WAZ
30.06.2014
Wasserwerk warnt vor chemischer Keule gegen Unkraut
Rheinisch-Westfälische Wasserwerksgesellschaft (RWW) gibt Tipps, wie man Unkräuter los wird, ohne Wasser und Umwelt zu gefährden. Der Einsatz von Totalherbiziden schadet der Umwelt und ist auf vielen Flächen verboten. Ein Verstoß kann als Ordnungswidrigkeit mit empfindlichen Geldbußen bis zu 50 000 Euro geahndet werde
Ein kurzer, aber aufschlussreicher Hinweis, warum sich Veolia – im Gegensatz zu uns – über Fracking freuen kann:
„Zu den Wachstumsfeldern zählt der Veolia-Chef Frérot die Aufbereitung von Abwasser bei der Schiefergasgewinnung [FRACKING] in den USA“
aus dem Artikel:
Karin Finkenzeller: Veolia. Die Probleme des Versorgungsriesen. In: Wirtschaftswoche, 30. Mai 2014.
Fracking
Corporate Accountability International
12.06.2014
Waves of resistance: From Greece to India, people safeguard water for the common good
Von Shayda Edwards Naficy
Last month, 1,500 organizers in Thessaloniki, Greece risked arrest, placing unofficial ballot boxes by nightfall on street corners throughout the city. Their bravery paid off, as the next day more than 200,000 residents cast a vote on the pending privatization of their water system. Hundreds of volunteers worked around the clock to tally votes under the watchful eye of international observers. As morning dawned, a crowd gathered to hear the results. Before long, a huge cry of victory rose up: the “no” vote won by a resounding 98 percent. Once again, the people’s choice was clear: keep our water in public hands!
Thessaloniki: 98% der Abstimmenden sagten NEIN zur Privatisierung der Wasserversorgung
You see, in the face of Greece’s flailing economy, global lenders have put enormous pressure on Thessaloniki to privatize its water supply, arguing that doing so would save the city money through promises of cost-cutting and efficiency measures. And Thessaloniki isn’t alone — communities around the world are feeling the heavy hand of lenders (primarily the World Bank) pushing private water as the answer to their water woes. But the residents of Thessaloniki — like those in Jakarta, Indonesia and Nagpur, India — know that with privatization come rate hikes, empty taps, mass worker layoffs and dangerous health and safety violations.
Indeed, though Thessaloniki’s local government continues to doggedly pursue the private water contract, its efforts were recently dealt a critical blow. Just a few weeks ago, Greece’s highest court made a landmark ruling that private water violates the government’s constitutional obligations to protect peoples’ health and well-being. Campaigners in Thessaloniki are expected to launch a new legal action immediately, seizing this precedent to save their water from a corporate takeover. […]
Zum Artikel
Trade unions and global restructuring
20.06.2014
Catholics in the Italian water movement!
Von Andreas Bieler
21.06.2014
Leider gibt es bislang keine Artikel in deutscher Sprache, darum müssen wir auf englisches Material zurückgreifen.
Als Einführung ist der Report von Maude Barlow u.a. (pdf) v. 18. Juni 2014 empfehlenswert.
Weitere Artikel:
The Blue Planet Project: Human right to water and sanitation violated as thousands lose water connections in Detroit: UN asked to intervene. 17. Juni 2014.
Common Dreams: Groups Appeal to UN for ‚Humanity‘ as Detroit Shuts Off Water to Thousands ‚By denying water service to thousands, Detroit is violating the human right to water.‘ 18. Juni 2014.
Independent European Daily Express: Water Cut-off in U.S. City Violates Human Rights, Say Activists. 19. Juni 2014.
The Blue Planet Project, Food & Water Watch, das Detroit People’s Water Board und die Michigan Welfare Rights Organization sind entsetzt über die Missachtung des Menschenrechts auf Wasser und sanitäre Grundversorgung in Detroit:
The Blue Planet Project, Food & Water Watch, the Detroit People’s Water Board and the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization are outraged about the violation of the human right to water and sanitation in the City of Detroit and call on the authorities to take immediate action to restore water services and stop further cut-offs.
Darüber hinaus geben sie folgende Empfehlungen:
1. We call on the State of Michigan and the U.S. government to respect the human right to water and sanitation.
2. We call on the city to restore services to households that have been cut off immediately.
3. We call on the city to abandon its plan for further cut-offs.
4. We call on the federal and state governments to work with the city to ensure a sustainable public financing plan and rate structure that would prevent a transfer of the utility’s financial
burden onto residents who are currently paying exorbitant rates for their water services.
5. We call for fair water rates for the residents of Detroit.
6. We call on the City of Detroit to implement the original water affordability program immediately.
Wir können zum Beispiel die Petition von The Blue Planet Project unterstützen!
The Blue Planet Project appelliert:
Tell Detroit to turn the taps back on: Water is a human right!
Water is a human right. Yet every week, hundreds of Detroit residents are having their water ruthlessly cut off by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, despite living on the Great Lakes, which carry one-fifth of the world’s water supply.
People are given no warning and no time to fill buckets, sinks or tubs. Families, seniors, sick and injured people and those with special needs are left without running water and working toilets, including vulnerable populations, sick people and others with special needs. People recovering from surgery cannot wash and change bandages. Children cannot bathe and parents cannot cook.
The plan to cut off water to 150,000 households by the end of the summer is part of the plan to sell off and privatize Detroit’s water system. In order to make the utility attractive to investors, lower-income households are being forced to pay exorbitant rates for their water and sewer services or see their access cut. Water rates have risen in Detroit by 119 per cent in the last decade. With unemployment rates at a record high, and the poverty rate at about 40 per cent, Detroit water bills are unaffordable to a significant portion of the population.
By allowing thousands of people to be denied access to water and sanitation services, the U.S. government is violating its international obligation to respect and protect the human right to water and sanitation.
Show your solidarity with the people in Detroit. Tell U.S. President Barack and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to uphold the human right to water and stop the water cut-offs!
Die Initiative Detroit Water Brigade bittet um Mithilfe
Adressen:
Detroit Water Brigade auf Facebook
Upside Down World
17.06.2014
Ecuador’s CONAIE Indigenous Movement: A Return to the Bases in a Fight for Water Rights
From Marc Becker (professor of Latin American Studies at Truman State University)
With calls to return power to the bases and to mobilize the grassroots in defense of the rights of community access to water resources, Ecuador’s largest and most powerful Indigenous federation has inaugurated its leadership for the next three years.
