At the third world water forum in Kyoto, Japan, a high-level report estimated that in order to provide clean drinking water to the world’s population, worldwide investment would have to rise from $80 billion a year to near $180 billion.
Governments are hard-pressed to provide that much capital, so most will have to come from the private sector. However, activists in Kyoto mostly from developed countries fiercely resisted the notion that private enterprise might improve poor countries’ water supply.
In Cochabamba, Bolivia, riots three years ago over hikes in water charges forced the cancellation of a contract for a consortium including the Bechtel Corporation to supply water. Elsewhere, private companies have successfully supplied water in developing countries:
One developed country that has depended on private water for centuries is France. Indeed, the world’s two biggest private water companies are French.
Source: Bogged Down: Why the Private Sector Should Play a Bigger Role in Water Supply, March 28, 2003, Economist.
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http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1649199
For more on Water Problems http://www.ncpa.org/iss/env/
FMF Policy Bulletin\15 April 2003
