water ablaze

343 Pages·2010·1.97 MB·English

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Multinational corporations have begun
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their predatory raids on the world’s water W JENS LOEWE
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resources. Here in Europe, too, water supply

systems have already been impacted by this G
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global privatisation wave and an integral part L
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of the basis of our human existence has been JENS LOEWE E
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reduced to a mere plaything at the mercy of
economic interests.
Jens Loewe describes for us the techniques
and tricks used by these large companies
E WATER ABLAZE
to get their hands on public assets – aided
and abetted by political accomplices – and Z
shows how democracy, self-determination
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and citizens’ rights are falling by the wayside
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in the process. He also illustrates the way in THE CONTAMINATION AND COMMERCIAL EXPLOITATION
which our water is being contaminated to an B OF A RARE AND VITAL RESOURCE
ever-increasing extent by industry, large-scale
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construction projects and chemicals, and the
Translated by Philomena Beital

far-reaching repercussions this environmental
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damage is having for all life on our planet.
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WATER ABLAZE provides information about the T
various options available to members of the A
public and the strategies that can be applied
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to oppose current developments, as well
as possible ways out of the present crisis.
Concerned and active citizens will find the
book helpful in their struggle against the
all-pervading power of the giant corporations

and institutions. Jens Loewe is an activist E
and the author of numerous publications on W
E
this subject. He lives and works in Stuttgart
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and supports various projects both in L

Germany and abroad. S
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E V E R L A G N W W P
ISBN 978-3-9808485-9-6 J
Umschlag Water Ablaze ok.indd 1 29.04.10 13:46
JENS LOEWE
WATER ABLAZE

THE CONTAMINATION AND COMMERCIAL EXPLOITATION
OF A RARE AND VITAL RESOURCE
Translated by Philomena Beital
Verlag NWWP
WATER ABLAZE
© 2010 Jens Loewe
With contributions by Marcela Olivera, Ercan Ayboga, David Hachfeld, Gerlinde Schermer,
Sabine Finkenthei and Barbara Kern.
Translated by Philomena Beital, Stuttgart.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without
prior permission from the author. [email protected]
Cover picture by Claudia Bormnann, Ratzeburg. www.claudiabormann.de
Design and typeset by Christoph Valentien, Stuttgart. [email protected]
Published by Verlag NWWP, Stuttgart. [email protected]
First edition 2010
ISBN: 978-3-9808485-9-6
For everyone on our planet –
since none of us can survive without water
CONTENTS
1 FOREWORD__13
2 THE FINANCIAL CRISIS__17
3 THE STRUGGLE FOR WATER__21
3.1 Water in Abundance?__22
3.2 The Search for New Sources – Some Crazy Notions__24
3.3 Water Waster Number One – Agribusiness__25
3.4 The Water Business – One Source
of Revenue That Will Never Run Dry__27
3.5 The Climate Change – Pretext for Military Operations?__31
4 EXPERIENCES FROM OTHER COUNTRIES__33
4.1 Turkey – The 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul, 2009__33
4.2 The Philippines – Manila and the Fight for Water__38
4.3 The U.S. Giant Bechtel in Cochabamba and Iraq__39
4.4 Brazil – The Transposition of the Rio São Francisco__40
4.5 Turkey – Opposition to the Ilisu Dam Project__52
4.6 India – The Narmada Dam Project and Coca Cola__59
4.7 Colombia – The Conflict with Coca Cola__60
4.8 Indonesia – Water Suppliers Danone and RWE__62
4.9 Chile – Privatised Rivers and Giant Dams in Patagonia__65
4.10 Nestlé – Bottled Water Worldwide__69
5 WARS FOR WATER IN BOLIVIA__71
5.1 Who Does Water Belong to? Having the Courage
to Stand up against the Powerful Companies__72
5.2 Humanitarian Aid or Dictating to Others in Neocolonial
Style? A Dark Chapter in German Foreign Aid Policy__78
5.3 From the Struggle for Water to the Reclaiming of Civil Rights__83
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5.4 The New Bolivian Constitution Recognises Water as a
Human Right, but Will This Actually Become Reality
in Everyday Life? (Marcela Olivera)__87
6 A CITY’S MAD PRIVATISATION SPREE – HOW STUTTGART
SOLD OFF ITS GAS, ELECTRICITY AND WATER SUPPLIES__91
6.1 Public Opinion Is Not Asked for__92
6.2 The Strategy of Insidious Privatisation__95
6.3 Growing Opposition__100
6.4 Signs of the Decline of Political Culture__103
6.5 Taking Legal Action Is Pointless__106
6.6 The Risks Involved in a Complete Sell-out__108
6.7 The Remunicipalisation of Stuttgart’s
Water Supply (Status Quo: September 2009)__113
7 CROSS BORDER LEASING – FICTITIOUS
DEALS INVOLVING INCALCULABLE RISKS__115
7.1 How to Avoid Paying Taxes and
Make Fantastic Profits at the Same Time__116
7.2 Dishonest Dealings at the Taxpayer’s Expense__118
7.3 When the Tax-Evading Tail Wags the Public Dog__120
7.4 Contract-Related Pitfalls – The Public Is Left Empty-Handed__122
7.5 Short-Sighted Policies – Long-Lasting Risks__124
7.6 CBL Deals Have Been Declared Illegal in the USA – What Now?__125
8 HOW POLITICS, THE BUSINESS WORLD AND CIVIL
SOCIETY HAVE BECOME ENTANGLED IN ONE ANOTHER__133
8.1 Greenwash__133
8.2 Turncoats and Shady Characters__134
8.3 The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)__136
8.4 Global Compact__139
8.5 Local Agenda 21__140
8.6 White Corruption and the Power of the Lobbyists__140
8.7 Multistakeholder Review (MSR)__143
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9 THE NEOLIBERAL CONSPIRACY –THE ROLE PLAYED BY
INTERNATIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AND INSTITUTIONS__147
9.1 The Pressure to Privatise – Post-War International Agreements__148
9.2 The International Monetary Fund (IMF)__150
9.3 The World Bank__151
9.4 The GATT Agreement__153
9.5 The World Trade Organisation (WTO)__153
9.6 The Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI)__155
9.7 The GATS Agreement__156
9.8 The TRIPS Agreement__159
9.9 What Are the Consequences?__162
9.10 The European Union (EU)__163
10 THE DIMENSIONS OF WATER PRIVATISATION IN GERMANY__173
10.1 Taking Stock of Privatisation – An Alarming Balance__173
10.2 Government Strategies for the Reallocation
and Consolidation of Water Management__175
10.3 Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)__175
10.4 The German Federal Ministry
of Economics and Technology (BMWI)__178
10.5 Praise from the World Bank__180
10.6 The Privatisation of the Berliner Wasserbetriebe – with
Profits Guaranteed (Gerlinde Schermer and Sabine Finkenthei)__181
10.7 The Remunicipalisation of
Potsdam’s Water Supply (David Hachfeld)__184
10.8 Further Cases of Successful Remunicipalisation in Germany__187
10.9 The Selling-off of Lakes in Eastern Germany__189
10.10 Compulsory Connection to the Sewerage Network__193
10.11 The Anti-Privatisation Network in Germany__196

11 ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS AND WATER POLLUTION__197
11.1 Agricultural Water Consumption__197
11.2 Agricultural Over-Fertilisation__199
11.3 Genetically-Engineered Seeds – A Threat to Our Water?__203
11.4 Railway Lines__204
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11.5 A Century of Industry – A Century of Water Pollution__206
11.6 Radioactive Waste – The Asse II Salt Mine__207
11.7 Nuclear Weapons – Radioactive
Contamination in “Times of Peace”__210
11.8 Depleted Uranium Munitions –
Contamination via Radiotoxic Respirable Dust__211
11.9 Bunker-Buster “Mini-Nukes” –
Particulate Matter Is Released on Impact__213
11.10 Megaprojects and the Aftermath of Accidents__215
12 WATER MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS__219
12.1 Problems and the Search for Possible Solutions__220
12.2 Contradicting the Most Common
Arguments of Those in Favour of Privatisation__223
12.3 Some Other Objections to Water Privatisation at Communal Level__226
13 WHAT ACTION CAN WE TAKE – AS LOCAL
AUTHORITIES, INITIATIVES AND INDIVIDUALS?__229
13.1 Spreading Information__229
13.2 Withdrawal from Existing Contracts
and the Remunicipalisation of Services__229
13.3 Cross Border Leasing (CBL)__231
13.4 Legal Options__231
13.5 The Participatory Budget – A Prime Example of Direct Democracy__233
13.6 Foreign Aid Programmes –
Who Are the Real Beneficiaries?__234
13.7 Which Legal Form Would Be Best-Suited to Water Supplies?__235
13.8 Changing Suppliers and Boycotting Certain Products__236
13.9 Alternative Methods of Supplying and Distributing Water__238
13.10 Who Has the Power of Control over Water Supplies?__239
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14 USEFUL WEBLINKS WITH COMMENTS__241
14.1 Critical NGOs and Networks__241
14.2 Critical and Alternative News Coverage__254
14.3 Alternative Concepts and Possible Solutions__257
14.4 Democracy, Plebiscite and Referenda__259
14.5 Useful Websites in German__261
15 GREEDY CORPORATIONS AND NEOLIBERAL INSTITUTIONS__265
15.1 Some of the Titans Actively Engaged on the Water Battlefield__265
15.2 Water-Bottling Giants__278
15.3 Neoliberal Institutions with a Privatisation Agenda__280
16 SOURCES__291
16.1 Films Relating to Water and Globalisation__291
16.2 Literary References__298
17 FREQUENTLY-USED ABBREVIATIONS
(with explanatory comments)__311
17.1 UN Organisations, Programmes, Funds, Agencies and Offices__335
18 NOTES__341
19 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS__349
20 ABOUT THE AUTHOR__351
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FOREWORD 1
We are all familiar with the story of David and Goliath. In today’s
world, as globalisation with its horrific consequences rears its ugly
head everywhere we turn, it is all too easy to identify the giant. “But
where is David?” we may ask ourselves. “Who will be able to slay
Goliath?” If we look and listen closely, we will notice that countless
positive developments and tiny miracles are taking place all over
the globe. One of these miracles led to the appearance of the English
translation of this book. When an environmentally-aware friend here
in Stuttgart, Philomena Beital, read the German edition, she decided to
translate the book into English free of charge. A native speaker herself,
she hoped to contribute to the spreading of information about these
issues, which only goes to prove that we are not doomed to inactivity
as the popular and exonerating excuse – “There’s nothing we can do
about it anyway!” – would have us believe. Through the accumulation
of this and other small wonders, David is summoned to the scene and
will effectively be able to confront Goliath. In other words, David
exists wherever one individual decides to take action without waiting
for someone else to act first – and things will only happen elsewhere
when another individual follows his or her own conscience. This is
what David is ultimately all about.
When I wrote this book, I had no intention of presenting the reader
with encyclopaedic information on all water-related issues. I simply
wanted to put down on paper my personal experiences, as well as my
consternation and deep concern about how the concept of water is
changing. What used to be a natural and vital resource for everyone
on the planet is rapidly being turned into a profit-making machine
for a handful of big companies. My aim is to reach as many people as
possible and provide details not only about where and how water is
being polluted, wasted or removed from the realm of democratic control
but also – most importantly – about alternative solutions and how we
all can use the possibilities available to us to oppose this development.
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