The Water Theives

Luoma, Jon. “The Water Thieves,” The Ecologist 34, no. 2 (2004): 52-57.
http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.mnsu.edu. (Accessed February 8th, 2011).

This article appears to be very anti-privatization, discussing how privatization will result in billions of dollars for corporations while leaving consumers with polluted water and a high monetary price to pay for water. This article specifically talks about cases where privatization went sour in the United States, such as Atlanta, Georgia where the municipal water supply was privatized by Suez subsidiary United Water. The water quality dropped and violations of federal drinking water standards occurred. Amazingly, United Water insisted that the city pay much more than was previously agreed upon to restore quality. One quote that struck me was as follows:

"Multinational companies now run water systems for 7 percent of the world's population, and analysts say that figure could grow to 17 percent by 2015. Private water management is estimated to be a $200 Billion dollar business, and the world bank, which has encouraged governments to sell off their utilities to reduce public debt, proects it could be wort $1 trillion by 2021"

A lot of other statistics are cited from sources such as the FDA, which will potentially be of value to me. The political aspect of privatization is discussed heavily. The author speaks of cases in which water companies have met in Washington to press their legislative agenda with Congress, "lobbying for laws that would protect companies from lawshits over contaminated water and which would block municipalities from reversing failed privatizations". I anticipate using this source, especially for the data.