The social effects of water privatization

Abstract

Among the most controversial solutions for fighting the water shortage suffered in some regions is the privatization of this service. The controversyis based on the social implications that this solution brings along which is not very often taken into account by those who make the decisions. Those who defend the public service of water say that there are powerful arguments against privatization, being among them the dissolution of the human right to water; the omission of fundamental democratic values such as participation; and the dissolution of the role of the citizen following a clientrationality.