Water now too costly for thirsty poor

Who could have ever ever imagined that water, freely accessed decades ago, is now sold like a beverage and that a small-sized bottle (330 ml) of this natural resource would now cost about P10, or around 2.2 percent of the minimum daily wage of P456?

Neal Cruz’s Feb. 25 column (“Water, power firms overcharging the public”) noted that Maynilad will is raising its rate by another P10.30 per cubic meter, and Manila Water by P5.83 per cubic meter.  About 13 million people in Metro Manila and nearby provinces depend on water supplied by these private companies. The rate increases may seem small and affordable for the moneyed few. But for the poorest among us, they could mean further deprivation of more than a kilo of rice and a can of sardines, or even a skipped meal for the day.

A hike in business profits is always good news for its owners and stockholders. But for the poor, an increase in the prices of basic commodities is always an added burden, more so because the minimum daily wage is even now already far too low to provide for the basic daily needs of a family.

Water is now controlled by private corporations.  Privatization has affected even our social value system.  Privatization   views everything according to the standards of money, profit, monopoly and control.  Those who have more in life are assured of access to water each day, never mind that the poor, jobless and those denied of economic opportunities plunge deeper into impoverishment. The privatization of a precious basic need like water, or making it a commodity for trade and profit, is immoral! The legal cover for business to thrive at the expense of the majority, especially the poor, mocks the values of human community life.

By 2030, water supply is expected to fall short of global demand by 40 percent. But even now, many poor villages are already experiencing lack of water or do not have access to water only because there is little attention given them by government. So, we call on all the people to save water!

There is no problem with that. Our problem is not that we, the majority of the people—the farmers, workers, students, professionals (middle class)—are consuming much. The problem is that the access, control and power over water is now in the hands of big businesses whose greatest obsession is to make huge profits.

While it is important that we citizens should exercise a greater degree of discipline in managing our resources, like in being good stewards of water, it is equally important that we also address our society’s exploitative economic and political policies and structures which vigorously promote the unjust distribution of and access to water for the benefit of the few.

When Jesus was nailed on the cross, he shouted, “I am thirsty.”  Today ordinary people, plain citizens and the common man are feeling thirsty, but water has become a commodity too expensive for them.

—NORMA P. DOLLAGA,

Kapatiran Simbahan Para sa Bayan,

[email protected]