The Golden Drop

If there is magic in this planet, it is contained in water. As we all know, only 1% of the world's water is available for human consumption, domestic use and agriculture and with rapidly growing demand its a known fact that water is no more an abundant resource.
Now picture this: Already over a billion people donot have safe drinking water, 60% of global ill health can be linked to water and with this growing rate of population things are going to worsen over the next decade and we are surely marching towards a thirsty era with a million more will go to bed hungry and thirsty each night than do so already.
Many socialist vouch that the main reason behind the water crisis is the in efficiency in the way we use much of our water. Even in India, year after year, whether or not the monsoon is officially declared 'GOOD', whether or not there is an official 'DROUGHT", we will have water crisis.
Now, the question to be asked are, " Are these water problems beyond hope? " NO
" Can we have ample pure water? " YES.
And the next question which comes to our mind is, if yes then how? What I feel is that all the available solution revolves around proper water management. Over the years water privatisation has come up as an important tool of water management and it is proposed and pushed by world bodies such as the World Trade Organisation and International Monetary Fund. But the big question is will water privatisation be able to solve the acute water crisis the world is going to face which even threatens the Human existence. Now, let me tell you what exactly is " Water Privatisation ".
It is the transfer of water control and water management services to private companies.
The issue of privatisation is very complex and the extent and nature to which you benefit from water being privately or publicly owned, depends on whether you are a consumer, municipal bodies or business entities.
Though on one hand it promises, efficient working management, improved quality, less red tapism and continuous delivery to individuals but on the other hand it increases the water bill, thus forcing poor people to pay heavy taxes for such a basic commodity.
Even the flop episode of Cochabamba, which is the third largest city in Bolivia, speaks much about the flip side of such giant projects. Because of the privatisation the household water rent went up to 20 dollar per month, making it hugely expensive for people with an average monthly income of just 65 dollar. It resulted in intense protest and just after 7 days down the line, Mr Hugo Banzer, the then President of Bolivia was forced to terminate the 40 year old contract.
Although the privatisation projects in UK are very successful. UK has completely privatised its water supply and are giving quality service. Even there has been a decline in water born diseases and infant mortality rate.
The privatisation projects attracts the municipal bodies as they maintain certain regulations without any investment headaches. But on the other side they looses people faith as they are unable to ensure minimum amount of water for everyone. The commercilisation and commodification of water will lead to further problem for farmers and poor people as they won't be able to afford water and it will only be restricted to the financially affluent people who will have enough water not only to meet their basic requirements but also to fill their swimming pool, jacuzzi and beautiful fountains.
Delhi's Sonia Vihar water privatisation project will surely provide 24*7 water supply but individuals will be left with empty pocket and the water mining will lead to depletion in ground water level. Where as, Tiruppur project in Tamil Nadu is one of the most successful water privatisation project in India. The public-private partnership proved to be a boon for the people as it provides ample water for the growth of garment industry, agriculture is coming back, people have high quality drinking water and a lot more.
Its correct that the private entities are earning huge profit due to this privatisation projects but actually we, the common people are forced to pay heavy taxes to meet up their investment and capital cost. Privatisation also gives birth to water pollution and low quality drinking water as business houses will only be answerable to shareholders, so they can use any means to earn maximum profit. By hugely neglecting the social norms they can get fatter profit.
What I suggest is that for a developing country like India, where the disadvantages of privatisation outweigh the benefits, a resource as vital as 'WATER' should not be let completely in the hand of private sector rather a combined private-public management is the most suitable option as in Tiruppur project, which will run on the Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) model. Also, water should still be free for our farmers and poor masses. We can educate them about water scarcity but cannot torture and slap them with additional tax burden.
And at last I would like to say that " before sipping next glass of water, just think that, water is rightly quoted as the oil of the next era, and things are not going to be the same fifty years down the line. " If not handled properly it could spell doom for many of the world's 6 billion plus people.