 28th, during the Earth Day Celebration between 11:45 and 2:30 at 1211 SW Main Street. I will introduce the book and discuss water issues during a half-hour talk and be available for signings afterward.. 

The event is sponsored by the Community for Earth and will inspire you to activism for a healthy planet.

References:

Website (2024) World Trade Organization: Promoting Free Trade. Academy 4SC. Retrieved from  https://academy4sc.org/video/world-trade-organization-promoting-free-trade/?

Website (2024) Who we are.  World Trade Organization. retrieved from https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/who_we_are_e.htm#:~:text

Hawkes, S.& Plahe, K (2018) Worlds apart: The WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture and the Right for food in developing countries. Sage Publications.  Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0192512112445238?icid=int.sj-full-text

Website (2024): The World Trade Organization should reorient from rule-making to dialogue. Retrieved from https://www.chathamhouse.org/2024/03/world-trade-organization-should-reorient-rule-making-dialogue

Water: A Right or Commodity?

SEE All.                                                                                                                                           Like the owl, watch and see what is going on in your community so you know how to vote and take action. 

Water: A Right or Commodity?

For millions of years, the animal kingdom treated access to clean and safe water as a For millions of years, the animal kingdom treated access to clean and safe water as a fundamental right necessary for life. In 2010, the United Nations recognized the right to water and sanitation as essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights. It took twenty years to get there. Advocates for this perspective believe that water should be managed as a public good, ensuring equitable access for all, regardless of ability to pay.

In 1992, at the U.N.’s International Conference on Water and the Environment, The Dublin Principle declared water an “Economic good” for the first time, spurring water to be traded for the first time. The debate of whether it was a commodity or not escalated until corporations took matters into their own hands. In the Hague, 5,700 people gathered at the World Water Forum convened by big business in 2002. The topic was how to benefit from selling water globally. Though U.N. officials, The World Bank, WTO, and 140 governments were non-voting attendees, they were not voting members. The main players were Vivendi, Suez, and food procession conglomerates like Nestlé. Since then, water has been one of the most actively traded commodities on Wall Street. It can be bought, sold, and allocated based on supply and demand. Proponents argue that treating water as a commodity encourages efficient allocation and incentivizes investment in water infrastructure and technologies.

The debate continues as water scarcity increases due to global warming and population growth. We are no longer a hunter-gatherer society wandering the globe, and stopping at freshwater holes. Nor are we farmers with guaranteed rights to collect water from clean-flowing streams and rivers on our properites. Today’s access to water revolves around the cost of managing it sustainably and efficiently.

With 89 percent of the U.S. population and 68 percent of the world’s population in cities, water scarcity is a pressing issue made worse by automotive runoff, household contaminants, industrial waste, and pesticides that pollute waterways. Wishing for filtered water to come to our kitchens and bathrooms for practically free is a dream, but with rates so high, an increasing number of residents can’t pay their water bills. In Detroit, tens of thousands of households had their water shut off in 2014 because they couldn’t pay their bills. One mother asked a U.N. representative, how he could deny a person the right to use a toilet.

Flint, Michigan, residents have dangerously high lead levels in their bodies and experience various health problems due to a mismanaged water system. Though not directly connected to Flint’s problems, Nestlé has been depleting local wells and wetlands nearby, paying almost nothing to bottle and sell it. In California, Nestlé pumps water from the San Bernardino National Forest for its Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water.

Forty-four nations, including the United States, abstained from the U.N.’s resolution affirming the human right to clean drinking water and sanitation.

The U.S. argued that water was not a human right despite its being necessary for survival. Since it passed, the resolution is a legally binding international law stating that water and sanitation must be sufficient, safe, acceptable, accessible, and affordable (not more than three percent of a household’s income). Unfortunately, this laudable goal is failing, with the attempt to gain private water rights growing.

Extensive land purchases are being made in America, Africa, and Asia for the water that goes with it. It has been labeled as the “great water grab.” JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank increased their water investments and companies like Northwest Natural Gas and PGE in Oregon have departments devoted to purchasing water rights. Companies that bottle and sell water, energy companies involved in fracking, and industries that use water to sell their goods have a huge incentive to acquire water rights. Some of the largest water corporations, like Suez and Bechtel, have taken over municipal systems worldwide to much criticism.

After the 2020 heatwave in California, The Chicago Mercantile Exchange allowed farmers, hedge funds, and municipalities to begin hedging against future water availability, with $1.1 billion in contracts at stake. This put a basic human right in the hands of financial institutions and investors. Rather than protecting the environment and ensuring universal access at a reasonable cost, privatizing water guarantees corporate profits will go to private companies. Activist David Hall studies past examples of privatization. A common example is what Guinea experienced where prices became seven times higher than those of their neighbors. On average, communities with privatized utilities have bills that are 59 percent higher than those with public providers. Given this statistic, why would any community let its PUD slide into public-private arrangements that raise rates?

Change is happening slowly due to rising alarm. Last year, U.N. experts concurred that water should be managed as a common good and urged the United States to “ensure that human rights and water defenders be placed at the core of the UN-Water Conference.” They convened a three-day session to consider the global water situation for the first time in 50 years.

In my area, The Portland Utility Board (PUB) serves as a community-based advisory board for the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) and the Portland Water Bureau (PWB). In 1999, Portland employees provided eighty-five percent of its drinking water and 95 percent of wastewater treatment. Since then, the market began opening up to private providers for capital to repair or replace aging infrastructure without going to the public for bond approvals. In 2023, The Portland Water Bureau seated twenty-eight contract teams for projects worth $1.83 billion.

My hope is that our cities will end this practice. Private companies are difficult to monitor, and their goal to make money for shareholders is passed on to consumers. I agree with the Indigenous nations that signed an agreement “reject absolutely the commodification, privatization and dispossession of water being implemented by states and private sector entities around the world.”

The way Indianapolis shows us that with proper incentives, public employees can be as competitive as outside vendors was an example in the City Club of Portland Report on Privatization of Government Services. Non-profit entities can manage as well as for-profit neighbors. Rather than changing the Monopoly board going forward, let’s continue to keep Public Utility districts government-owned for the public good.

Get ready for Earth Day and help launch The Water Factor in mid-April and write a review. It will first be available online in paperback, ebook, and audio versions and in bookstores by August. 

References:

Burtka, A. & Montgomery, W. (2018) A right to water – Is water a human right or a commodity? ERB INSTITUTE, University of Michigan. Retrieved from https://erb.umich.edu/2018/05/30/a-right-to-water-is-water-a-human-right-or-a-commodity/#:~:text

Statements and Speeches (2023) Water is a common good, not a commodity: UN experts. United Nations Human Rights. Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2023/03/water-common-good-not-commodity-un-experts

Shukla, N. (2021) Water is Now Being Traded as a Commodity Amid Fear of Scarcity. Earth Org.Retrieved from https://earth.org/water-trade/

DiFelice. M. & Grant, M. (2022) We Have a Right to Water. The U.S. has yet to Deliver. Food & Water Watch. retrieved from www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2022/09/15/we-have-a-right-to-water-the-u-s-has-not-delivered/

The City Club of Portland (1990) Privatization of Government Services. Report. Retrieved. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1492&context=oscdl_cityclub

Newcomb, T. (2023)  Portland, Ore., Picks Contractors for $1.8 B in Water Projects ENRNOrthwest. retrieved from https://www.enr.com/articles/56809-portland-ore-picks-contractors-for-18b-in-water-projects

Website. Historic UN 2023 Water Conference generates transformative commitments. United Nation. Retrieved from https://www.unwater.org/news/historic-un-2023-water-conference-generates-transformative-commitments

Website. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DECLARATION FOR THE 2023 UNITED NATIONS WATER CONFERENCE. Retrieved from https://www.iitc.org/indigenous-peoples-declaration-for-the-2023-united-nations-water-conference/

Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts below.

SEE ALL is a 24” by 48” by 2” acrylic painting available for $895. Free shipping in continental U.S. Purchase online or contact me at marilynne@eichingerfineart.com

Headlines Around Water

With 71 percent of the Earth’s surface covered by water, you might wonder why there is a crisis. Since saline oceans hold 96.5 percent of the earth’s water, we rely on the small amount that is freshwater to support human, plant, and animal life. A warming planet and booming population make it difficult to keep up with human needs. For an overview, scan these headlines for a glimpse into the future.

Last week’s blog was a preview look at the cover graphic for The Water Factor, a thriller about corporate crime, that will be available for sale in mid-April. Though the novel is a work of fiction, the issues around water are based on fact. Over the next month, I will share the research that inspired me to write this story. Today’s writing provides an overarching view of the problem. Next week, I will discuss what the corporate takeover of water by utility companies and water cartels is doing to communities throughout the world.

TOWNS SELL THEIR PUBLIC WATER SYSTEMS–AND COME TO REGRET IT.

LAKE STATION, Ind. — This hard-luck town just south of Chicago is weighing a decision confronting many small and midsize cities with shrinking populations and chronic budget deficits: whether to sell the public water system to a for-profit corporation. Neglected water infrastructure is a national plague. By one estimate, U.S. water systems need to invest $1 trillion over the next 20 years. In a special meeting, the council voted 5-2 to sell the plant for $20.68 million, the water company’s original offer. Elizabeth Douglass (2017) Washington Post and Carole Carlson Chicago Tribune.

Mexico City’s long-running water problems are getting even worse. Climate change and mismanagement have exacerbated the inequalities between those who have access to water and those who don’t. Authorities are warning of major water shortages across huge swaths of Mexico City until the rainy season begins in June and refills the reservoirs. Emily Green (2023 )NPR

Lawsuits Mount for Nevada-based Real Water, amid FDA probe. Lawsuits are mounting against a Las Vegas-based bottled water brand, Real Water, amid a U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigation and accusations by more people in more states that it caused liver illness and other ailments. KEN RITTER (2021) Associated Press

PFAS Water Utility Lawsuit Shows An Increasing Trend. In the latest lawsuit, the Pennsylvania-American Water Co. (“PAWC”) sued numerous PFAS manufacturers over allegations that the companies knowingly or negligently allowed the contamination of Pennsylvania’s drinking water. (2021) CMBG, LAW

Drug cartels stealing millions of gallons of water for marijuana grows in Antelope Valley. Drug cartels have been stealing 2-3 million gallons of water a day to feed illegal marijuana grows in the Antelope Valley, officials said. Asked where the water was being stolen from, Rep. Mike Garcia, who represents the state’s 25th District, said: “Right here from our local aqueduct system. The California Aqueduct flows right through the Antelope Valley. They’re taking it out of wells. They’re stealing it from fire hydrants.” Leo Stallworth (2021)ABC Eyewitness News

IS WATER THE NEW DRUG FOR MEXICO’S CARTELS. What it’s like when narcos run your privatized water system. Tamara Pearson(2013) New Internationalist.

Kenya: Nairobi’s Water Cartel Woes. The urbanization of Nairobi has significantly strained its water infrastructure and the supply of water to the city. That strain has raised concerns about the cleanliness of the water and the issue of water cartels tapping into the water mains.Poorly maintained pipelines and the growing concern about the activities of water cartels call for multilateral action. Christopher Crellin (2018) Global Food and Water Crisis Research.

Global Water Crisis: Facts, FAQS, and How to Help. Water, the essence of life on earth, is a vital resource. Yet, a global water crisis continues to challenge people’s access to the quantity and quality needed for drinking, cooking, bathing, handwashing, and growing food. Sevil Ober (2024) World Vision.

Water Shortages Destabilize Ethiopia and Wider Region: A major food crisis triggered by drought and conflict is affecting more than 20 million people in East Africa.”The drought in eastern and south-eastern Ethiopia mostly affects pastoral people who are forced by water shortages to move their livestock, such as cows and sheep, elsewhere, creating tension between villagers who, overnight, have to share the same pasture land and water points,” Fabrice Vandeputte, (2023) Handicap International’s programs in Ethiopia.

U.S. TRIBAL NATIONS DEAL WITH A LEGACY OF POOR DRINKING WATER: Warm Springs: The community’s four-decades-old water treatment plant has been plagued with problems. In 2019, a boil-water notice continued for three months in some parts of the reservation. The community has, at times, been forced into communal showers. It hasn’t always been clear that enough water is available to fight fires. Scholars say access to safe drinking water and reliable sanitation is a problem for nearly half of Indigenous people in the U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has dedicated billions of dollars from its massive infrastructure spending to improve water and sewage services for tribal nations. (2024) Deschutes River Conservancy.

Water and Agriculture. An interview with John DeVoe: “Eighty percent of our water goes to agriculture. You have to understand there is no charge for water itself in the transfer of the right to use it (a public resource) from the states in the West to agriculture. Agriculture does not pay for it. It’s not that they pay “a little” or a “small amount”, they do not pay for it. Not their irrigation districts (corporations) and not individual farmers. It is free to them. There’s no need to focus on far-away corporate control and “what ifs” when the real corporate control is right here, right now – within irrigation districts, reclamation projects, utilities, and so on. The corporate control horse – at least in the American West – has already left the barn.” John DeVoe (2019) WaterWatch of Oregon.

Keep Nestlé Out of the Gorge. Upon learning of Nestlé’s attempted water grab, conservation and public interest groups formed a coalition to raise awareness and opposition to the proposal. They created a blueprint for protecting local water.The plan would have given Nestlé a fifty-year guarantee of access to 118 million gallons of water annually from state-owned Oxbow Spring, which it would transform into hundreds of millions of bottles of Arrowhead brand water to be sold across the Northwest. Cascade Locks city officials, two Oregon governors, and the state fish and wildlife agency all lined up behind the proposal, continuing to back it throughout the long approval process. Yet nearly a decade later, in October 2017, the plan was officially dead. Jaffee, D. (2024) Columbia INSIGHT.

The Water Factor will be online and in bookstores by mid-April.

I look forward to your comments below.

Cover Preview for Family & Friends

You are the first to view the cover graphic for The Water Factor, a thriller about the corporate takeover of water. Though set in the future, everything in the story is based on fact. You’ll be surprised, horrified, intrigued, and concerned about water cartels operating throughout the world without much oversight. They consider water to be blue gold, a commodity to buoy up billionaires, letting millions drown in poverty. 

The Water Factor will be in bookstores and online by mid-April. Over the next few weeks, I will share some of my underlying research, with a few insights gleaned from what I learned. I hope that people will become better informed and do more to protect the most important substance needed to support life.

Do you consider water a right or commodity. Over the next few weeks, I look forward to reading your thoughts .