Posts by Wenonah Hauter

Wenonah Hauter is the executive director of Food & Water Watch. She has worked extensively on energy, food, water and environmental issues at the national, state and local level.

Corporate Water Barons Indifferent to Running Water But Not Security at World Water Forum
Posted by Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Watch on March 19, 2009 at 5:15 AM.

Istanbul -- Now into its third day, the World Water Forum has an incredible police presence, and the security is downright oppressive. So much so that there are special VIP entrances and areas – including the restrooms. Yet despite the painstaking attention afforded to security, the forum is lax on certain other logistical details. Last night, one of the buildings that housed panel discussions and workshops did not have water for flushing the toilets or washing hands -- a sad but fitting metaphor for the inefficiencies of privatized water systems that the World Water Forum promotes.

Now into its third day, the World Water Forum has an incredible police presence, and the security is downright oppressive. So much so that there are special VIP entrances and areas – including the restrooms. Yet despite the painstaking attention afforded to security, the forum is lax on certain other logistical details. Last night, one of the buildings that housed panel discussions and workshops did not have water for flushing the toilets or washing hands -- a sad but fitting metaphor for the inefficiencies of privatized water systems that the World Water Forum promotes.

Indeed, it is security, not access to water, that reigns as the top concern here. Forum attendees must have their access badges scanned at multiple security checkpoints. Our whereabouts are tracked throughout the forum, following which building we are in and what workshops we are going to. Security intervenes if we try to ask questions at panels or ask to present information that is contrary to what is being promoted.  Even the bathrooms have security. What, do you suppose, are they so afraid of?

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Is Your Drinking Water Contaminated? Bottled Water Isn't the Solution
Posted by Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Watch on March 11, 2008 at 6:58 AM.

What the recent story about traces of pharmaceuticals in our drinking water makes very clear is that access to safe drinking water is an issue that affects everyone. All our water sources -- rivers and reservoirs, springs and aquifers -- may contain drugs flushed down our toilets and off factory farms somewhere up stream. But scaring people away from their taps into the bottled water isle at the grocery store will cost them thousands of dollars a year without making them any safer.

Nearly 40 percent of bottled water is simply repackaged tap water. What's more, there's no government agency testing bottled water contamination from known hazards such as bacteria, synthetic contaminants, or heavy metals. While the Associated Press did not test bottled water, earlier testers have found dangerous substances such as arsenic and bromate, both known carcinogens. And bottled water comes with its own list of unknown hazards from chemicals leached into the water from the plastic bottles. Tap water is still the best choice for most Americans.

Americans are right to be concerned by reports of prescription medications in their water. But this isn't a problem that can be fixed at each tap or each household. Contaminants in drinking water are a national problem worthy of a national solution.

Communities around the country are struggling to maintain and upgrade aging water systems that are groaning under the stain of a growing population. At the same time, the federal government contribution to total clean water spending has shrunk dramatically, from 78 percent in 1978 to just 3 percent today. States spend approximately $63 billion annually to compensate, but their efforts barely keep pace with current needs, let alone future ones. Based on Environmental Protection Agency estimates, there is a gap of nearly $22 billion per year between needed and available funds for water infrastructure.

EPA must set standards for potentially dangerous substances and Congress must provide the funding to help the more than 158,000 drinking water systems around the country to deal with them. According to a recent Luntz poll, nine out of ten Americans believe that clean and safe water is a national priority that deserves federal investment.

Food & Water Watch has been leading a campaign to establish a permanent funding stream for water infrastructure projects in the form of a trust fund. In Congress, Rep. James Oberstar (MN), Rep. Edie Bernice Johnson (TX), and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (OR) have requested a GAO study to identify sustainable funding sources and announced their intention to pursue legislation for a trust fund once this funding source is identified. America's water is a public responsibility that should be given a steady and reliable source of funding to keep water clean and safe for all communities."

For more on the problems with bottled water, see Take Back the Tap: Why Choosing Tap Water Over Bottled Water is Better for Your Health, Your Pocketbook, and the Environment. For an analysis of trends in clean water spending on a state-by-state level and the benefits that could be achieved through the establishment of a clean water trust fund, see Clear Waters: Why America Needs a Clean Water Trust Fund.

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