Now that you are aware of the primary issues, we can turn to the politics of the matter with one question: Whom does the water belong to? To the big water-marketing companies (Suez, Veolia, RWE, Vivendi) or to you, or to me? Well, that is a thorny question. You might think that water just belong to every human being. After all, water is a natural element, it is at the root of life and it is the only element you cannot live without; it is a death or life condition. Whether you agree or not, this answer is wrong: In fact, at “The Dublin Statement on Water and sustainable Development” held on January 31st, 1992, the United Nations named water as an economic good. Water is therefore a good and not a right. So like any economic good, water can be owned, and it is actually owned by big water companies. France is the country of big water companies. There, water was privatized in the 18th century. The idea was to bring water to newly built neighborhoods. The expensive water supply system would be borne by private investors that would get their money back by selling the water. In the 1980’s Margaret Thatcher privatized all the water in the UK; and in the 1990’s those companies began taking a global significance. So for example, today, Buenos Aires’ water – like New York City’s water – belongs to Suez; Puerto Rico and Chicago to Veolia; Jakarta and Pittsburgh to RWE/Thames. Like any economic good, water has been subject to the law of profit, so only people who have the money have water.