Water was first considered a commodity in 1992.

Privatizing water was offered to 3rd world countries in exchange for debt relief.

Water rates increase when water becomes privatized.

The Coca-Cola bottling plant got the largest water concession in Mexico.

There is a difference in the price of Dasani water and Coca Cola in Africa because the packaging for Dasani water is in plastic bottles and plastic packaging is more popular than glass bottles. The plastic bottles are also taxed at a higher rate than glass bottles.

The private water contracts got cancelled in British Columbia when there was a change of government.

The one of the main problems with desalinating water is burning fossil fuels and energy shortage. Burning fossil fuels contributes to global warming and which in return contributes to climate change. There is already a energy shortage and there is no extra energy available to desalinate water.

The difference between tap water and bottled water is convenience and access.

Water is supplied once a week to people in many places in Africa, such as Ghana

Ryan’s Well is the name of the water sanitation foundation started by a Canadian student.
Discussion questions:

The term “New Colonialism” means as it refers to water is that water in many different countries is now owned by big companies. This concept is demonstrated in the documentary by showing how big companies like Suez and Veolia own water in countries like Argentina, Puerto Rico and etc. Water is now privatized and control by the companies who privatize water in exchange of things like debt relief. Basically big companies are taking over water.

Key arguments for privatization of water are: 3rd world countries were offered water privatizing in exchange for debt relief and some countries like Africa had access to clean water. Key arguments against the privatization of water are: water rates increase, countries like Africa don’t get water every day, service problems like clean water is not provided to the citizens and the corporations that own water don’t care much about giving a good service to the people, they are more concerned about their image and the products that they make using water.

Watershed is an area of land drained by a single river or stream. The problem of shipping water away from the watershed is that the land dries out and becomes a desert.

SLAPP suit is a strategic lawsuit against public participation, in which a corporation sues an organization. It is used by corporation in an attempt to scare organization into dropping protests against a corporate initiative. This is often so successful because organization need a lawyer to defend themselves and most of the times the organizations don’t have enough money get a lawyer so they end up dropping protests against corporation.

Global agricultural practices can be a concern for water supplies because agricultural practices involve stuff like using pesticides to keep animals and insects away from crops, these pesticides can pollute ground water, rivers and streams which in return limit the amount of clean water. Irrigation is another type of agricultural practice and it uses a lot of water which can also limit the water supply for other stuff. Basically if the amount of water used for agricultural practices is not managed then it can be a concern for water supplies.