UN World Water Day 2011: Reclaiming public water for our cities

Message from TNI's Water Justice Project

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Cape Town. We, the Reclaiming Public Water and Public Services International delegations are attending the GWOPA (Global Water Operator partnerships Alliance) congress and general assembly on 20-21 March in Cape Town, South Africa.

"The Congress will bring together water and sanitation operators, GWOPA members, and partners from around the world for this first major global WOPs event. The Congress will contribute to the growing body of knowledge on WOPs, help broker new partnerships between operators, and generally raise awareness about the practice". Find the programme here.

Reclaiming Public Water Network (RPWN) and Public Services International (PSI) will cohost one of the thematic session "Participation ‐ harnessing the potential of civil society and trade unions in making WOPs succeed." Public operators, trade union, NGOs will urge how can local civil society and trade unions best be involved to contribute to successful WOPs, What are the experiences with civil society groups (such as community organisations) as official WOP partners and could this be up-scaled? Click here for more information.

We will be celebrating the UN's World Water Day (22nd March 2011) with The South African Municipal Workers' Union (SAMWU) and local civil society groups, addressing water issues in South Africa, and especially in Cape Town, in line with this years WWD theme "Water for Cities: Responding to the Urban Challenge." See the UN website for more information.

Kind regards,

Satoko Kishimoto,
TNI's Water Justice Project Coordinator

Latest Resources 

"Water privatization does not yield cost savings" by Mildred E. Warner
Proponents of privatization argue that it saves costs due to competitive pressures private providers face to be more efficient, but our comprehensive scientific analysis found no empirical support for cost
savings. En Español

"Public Community Partnerships in Peru and Uruguay"  Philipp Terhorst talks to Alicia Araujo, Luis Isarra and Adriana
Marquisio from the Platform for Public Community Partnerships of the
Americas.
Citizen struggles for public water in Peru and Uruguay share many similarities and a common vision, with "public-community partnerships" bringing trade unions and water utility managers together on a shared platform.

Video: Water Union Rally in Jakarta - December 2010

In December 2010, hundreds of water union workers in Jakarta (Indonesia) protested against the privatisation of the water service in the city. The workers demanded an end to contracts with private foreign companies Suez and Thames on the grounds that they have not brought their promised investments and service improvements, and have worsened labour conditions for workers.