Water for Sale: How Business and the Market Can Resolve the World’s Water Crisis

There is plenty of water in the world, yet more than a billion people worldwide lack access to clean and safe water, and some 12 million people die annually as a result. Those afflicted live mainly in poor countries where 97 percent of water distribution is run by the public sector. Fredrik Segerfeldt will describe how a small number of poor countries in recent years have turned to the private sector for help, with notably better results. According to Segerfeldt, the very poor have the most to gain from privatization because the rates they pay fall dramatically once private firms connect them to the water network. Wenonah Hauter will explain why she believes privatization should be stopped and water continue to be publicly managed.