Granted sole water distribution rights, charges of up to one-quarter of family incomes were levied. Debtors’ homes were repossessed and those who ‘stole’ water by digging wells or harvesting rainwater faced proceedings, because apparently ALL water was deemed the company’s property.

Government inaction triggered massive marches. “Then we witnessed how the government defended the transnational interests of Bechtel. People wanted water, not tear gas! People wanted justice not bullets!” Eventually the Government ended the agreement and the people regained control of their own water. Their lives were dependent on it; Bolivians had decided not to allow water be privatised as their oil industry and national airline, rail road, electric and phone companies had been before.

Most who hear this story suggest Government corruption (not obligations to service national debt). They say such a thing could never happen here; but I wonder, because local facts turn a whole new shade of grey in the global context.

Sligo County Council engaged a private company, Veolia, to install and read water meters, issue invoices and collect dues from commercial and part-commercial premises (the latter meaning premises like farms which are both domestic and commercial). Monies gathered are transferred to the Council who, based on service provision costs, set water and wastewater charges annually and then pay Veolia quarterly.

French-registered Veolia are not involved in water delivery, removal, treatment or maintenance of water or wastewater systems, although their various websites explain they are willing and able, if requested. These also say that “ownership responsibility” for both the resource and delivery mechanisms rests with the contracting agency. This differs considerably from privatisation and may reassure some, as may the news that Sligonians can bore wells and harvest rainwater if they accept responsibility for water quality and suitability.

Still further reassurance comes from our Council’s unanimous July vote to declare its “opposition to the privatisation of water services and [to] oppose any attempt to hand over water and waste water systems to the private sector.”

So the local facts seem reassuring, until in the context of less local ones. The Veolia Group are, of course, motivated by profits for shareholders. Last year’s revenues were up twelve per cent and many claim they vie with the also French, Suez company for dominance on the global water scene: growth and success which speak of good timing. And Veolia’s involvement in Irish water seems well-timed.

Most EU countries already levy domestic water charges. Private companies are accepted agents of water treatment, delivery, wastewater ‘cleaning’, and rate-setting and collection. So, it seems reasonable to anticipate the EU requiring us (via the Water Framework Directive perhaps?) to implement domestic water charges. All the more so as 2010 is the deadline for EU Governments to have established mechanisms to recoup water service costs.

Then there’s a planning permission requirement that new homes incorporate water meter housings. Some say it’s to facilitate future monitoring of domestic usage, promote conservation and locate leaks. To others it means domestic water charges are inevitable and paves the way for privatisation.

Also worth noting is that local decisions don’t count for much anymore in our increasingly centralised Ireland, where the spinning of relocation as “decentralisation” distracts from ministerial disinterest in the EU’s ‘make-decisions-as-far-down-the-ladder-as-possible’ principle of subsidiarity. The Minister for Health over-ruling Sligo County Council’s request to decide locally about fluoridation some years ago is a case in point.

When combined with widespread public acceptance of the notion that privatisation or public-private is best, the scene seems almost set for a private entity to own or charge us for our water, in which there are disconcerting echoes of Cochabamba. A national Government in debt; non-local and non-national entities who can call the shots; a population accustomed to the privatisation of natural resources and national industries and services which their tax money created; a foreign-owned, transnational company…

Even if ownership of this most essential resource was not granted but a private entity was allowed to set rates, would Irish authorities defend us from the profit drive? How would they, for instance, decide someone was charging us too much? Have they the legal right to interfere with how much profit someone earns?

All it takes to leave us facing these and other questions is for a few to change their minds; or a law; or the EU or World Bank to force a change on them. If that happened, would we be bravely Bolivian enough to be maimed or killed for our water? I pray we never have to find out.

Reference Material:

• (a) Veolia Water Industrial Outsourcing website - http://www.vwio.com
• (b), (c) Oscar Olivera, Coalition for the Defense of Water and Life, Chptr 18, The Corporation DVD
  
• d) Sligo farmers are protesting that the new metering, billing and collection methods mean higher bills… Sligo County Council contend the new system (installed and overseen by Veolia), is more equitable and many ills are lower than previously.
• (e) www.veoliawater.com/sustainable/stakeholders/operating-companies/outsourcing