Bolivians protesting against water privatisation © Julie Plasencia / AP / The UNESCO Courier

There has been widespread concern about the conditions imposed by donors in relation to privatisation of municipal water supplies. The subject is complex and lends itself to oversimplification and slogans. Nevertheless, whilst there are some examples of successful water privatisation in the developing world, the balance of evidence points towards failure, often at the hands of some of the world's major corporations.

In mushrooming cities where rapid population movement often defies formal registration by the authorities, an international utility corporation will tend to target its services to middle class areas and set prices beyond the pockets of the poor.

There are signs that some donor governments and even the World Bank may be pulling back from their unquestioning stance on water privatisation. Nevertheless, controversies are rumbling on in many major cities of the world, provoked on occasion by extreme proposals to sell the rights to entire rivers and lakes to the private sector.

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