Why Big Banks May Be Trying to Buy up Your Public Water System

[ensho]

http://www.alternet.org/water/105083/


Water is the new oil for global financial powerhouses and water is being commoditized and traded in global stock exchanges.

Today in addition to being able to buy water rights and purchase lakes on private land, an individual or a corporation can invest in water-targeted hedge funds, index funds and exchange-traded funds (EFTs), water certificates, shares of water engineering and technology companies, shares of multinational private water utilities, shares of multinational banks and investment banks that own water companies, and a host of other newfangled water investments in this U.S.$425 billion industry which is expected to become a U.S.$1 trillion industry within five years. And if one happens to be a tycoon, one can also create his or her own private water districts and water utilities.

The recent media coverage on water has centered on individual corporations and super-investors seeking to control water by buying up water rights and water utilities. But paradoxically the hidden story is a far more complicated one. The real story of the global water sector is a convoluted one involving "interlocking globalized capital": Wall Street and global investment firms, banks, and other elite private-equity firms -- often transcending national boundaries to partner with each other, with banks and hedge funds, with technology corporations and insurance giants, with regional public-sector pension funds, and with sovereign wealth funds -- are moving rapidly into the water sector to buy up not only water rights and water-treatment technologies, but also to privatize public water utilities and infrastructure.

-snip-

Often, the picture painted by mainstream media and water-rights activists is too simple -- that of a single corporation (such as Coca-Cola in India or Bechtel in Bolivia) "corporatizing water;" the real story is not just of flamboyant tycoons (such as U.S.'s billionaire and former oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, or more recently, Hong Kong's real-estate billionaire Li Kai-shing, or Britain's magnate Vincent Tchenguiz) single-handedly grabbing water rights or individual corporations (e.g., Coca-Cola and Nestlé) sucking dry springs and groundwater to the detriment of poor subsistence farmers or slum-dwellers, but vastly complex global networks and partnerships of investment banks and private-equity firms linking together with other institutions (such as public-sector pension funds in Australia, Canada, and Europe; and sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia) and multinational corporations elsewhere to buy up and control water worldwide.

-snip-

All this water-market reshaping is occurring in the midst of a global frenzy over privatization of public infrastructure -- considered to be low-risk investments -- such as roads, bridges, tunnels, ports, airports, gas, and water and sewage treatment. Water is one of the critical infrastructures, and Wall Street knows it. For Wall Street and global capital, water is also so much more -- it is the new petroleum of this century, an essential commodity to be invested, owned, controlled, and speculated upon to maximize profit.

-snip-

************** (my stars)

Water is more important than oil: it takes some 1,800 gallons to produce a barrel of crude oil, some 4,000 liters of water to produce a liter of ethanol, and 900 liters of water to make a liter of biodiesel. Several people have already made the statement about water being the new oil of the 21st century; recognizing its importance, Wall Street has rushed into global water markets to cash in on this liquid gold. The former heads of state, United Nations chiefs, CIA and Pentagon analysts, CEOs, tycoons, analysts with the world's largest investment banks and private-equity firms, and oil companies' executives have agreed on this.

***************

-snip-

Simply put, without water, there's no agriculture and food production, no industries, no viable ecosystems, and no life. Major multinational banks and corporations around the world are waking up to the reality of water's emerging scarcity, which can disrupt national economies and lead to social and political chaos. In the midst of global climate change which brings extreme droughts and in the midst of a chaotic global financial and economic environment, water is a commodity likened to gold: it is liquid gold that sustains life. Hence, in the recent few years we have witnessed a mad rush by Wall Street and multinational banks and super-investors elsewhere to buy up and control this commodity.
-snip-
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[shireen]

1. K&R. this is the next "oil" nt

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. Coming soon to a reality near you...

Peak Oil 2: Waterwars

:scared:

[AzDar]

3. K & R ...

:kick:

[tjwash]

4. wow...someone has really turned the crazy up in GD today

alternet :eyes:

[DCKit]

7. *You* haven't been paying attention.

They've got Monsanto, Cargill and a couple of others influencing our food supply and the water takeover has been going on for a decade, though not necessarily for "control" but for profit - purchase a municipal system, spend little or nothing on maintenance, raise the cost to consumers then, when the system is near collapse, walk away with the profit. Under Dem rule, the ability to profit by neglecting maintenance might become a problem.

Water should remain public and controlled by the people who use it and pay the bills.

[snappyturtle]

12. A few years ago our water was a collective. This was what my husband

explained to me upon his surprise to learn on our joint return here in TX that it is now owned by Aquasource (assholes). We had a very hot and long summer...more than normal. One afternoon I just happened to see a water truck parked near our meter (on the road) and a guy doing something...I didn't know what. Luckily, Mr.Snappy was around and he hustled out to find the guy shutting off our water. This was 2 days after it was due. We had mailed our payment to Dallas just as always. The service guy said the bill was not paid! My hubby got Aquasource on the phone and it wasn't paid. So he paid it by phone; as I recall I think he had to use a credit card, which royally miffed me. Anyway, they said it would be three days before they could get it turned back on! This incident occurred on a Thursday. So it would be Monday. Friday, Mr.Snappy hunted down the haunts of the water company truck, where they lurk, and got the guy to come out and turn our water on. It was a hundred degrees! Wouldn't you think they would have at least called us and warned us? We have never missed or been late with a payment. Here's the kicker: two months later we get an envelope with charred mail from the Post Office....guess what one of the items was? A mail truck had a fire on it two months prior.

Our three acres had two wells on it. One, ir-retrievable and the other we don't know yet. We can use it if it can function. Another change occurred while out of state: NOW property has to be of five acres size to have a NEW well drilled! So, we're going for a water collection system. Screw 'em.

[BREMPRO]

15. OMG, thats criminal!

I've got my own well here in Maine, I now appreciate it more.

[snappyturtle]

21. I have lived half my life on well water, well even more than that, I am

so po'd with this system. Right now it's very cheap but...I'm sure it will rise. We haven't gotten a good answer from anyone about how this take over happened. Once we get a water collection system going off our new building we can collect 5000 gallons per half inch of rain! Big roof! We want to take an adult ed class about it...we're now in a position to do so since the building is finished. We'll add an osmosis filtering system and we should be good. Unfortunately, this summer we've had draught! But, we have gotten a little rain which would probably be enough for the two of us and a small garden. LOVE your well and be VERY thankful!

[Karenina]

8. YOU are W-A-A-A-Y behind the curve on this one.

Google Bechtel.

[brentspeak]

9. ???

Alternet is a pretty good site. You might be confusing it with something else.

[Festivito]

10. Not so crazy. Pipelines and stoppages. Just like oil and electric.

[Hannah Bell]

11. alternet is not "the crazy".

[Raster]

13. And you obviously did NOT take your medication.

[Dawgs]

27. +1

[dipsydoodle]

5. And then look forward to this for example

Bechtel's Ugly Ecuador Water Adventure : http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x2350

Thanks Judi. :fistbump:

[joeunderdog]

18. Then there's BushCo buying up Paraguay

largely because they have some of the largest water reserves on the planet. They along with good friends Rev Moon, (previously) Enron, Bechtel and others know that this resource will be the most valuable on earth.

And they're BANKING on it. Just like the banks themselves are...

[Idealism]

6. Who didn't know this

Water several times over the past 5 years was more expensive per gallon than a gallon of gas. Sick

[truedelphi]

14. One reason for our presence in Iraq is not only for the sake of our

Oil supply but to help our buddy Israel meet its water needs.

[KamaAina]

16. You know who used to buy up water systems around the world? Enron.

That's right, Enron.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azurix

Azurix Corp. was the water services division of Enron Corporation, formed by purchasing Wessex Water in 1998. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States, Azurix was part-floated on the NYSE stock exchange in June 1999, with Enron retaining 35% ownership. The company owned and operated facilities in North America (mainly Canada), Europe, and South America.

:scared:

[dweller]

22. their plan was to buy up all the world's water rights

it was in the works before they were put out of business


i remember reading about it during the whole Enron debacle.
dp

[ColbertWatcher]

17. And this is why we shouldn't support hydrogen cars.

Can you just imagine how expensive drinking water will be once banks own water rights and it will be used as a fuel source!?

No hydrogen cars ever!

[gristy]

25. !

You're kidding, right?

[glinda]

19. Access to water is one reason we bought our property

We have a private well and live across the road from the Mississippi River. Now if the Ethanol Plant doesn't suck up all of our water.

[BlueIris]

20. Scary. nt

[Overseas]

23. Water. like other utilities, is part of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Without pure water and some electrical power, we will have less liberty to pursue happiness as we'd be felled by diseases held at bay by those basic shared utilitarian technologies. We appreciate a government that will carry out those shared objectives.

So I will make some noise against the privatization of municipal water systems. I would advocate their nationalization as part of the Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness clauses.

Just like national health insurance.

Nationalization and conservation. Once nationalized, let us popularize conservation methods, focused upon the most wasteful first. Let conservation technologies become part of our national defense budget. Preserving water delays any resource wars that might await a more profligate approach.

[underpants]

24. Yep. Water is the next commodity. Indie and Atlanta are already privatized

Check out price changes in both since that happened. Also, as Enron and others, did with electricity there is suddenly more doubt-less consistency in supply. The is less reward if there is no risk.

[rosesaylavee]

26. Ha. I told a supervisor that water would be the new oil at my last job when

she asked why I wanted to promote a rain barrel workshop at our weekly business meeting. She literally rolled her eyes. (And yes, if you guessed that she is Republican, you would be right!) I was running an environmentally-related non-profit retail business - and used related workshops to draw in customers as well as volunteers. She just couldn't see how water was something to be concerned about. And "rain barrels were so unattractive", as a realtor, she just couldn't think it would be a good idea for us to encourage people to use those things as it would drive home prices down.

Small of me to mention here - but there you have it, I am small.