CNN International reports this evening that, “Every eight seconds, somewhere in the world a child dies from waterborne diseases because the parents cannot afford clean water, according to Maude Barlow, founder of the Blue Planet Project.”
That report is at http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/01/07/water.justice
Maude was on Christiane Amanpour’s CNN program today discussing water along with Robert Kennedy Jr. of the Waterkeeper Alliance and Gerard Payen, president of Aquafed, a group representing private water companies.
On the program, Maude said, “Christiane, listen, here is the issue that we’re dealing with. We are a world running out of freshwater. It’s something we learned in — in — in grade school that couldn’t happen, but we are, in fact, a world running out. If there were all the water in the world, it wouldn’t matter if some people made a lot of money in it. The reality is that there is more demand than supply, and that — that increase in demand and the decrease in supply is growing. So it makes a big difference how we’re going to decide who’s going to allocate water. Mr. Payen and those who believe in privatization, it’s also water markets, water bottling, all sorts of other ways, believe that it should be based on the market, like Coca-Cola or running shoes, and it should go to those who can pay. We believe very deeply that it’s a public trust. Water must be declared to be something that belongs to all of us, which is not that it’s a free-for-all, but that must be equitably divided and shared and only governments can do that. When you add the for-profit motive into water supplies, some people are going to die. And right now, every eight seconds somewhere in the world, a child dies from waterborne disease because their parents cannot pay for water that Mr. Payen and his colleagues are selling.”
To read the full transcript of the program, go to http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100007219&docId=l:1104043063&isRss=true.
‘Amanpour’ is broadcast on CNN International to more than 257 million households in more than 212 countries.
