LAT: A Thirsty World (Bush decision needed on role of Gov and water)

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-tsunami30dec30,1,1562812.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials

EDITORIAL
A Thirsty World


The new threat, like the old one, derives from water. The tsunami that killed at least 77,000 people in the Indian Ocean basin on Sunday has now put millions of others at grave risk of waterborne diseases such as cholera, hepatitis, dysentery and typhoid fever, according to the United Nations Children's Fund.

Relief agencies have been working tirelessly to replenish the drinkable water wiped out after the waves swept away wells, contaminated filtration plants and destroyed miles of pipes. There is widespread agreement among these groups about the need for water buckets, chlorine tablets and other survival tools, which have been slow to reach the area because of flooded roads and other logistical problems. But when it comes to longer-term issues — like how to rebuild those filtration plants and water mains — there is no such unanimity. That's largely because the current water shortage in Asia didn't start with the tsunami.

More than 1 billion people worldwide, many of them in the areas hit by the tsunami, lack access to safe drinking water. The reason, according to the World Health Organization, is the steady decline, since 1997, in wealthy countries' support for water purification programs. There are two reasons for this: One, water isn't seen as a resource critical to national security or economic growth, the way oil is; and two, governments have increasingly opted to leave water programs to private industry.

In the mid-1990s, corporations backed by the World Bank began installing and operating water systems in needy countries. They did it on a for-profit basis, with the view that charging for water was essential if it was to be allocated efficiently. Critics, though, argue that water essential for life shouldn't be privately controlled. <snip>

[malaise]

1. Opted?

governments have increasingly opted to leave water programs to private industry.

Most governments have been ordered to privatize by IMF, World Bank et al.

[papau]

2. Good point - perhaps caved to rich and their companies and lobbyists

would have been a more truthful phrasing.

The US is in effect the World Bank - and we have a great deal of control of the IMF.