Watch the trailer fo Irena Salina’s Flow a recently released documentary on water and the World Water Crisis.

Very scary stuff!

Water is sold in our economy in a variety of ways in the commercial, private, and public sectors. While placing a value on water may encourage the conservation of water supplies in some situations, not everyone in the world has the means to pay money for water.

Case in point, prepaid water meters.

Prepaid meters are hooked up to a water supply system and require the user pay before retrieving water. US-based NGOs, Public Citizen and Food and Water Watch, warn of the dangers of prepaid water meters in predominantly poor areas of the world.

As they state, prepaid water meters facilitate outbreaks of water-borne illnesses when consumers are unable to pay for water, exacerbate public emergencies such as fires, are often more expensive than municipal water supplies, increase conflicts in communities, and are unfairly located in poor areas.

Prepaid water meters are currently used in Brazil, Curacao, Egypt, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, the Philippines, Uganda, and the United States. The photos below are from Tetsane, Maseru (Lesotho) in South Africa during April 2008.

The key to accessing water: In order to get water from this kind of prepaid water meter, you have to buy a key and charge it with credit for water. Photo courtesy EWN.

A man from Tetsane demonstrates how the prepaid water meter works. Photo courtesy EWN.

Community members tell us that the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) had not involved them in the installment of the prepaid water meters. They hope that at least additional free communal taps will be installed. Photo courtesy EWN.

A recent article in ADBUSTERS detailed the plight of one South African community challenging the legality of prepaid water meters. In 2006, several residents of Phiri, Soweto filed a suit against the City of Johannesburg in South Africa declaring that prepaid water meters were unconstitutional.

A landmark ruling earlier this year affirmed the unconstitutionality of prepaid water meters in Phiri. The ruling also declared that the City should provide Phiri residents with 50 liters (roughly 13 gallons) of free water for every person each day instead of the previous allocation of 25 liters for every person each day.

This ruling was a success for the citizens of Phiri in South Africa, but there are still many other towns around the world facing similar challenges with prepaid water meters. For more information, please visit the Public Citizen and Food and Water Watch websites.

Residents of Phiri won a long battle for water in April 2008, but the case is now being appealed by the City again. Photo courtesy INDIMEDIA.

At Changemakers Day, MAP staff organized a panel, Is Something Fishy? Aquaculture, Seafood, and Sustainability.  Aquaculture is the world’s fastest growing food sector, worth $70 billion and providing over one-third of the seafood consumed worldwide. This dynamic panel brought together activists, policy experts, fishermen, a retailer, and a chef to discuss ways of overcoming the industrial food dilemmas created by aquaculture. It addressed the harmful impact of shrimp and salmon farming on the environment, communities, family fishing businesses and consumer health, and focused on strategies for reforming policy and increasing consumer awareness.

Consumers are often confused about how to purchase and use sustainable seafood. This panel was both informational and fun; it provided resources and guidelines to help Changemakers promote clean, sustainable seafood that is at the heart of Slow Food, and also provided a taste of delicious smoked wild salmon!

Panelists included Laura Anderson, owner of Local Ocean Seafood; Ben Bowman, policy analyst at Food and Water Watch; Diane Morgan, Cookbook Author; Anne Mosness, Go Wild!; and Alfredo Quarto, Mangrove Action Project.

The United States and Canada were concerned the inclusion of water as a 'human right' would interfere with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) according to Food and Water Watch. NAFTA "defines water as a good and an investment" as highlighted by Water Wired. The identification of water as a human right could possibly hinder future import/export of bulk water between the two nations.

So, to satisfy the United States and Canada, the UN Human Rights Council deleted all phrases in the document stating "right to water and sanitation," and replaced the phrases with "Human Rights and access to safe drinking water and sanitation." The Council also voted for an 'Independent Expert' to investigate the "issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation" over the next three years.

Water: Property or Human Right? - World Economic Forum 2006

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8134257433045649336]

National constitutions recognizing the right to water                (from the great Food and Water Watch)

• 1994, Panama: A constitutional amendment recognized the State’s responsibility to guarantee water for adequate development;
• 1995, Ethiopia: “[P]olicies shall aim to provide all Ethiopians access to [..] clean water;”
• 1995, Uganda: The State is obliged to fulfill fundamental rights to social justice and economic development including clean and safe water;
• 1996, Gambia: “The State shall endeavour to facilitate equal access to clean and safe water;”
• 1996, South Africa: “Everyone has the right to have access to sufficient food and water;”
• 2004, Uruguay: Uruguayans approved a constitutional amendment by popular vote guaranteeing the right to water.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Under pressure from the food industry, the Agriculture Department is considering a proposal not to identify retailers where tainted meat went for sale except in cases of serious health risk, The Associated Press has learned.

Had that been the rule in place last month, consumers would not have been told if their supermarkets sold meat from a Southern California slaughterhouse that triggered the biggest beef recall in U.S. history. Read the full story ---> USDA Might Limit Meat Recall Information.