A comprehensive review, by FWU coordinator, Ian Douglas, of the implications and impacts of Australian water reform. Essential reading for anyone with an interest in the future of Australia's water resources; just published by ABC's The Drum.
"Australians are battling to come to terms with the impacts of the
oft-criticised process of national water reform. The ongoing, abrasive
debate surrounding the Basin Plan being drafted by the Murray-Darling
Basin Authority, outrage over the spiralling costs of currently
redundant desalination plants and public protests about sky-rocketing
water charges typify the predicament . . ."
We would like to draw your attention to efforts to fight the privatisation of world water resources.
US based organisation, Food & Water Watch, is sponsoring a petition in support of the campaign for a United Nations resolution to block the sale of public water services to private companies.
To learn more and to sign the petition, visit:
Parisians reap the benefits of saying "non" to water privateers
Friday, 28 January 2011
Twelve months after Paris wrested control of its water supplies from the private sector, the city council has announced that it intends to reduce the price of water by up to 10% in the next few months, whilst Australian consumers are hit with ever-higher charges as a direct result of the increasing privatisation of our water supplies.
In its latest desperate attempt to promote sales of bottled water, which have declined by nearly 3% in the USA, Nestle' is trying to convince consumers that they NEED eight glasses of Pure Life every day to keep hydrated and healthy:
As Pure Life is essentially tap water, perhaps someone should remind Nestle' that families would save hundreds of dollars every year by simply turning on their own taps when they feel the need to rehydrate.
It would also reduce the millions of litres of oil consumed by Nestle', and its competitors, in the production of the plastic containers for their unnecessary product (in excess of 100 million litres of oil in the USA alone). It has been estimated that eighty per cent of these bottles end up being dumped as land fill.
Italian people power shows the way to reject water privatisation
Sunday, 05 September 2010
6th September 2010
Recent legislation to privatise water services in Italy has met with staunch public resistance and a well-organised national campaign, resulting in the tabling of a petition of around 1.5 million signatures from citizens opposed to this legislation - three times as many as are required to call a referendum on the issue - a great success story in the making.
Paolo Carsetti of the Forum Italiano dei Movimenti per l’Acqua has indicated that even the City of Paris has removed control of water supply from the private sector, “when Paris had been the heart of the empire of water multinationals such as Suez and Veolia."
Unlike the Italian scenario, in Australia the process of water privatisation has been one of stealth; the vast majority of Australians are still unaware that they also risk losing control of their water resources.
However, having dragged the issue into the open, Fair Water Use will do all possible to ensure that it remains in the public arena and will continue its campaign to let the people of Australia decide their water future: not inept administrations or self-serving speculators.
The Italian public will now have the opportunity to voice its opinion via national plebiscite: Australians deserve the right to do the same.
Twelve months after Paris wrested control of its water supplies from the private sector, the city council has announced that it intends to reduce the price of water by up to 10% in the next few months, whilst Australian consumers are hit with ever-higher charges as a direct result of the increasing privatisation of our water supplies. 
