Term 3 Week 2 Assignment

Water is essential to life. Without water, crops fail, organisms die and ecosystems crumble. Throughout history, many battles were fought over the control of water, even today. The threat of “water wars” remains a pressing problem in international relations. Within countries, there is heated debate over whether water should be treated as a human right or as a commodity. In my opinion, water should be treated as a human right.

Man is completely dependent on water for life. There is no substitute for water. As such, water has a special place in our world, especially in our culture. Water is a universal symbol of life, as countless civilisations have developed and flourished along waterways, be it the Nile, the Amazon, the Mekong or the Ganges. Thales, who is regarded as the first philosopher in Greek history, believed that water constitutes the principle of all things, and this rejection of mythological explanations became an important idea for the scientific revolution. As such, water is not like other commodities and must be regarded as a right.

Currently, about 1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to clean water. However, it may not be overpopulation that is causing this water crisis. Instead, as shown in the 2006 United Nations Human Development Report, “the scarcity at the heart of the global water crisis is rooted in power, poverty and inequality, not in physical availability”. And as quoted from Maude Barlow, “A mere 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World”. It is more of a water management crisis than a water shortage crisis, and the main reason for this is the commoditisation of water. This increased control of water by multinational corporations has led to reduced access for the poor as prices of water have risen.

Some may argue that privatisation of water brings business efficiency and prevents wastage. For example, the Singapore Government uses the market mechanism to let the pricing of water show its true economic value, but also subsidises low-income households. This policy has worked well, but Singapore has a market where people can pay for the service. For universal access, treating water solely as a commodity may not be appropriate.

Beyond the pricing of water, the change of public mindset is key. As Prime Minister Lee said, “You almost have to make it a religion, so every drop of water counts.” We should actively conserve water and not take our access to clean water for granted. If we continue to treat water as merely a commodity, our future would be at stake. With money being the religion of the 21st century, who knows, in the future, clean air may also be priced…