In this "chilling, in-depth examination of a rapidly emerging global crisis" (In
These Times), Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke, two of the most active opponents to
the privatization of water show how, contrary to received wisdom, water mainly
flows uphill to the wealthy. Our most basic resource may one day be limited: our
consumption doubles every twenty yearstwice the rate of population increase. At
the same time, increasingly transnational corporations are plotting to control
the world's dwindling water supply. In England and France, where water has alrea
dy been privatized, rates have soared, and water shortages have been severe. The
major bottled-water producersPerrier, Evian, Naya, and now Coca-Cola and PepsiC
oare part of one of the fastest-growing and least-regulated industries, buying u
p freshwater rights and drying up crucial supplies.
