People Have No Right To Water-It Should Be A Market Based Commodity - Per Nestle CEO

[TheMastersNemesis]

All you have to do is read the Alternet article about the privatization of water to understand where we are headed with our current capitalistic system. The former CEO of Nestle (still on corporate board) believes that water can only be sustained only if corporations own all of it and mete it out to who can pay. Only they can develop the water resource because in their mind government no longer works.

What is even more amazing is how this same CEO lauds corporations made up of only management, robots and investors. There are NO employees or few employees who should work more and get paid less.

Something is terribly wrong with this system.

[Frustratedlady]

1. Yeah, I agree. Ever since the court ruling on corporations being people...

they've been acting like greedy bastids. Oh, no. It was longer ago than that, but let us just say they've been more public since that court ruling.

Out of curiosity, what would happen if all of Nestlé's employees quit? Would that show Nestlé's CEO how much they actually WERE worth?

I think I'll quit buying Nestle products.

[Initech]

14. They've been acting like greedy bastards long before Citizens United.

Who was the one rail tycoon in the late 1800s who said something like "I could pay one half of this country to fight the other half?". Fuck 'em all!

[longship]

2. Simple, drill your own well.

Rural folks have been doing it forever. I have two artesian wells on my property, one for a garden that no longer exists, the other to supply my house's needs.

I own the water under my property.

Screw Nestlé.

[hobbit709]

4. Try that in the city.

[longship]

6. In SoCal, when I lived there, people actually did that.

So, it's not out of the question. When there were watering restrictions, those with wells would continue watering and placed a sign in front of their houses that they had a well, so it was legal.

Now, it probably wouldn't be practical for everybody in a city to have their own well, but my post here was only to show how wrong Nestlé CEO is.

Thanks for your response.

[Occulus]

12. Most cities have local ordinances preventing exactly that specifically

Even small towns, like the one my mom lives outside of. She's far enough out that she can't be required to use city water, but even in her small town, that's a requirement. Nobody in "town" is allowed to have a well, period.

[hobbit709]

21. If you have a well, but try drilling one

[longship]

22. There are people all over the area who drill wells.

Because everybody has one here. Wells go bad but only after decades of use and there are even farmers around here that make money on the side by drilling water wells.

It's not like drilling for oil. The water table here isn't that deep.

[hobbit709]

24. City won't let you here.

[longship]

25. Many will, though.

As I wrote above, in SoCal there were many who continued to water gardens, lawn, etc. in spite of restrictions because they had wells.

Note that I am in no way doubting that corporate slime balls are trying to make water a profit center for their greed. I only wish to point out that companies like Nestlé have a high wall to scale to achieve anything close to that goal. Where I live, people would laugh in his face.

Interestingly, there is a huge water bottling plant 25 miles from me who is all but raping the local aquifer.

People who buy bottled water are idiots. It's the same stuff you drink out of the tap. But companies like Nestlé have convinced ignorant people differently. There's a half a huge mega-store aisle at the local grocer dedicated solely to bottled drinking water. I see people in the check-outs with cases of the stuff.

Maybe we ought to fight this thing by putting out accurate information. That's what I am trying to do here.

[sorefeet]

7. Simple bullshit

Do you realize how expensive it can be to drill a well. There are places here in Montana you can find water but you can't use it because it's poison. You are lucky to have your wells. There is absolutely nothing more important than your own water on your land, nothing. The corporates cannot get their hands on water.

[longship]

8. Everybody here has their own well.

And I mean everybody. If you want indoor plumbing you drill a well. Furthermore, there are no sewers here either, so people here take care of that by themselves, too, by digging a septic tank and septic field on their property.

It's part of living in a rural area where city water and sewers are non-existent.

Thanks for your response.

BTW, my well water is delicious -- especially my morning coffee.

[Blue_Tires]

16. where do you live?

[longship]

18. Rural western Michigan.

But in all rural areas people have long ago drilled their own wells and dug their own septic systems. It's not that expensive because there are many people here who do this kind of thing and a well lasts many decades. Septics, too.

And, as I indicated, everybody here has a well and a septic. There just aren't any alternatives here.

There's a lot of TV antennas here, too. No cable TV or broadband Internet here either. Some have satellite, but many here are poor farmers.

[DeschutesRiver]

29. Everyone in my rural area of central Oregon has a well

Everyone in my old neighborhood outside of Portland Oregon have wells. My parents and their neighborhood have been on wells for the last 70 years and they live on a rural area near Clackamas Oregon that is quite built up.

Everyone in rural Oregon lives on a well water system as city water certainly doesn't extend very far from each city area.

I am nearing 60 and have never lived on city water, all wells, all great water. There are definitely areas where there are water concerns. But it is not the majority of areas and wells are very very common. I think the prior poster just assumes that most homes he/she sees must be on city water because that is his/her own personal experience.

[LiberalEsto]

11. Fracking is destroying wells in parts of the country

so that would be out of the question for some.

[spanone]

3. and if corporate america has it way, it WILL be.

[marmar]

5. As the Canadian activist Maude Barlow said:

[font size="4"]"There are those who intend that one day everything will be owned by somebody and we're not just talking goods here. We're talking human rights, human services, essential services for life. Education, public health, social assistance, pensions, housing. We're also talking about the survival of the planet. The areas that we believe must be maintained in the commons or under common control or we will collectively die."[/font]

[kentuck]

9. And people have no right to air...

Or anything else on earth that is not distributed for capital gain...

[Blue_Tires]

17. Don't give them any ideas...

Because that's the very next step some quasi-libertarian Wall Street jaggoff will invent -- How to charge for the right to breathe pollution-free air...

[LiberalEsto]

10. The Unitarian Universalist Association has been active about water rights for some years now

Here is the UUA statement on the human right to have free access to water:
Link: http://www.uua.org/environment/access/100808.shtml

I included their information on relevant legislation and a list of resources for people concerned about this issue. This is a major reason I contribute to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee when I can.

Right to Water

"Access to clean, safe drinking water is one of the most fundamental necessities of life. It is therefore a basic human right. Yet too often this basic right is impinged upon or even denied by those in power for their economic advantage. Quite often, those most severely affected are the poor and peoples of color.

The Human Right to Water is one of the major programs of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC).

Water Justice is also a a major program for the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Legislative Ministry of California (UULM-CA).

Take Legislative Action

Urge your Representative to fully fund and implement the Water for the Poor Act. Insist that funding from the United States support water access for low-income communities.

The Appalachian Communities Health Emergency (ACHE) Act would put a moratorium on mountaintop-removal coal mining, which poisons nearby streams

The Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act would repeal the Halliburton Loophole that exempts gas drillers from the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act, and other laws that protect our water."

Books & Films

When the Rivers Run Dry: Water—The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-First Century, by Fred Pearce

Blue Covenant: The Water Crisis and the Fight for the Right to Water, by Maude Barlow

Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It, by Elizabeth Royte

Thirst: Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water
Groundbreaking documentary by Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman

Flow: For Love of Water Award-winning documentary by Irena Salina and Steven Starr, about the privatization of water infrastructure, putting profits over people and the environment."

[Bluenorthwest]

15. this is excellent information, thanks for posting it.

nt

[FarCenter]

13. Either you pay the water company or you pay the government more taxes

Reservoirs, treatment plants, pumping, water mains, etc. all cost money. Well-regulated utilities appear to be the best solution.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

19. Kicking it for the truth. n/t

[leftyohiolib]

20. the constitution says life liberty and pursuit of happiness - and water is a key ingredient of life

[badtoworse]

23. To me, this seems like a pretty good deal for everyone

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/united-water-and-kkr-sign-unique-utility-partnership-with-city-of-bayonne-nj-2012-12-20

Although unstated in the article, my sources tell me that KKR will get a guaranteed return on their investment. Looks like everyone made out - what's wrong with this?

[stevenleser]

26. Reminds me of the movie "Tambien la lluvia" (Even the rain)

http://blog.sfgate.com/tclarke/2012/03/01/the-film-tambien-la-lluvia-even-the-rain/

[Golden Raisin]

27. Where does he stand on air?

[pnwmom]

28. And AIR, too. We should have to buy our air.

[Rex]

30. Corporations have no right to free money - the government needs to end

corporate welfare. I stopped buying Nestle products last year - fuck them.