Timezone: P M C E 

Category: Documentaries

Regions: North America, Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa

Topics: Economic Development / Poverty, Environment, Globalization

Many of us take it for granted that when we turn a handle, water comes out. What we don’t see in that clear water is the murky struggle between private international corporations and government organizations that create and maintain that flow. When profit becomes the bottom line, citizens of less developed countries often can’t afford clean water and end up drinking from polluted, germ ridden rivers and wells.

This struggle over water resources is set to become one of the great challenges of the 21st century, and has been identified as one of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. In this Link TV Special, we air Dead in the Water, and hear from celebrated co-directors Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman as they present clips from their film Thirst, discussing this issue that effects our daily lives. 

 

Dead in the Water

This in-depth investigative report details the figures and companies behind the international push for the privatization of water. When only one in four people on the planet has access to clean water, the handling of this commodity has deadly results. Shadowy assassination attempts on water employees, cholera outbreaks in the third world, North American cities outsourcing their water supply to large French companies, these real-life dramas are woven together in a convincing case against the current water system.

 

Thirst

Global corporations are rapidly buying up local water supplies - right here in the United States. Communities suddenly lose control of their most precious resource. Thirst, a character-driven documentary with no narration, reveals how water is the catalyst for explosive community resistance to globalization. A piercing look at the conflict between public stewardship and private profit, shot in Bolivia, India, Japan and Stockton, CA, USA.

LEARN MORE:

Learn more about Thirst at Snitow Kaufman Productions  

You can visit the Dead in the Water website for more information about water around the world, with statistics.

Water Aid - an international NGO dedicated exclusively to the provision of safe domestic water, sanitation and hygiene education to the world's poorest people.

World Water Council - a network of public and private sector organization with a stake in water issues. They are responsible for the World Water Forum.
Unesco's water portal

The UN Millenium Development Goals - a site that outlines all of the goals related to reducing poverty around the world.

Food & Water Watch challenges the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and by transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink.
Corporate Accountability International is a membership organization that protects people by waging and winning campaigns that challenge irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions around the world.

Polaris Institute is engaged in retooling citizen movements for democratic social change in an age of corporate-driven globalization.

Corporate Water Privatization - Sierra Club - The main page for the Corporate Accountability Committee's water privatization program.

Visit Link TV's Specials Page.