Water: a human right in need of the right price

In case you haven't heard, water's a big issue in international development. And at Nestle's conference on 'Creating Shared Value', it was this panel, of all the panels, that had the most passion - and where Nestle was able to shine. Or at least, Nestle S.A. Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe was able to shine.

Turns out that when Nestle did a serious examination of the challenges before them in the next few decades, what they came up with was water. He said that 'we will run out of water before we run out of oil. The issue is where, how and when water is available more than absolute quantity of water.' Thus, monsoons (which we expect more of with climate change) are unleashing water, but it is not captured in current infrastructure. And without fresh water - well, it goes without saying that that destroys any food company's business model.

He emphasized that Nestle recognized that water has 3 main dimensions: as a social good, an ecological good and a commercial good. He suggested that the commercial good must come last. He also argued that water is a human right for basic hydration and hygiene. It is not, however, a human right for swimming pools and lawns. Too often confuse the two. He felt that biofuels that use food for fuel is a 'criminal activity'. Poor people's food should never be used to fuel rich people's cars. It was this sentiment that got the biggest applause from the audience.

The panel had a fair amount of agreement with his sentiments: water was crucial (of course, they were all water people - but then again, how can one argue with the essence of life itself?); basic water needs especially for children were a human right and beyond that, it made sense to price water. Water, afterall, requires infrastructure and man power - and that has costs. The panel also agreed that while water should be priced, that price should not be speculated on by the international market. Trade in water needs to happen at the sub-national level; preferably within a given watershed.

But pricing water is rarely politically popular - although Stuart Orr from WWF International pointed out that the cost of water in a South African township was greater than in New York City. Such strong agreement - and such passion - on this panel might suggest an opportunity for real action. Perhaps this is an area where Nestle - and other key players who agree with this stance - can lobby governments to pressure for attending to the basic human rights to water - and the importance of finding paying the right price for the real costs that this essential element entails.