The nations of South America must urgently take steps to guarantee that water is legally considered a social, not an economic resource, and to block the advance of transnational corporations, which are increasingly gaining control over public utilities in the developing South, warned the French foundation France Libertés. Danielle Mitterrand, the founder of France Libertés and the widow of former French President François Mitterrand (1981-1995), headed up a delegation of the foundation that ended a tour to South America Friday. The aim of the tour was to promote the concept of water as a public good, and to speak out against the privatisation of water and sanitation companies.

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Updated on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at 06:48PM by stevem

Updated on Friday, May 9, 2008 at 09:09AM by stevem

Updated on Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 12:36PM by stevem

Files lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission show that three big Australian banks are owed $110 million by the tunnel’s owners. About $460 million is also owed to foreign banks. The documents also show that despite assurances from the State Government, taxpayers have been left out of pocket. They show that dozens of organisations, from a cycling club to the Tax Office, became victims of the financial collapse. A list of unsecured creditors - traditionally the last to recoup money - shows they were owed a total of almost $300,000, including about $100,000 to state and federal agencies.

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That announcement was accompanied by confirmation that BAA was considering selling its other international airport interests, which include minority stakes in the Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, Launceston, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek airports.

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A Macquarie Bank-led consortium says it has acquired Britain’s largest water company for nearly $20 billion. Macquarie said it also intended to invest approximately $619 million in Thames Water consortium - which has more than 13 million customers across London and the south-east of England - for an 11 per cent stake. Macquarie Bank, known as the “millionaires’ factory”, has one of the highest paid chief executives in the country. Allan Moss earned $21.2 million last year - or more than $58,000 a day.

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In the Valle de San Felix, the purest water in Chile runs from 2 rivers, fed by 2 glaciers. Water is a most precious resource, and wars will be fought for it. Indigenous farmers use the water, there is no unemployment, and they provide the second largest source of income for the area.

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At a summit this week in Mexico, David Miliband, Britain’s Environment Secretary, will propose a plan to “privatize” the Amazon to allow the world’s largest rainforest to be bought by individuals and groups, according to a report in The Telegraph newspaper online.

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Hundreds of activists appealed for a global tax on water and the creation of a "world water parliament" to protect its distribution, at the closing of the Alternative World Water Forum on Sunday. The two-day forum's goal is to "promote the creation of a world public service for water" through a series of concrete measures, said Bastienne Joerchel of a Swiss charity group. The forum proposed introducing a one-cent tax on water worldwide, which would avoid having to use private funding for the distribution of water. A global water parliament - expected to hold its first meeting in Brussels next year - would establish the rules to assure the equitable distribution of the vital resource

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So a handful of transnational corporations, backed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, are aggressively taking over the management of public water services in countries around the world, dramatically raising the price of water to the local residents and profiting especially from the Third World’s desperate search for solutions to its water crisis. Some are startlingly open; the decline in freshwater supplies and standards has created a wonderful venture opportunity for water corporations and their investors, they boast.. The agenda is clear: Water should be treated like any other tradable good, with its use determined by the principles of profit.

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Quote “Open the way for private companies to build dams, desalination plants and other infrastructure through arrangements with a newly created Water Commission” The Courier Mail 21/4/06”

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The Federal Government has called for a public debate on whether the private sector should play a greater role in providing water services. The parliamentary secretary with responsibility for water policy, Malcolm Turnbull, has released a discussion paper on the issue at a national water conference in Sydney today.

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