Private water saves lives

By Penny Hawthorne | 5 September 2005

Fredrik Segerfeldt (pictured) wrote a recent Financial Times article explaining the role of water privatization in increasing the access and quality of water in developing countries:

Worldwide, 1.1 billion people, mainly in poor countries, do not have access to clean, safe water. The shortage of water helps to perpetuate poverty, disease and early death. However, there is no shortage of water, at least not globally. We use a mere 8 per cent of the water available for human consumption. Instead, bad policies are the main problem. Even Cherrapunji, India, the wettest place on earth, suffers from recurrent water shortages.

Ninety-seven per cent of all water distribution in poor countries is managed by the public sector, which is largely responsible for more than a billion people being without water. Some governments of impoverished nations have turned to business for help, usually with good results. In poor countries with private investments in the water sector, more people have access to water than in those without such investments. Moreover, there are many examples of local businesses improving water distribution. Superior competence, better incentives and better access to capital for investment have allowed private distributors to enhance both the quality of the water and the scope of its distribution. Millions of people who lacked water mains within reach are now getting clean and safe water delivered within a convenient distance.

But there is still misguided opposition to private investment in water. According to Global Growth:

Left-wing NGOs War on Want and the World Development Movement are two British NGOs campaigning to stop private sector involvement in bringing clean water and sanitation to the developing world. Driven by fanatical anti-globalisation and anti-capitalism these two groups put ideological purity ahead of water purity.