The Water 10 Commandments: Water is a Human Right

Food and Water Security and Safety: Local self-reliance in food production and assurance of healthful, safe foods and water should be central to any economic model. Current trade policies undermine local food security by emphasizing an import-export model, making people dependent on food sources thousands of miles away.

Global consumption of water is doubling every 20 years, more than twice the rate of human population growth. According to the United Nations, more than one billion people on Earth already lack access to fresh drinking water. If current trends persist, by 2025 the demand for fresh water is expected to rise by 56 percent more than is currently available.

The wars of the next century will be about water, not oil. As the water crisis intensifies, governments around the world—under pressure from multinational corporations—are advocating a radical solution: the commodification and mass transport of water.

Proponents of commodification, and subsequent privatization, say that such a system is the only way to distribute water to the world's thirsty. But, in fact, experience shows that selling water on the open market does not address the needs of poor, thirsty people. On the contrary, privatized water is delivered to those who can pay for it, such as wealthy cities and individuals and water-intensive industries such as agriculture and high-tech. As one resident of the high desert in New Mexico observed after his community's water was diverted for use by the high-tech industry: "Water flows uphill to money."

Selling water to the highest bidder will only exacerbate the worst impacts of the world water crisis

1. Water belongs to the earth and all species
2. Water should be left where it is wherever possible
3. Water must be conserved for all time
4. Polluted water must be reclaimed
5. Water is best protected in natural watersheds
6. Water is a public trust to be guarded at all levels of government
7. An adequate supply of clean water is a basic human right
8. The best advocates for water are local communities and citizens
9. The public must participate as an equal partner with government to protect water
10. Economic globalization policies are not water sustainable