by Jessica Kuzmier

Created on: March 24, 2010

On a physical level, the most basic need all people have is adequate access to safe, sanitary water. It is essential, second only to the air we breathe. This would seem to make it a basic human right. 

Yet countless people around the world are denied access to this most vital of resources.  Drought is one reason.  Or, the water may be there, but contaminated by effluvia or other toxic chemicals. What is the remedy to ensure that a population that is growing, not only in numbers, but in industrialized capacity, has access to a precious commodity that a select few only take for granted?

The problem becomes that the haves generally can’t figure out how to get the water to the have-nots.  Dominion is a problem.  Does it belong on the national front, or to the local watersheds that surround the area?  Not to mention, many waterways cross national boundaries; the Great Lakes and the Nile are just two of many examples.  After all the provincial sovereignty gets all sorted out, then another question arises.  Once eminent domain is established, does water belong to the public commons, or do the local entities have the right to sell it on the open market, much like they might forest for timber industries?  

This, of course, does little to help a community who is dealing with rampant pollution from some governmental or transnational enterprise in their water supply.  While far away in some resort or corporate boardroom decisions are being made, the direct impact of unsafe water is felt in brutal fashion.  Resources for Diarrheal Disease Control cites that 1.6 children die of diarrhea related diseases each year.  Contaminated water supplies are in part to blame for this disaster.  The World Health Organization also believes contaminated water is responsible for many cases of malaria, schistosomiasis, and legionellosis.     

It would seem that one of the best ways for water to be protected would be for the people most affected by the contaminated water to have the power to exercise dominion over their resource.  This sounds great, but unfortunately hard to implement.  The hardest cases come when waterways cross national boundaries, such as the Nile or the Tigris.  In the case of the Tigris, Turkey’s national interest may come at the expense of country such as Iraq.  With the Nile, damming by Egypt may cause a country such as Ethiopia to preemptively drain Lake

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>