Canada.com
Council of Canadians chairwoman Maude Barlow warns about trend to privatize H2O
By Walter Cordery, Daily News
May 31, 2010

Across the country people are growing concerned about the ownership and quality of their drinking water, says the national chairwoman of the Council of Canadians.
Maude Barlow was in Nanaimo on Sunday to urge a capacity crowd at Beban Park to make sure their water supplies are being held as a public trust and not being used as a saleable commodity.

The forum Sunday was organized by the Vancouver Island Water Watchers, who have expressed concern regarding Island Timberlands owning much of the property around the Nanaimo watershed.

Barlow said the group has every right to be concerned.

"I think it is very important people fight for the public control of water systems. It's not just for the sake of public ownership, it's so the systems can be maintained properly to ensure everybody in a community has access to clean, healthy drinking water."

She was critical of the federal government as well as the provincial government for entering into private-public partnerships with corporations that she believes gives some companies subsidized water.

"These forces see water as a commodity to be sold and traded," she said. "Water is a public trust; it belongs to everyone but water privatization is sneaking throughout the back door in the form of public-private partnerships."

Barlow believes that once governments enter into so-called P3s there is a loss of accountability because a company's right to commercial confidentiality supersedes policies that override the public's right to know how tax money is being spent.

It's industry and agribusiness that are the biggest users of water in Canada, she said.

"Everyone should be aware of how much water they use but personal use pales in comparison with how much water industries like mining use."

Barlow said governments too often give companies water subsidies that come back to haunt taxpayers as the public often ends up paying for the damage to the water systems those companies which receive subsidies cause.

WCorderynanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4237

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[I would point out on the subject of "confiscation" that Island Timberlands has denuded the Nanaimo watershed. They've taken their profit from a piece of land that should have been left alone, just as Victoria's and Greater Vancouver's watersheds are completely protected. We allowed the people's wellbeing to be placed second to company profit. We paid the price for Island Timberlands and its predecessors to clearcut it. We have finished paying, and can now confiscate with a clear conscience. Berni]

http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/6315-taking-back-nanaimos-watershed.html