Interlndi, J. 2010.October 18. Liquid Asset: Big business and the race to control the world's water. Newsweek.

When the topic of water hits the cover of Newsweek or Time magazines, the public knows that the subject has generated traction. The connection between water and big business added currency. The article begins with a discussion of diversions of water in North America from its native source--for example Lake Sitka, Alaska, the Catskill Mountains, the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, and the Colorado River Basin--to water short urban centers or arid regions. Two American companies intend to transport the water of Lake Sitka to India, near Mumbai at a rate of 3 billion gallons of water per year. The Lake Sitka reality reintroduces the debate between the privatization and governmental regulation of water.

Of the developed, developing, emerging market countries, Canada, the Alaskan state of the United States, and Russia have abundant resources; those facing insufficient resources include India, Syria, and Jordan, among others. Countries, such as the United States and China, appear ripe for water infrastructure investments--with the capital to finance costly water projects and a growing water need. According to Interlandi, "the water table under Beijing plummets, wells dug around the city must reach ever-greater depths (nearly two thirds of a mile or more, according to a recent World Bank report) to hit fresh water" (pp. 43-44). Consequently, drilling for water gets more expensive and water rates rise. The United States suffers from aging infrastructure, estimated to cost $300 billion to repair, according to the EPA (Environmental Protection Administration). The American Water Work Association has recorded about 500,000 pipe bursts in the U.S. a year. Faced with the two unpleasant realities-deteriorating infrastructures and their associated costs--some  municipalities have elected to privatize, with varying levels of success.

The reluctance of public water service providers to charge the full operations and maintenance cost of water systems defers action. The author stated, "The World Bank has argued that higher prices are a good thing. Right now, no public utility anywhere prices water based on how scarce it is or how much it costs to deliver" (p. 45). Countering the market driven arguments, the proponents of water as a human right acknowledge the fact that water has no substitute. Studies, this group contends, have shown that increasing the price of water hurts the poor far more than the rich and does little to reduce the consumption of water among rich (50 percent among the poor and 10 percent among the rich). Disputes between Pakistan and India, India and China, Jordan and Syria over water diversions and sharing emphasize the need for solutions and cooperation.