Civil society organisations denounce the inefficiency of the international community over the last thirty years, as policies have increased water scarcity at a time when the institutions speak of a lack of global governance of water resources and point out the impact factor of demographic increase.

Civil society reacted strongly to water « privatisations » in Latin America in 2005. People denounced the biais of financial investors in water and sanitisation projects that are run by private operators. It is important for stakeholders to understand why such strong opposition exists to the private management of water services. This confrontation seems to be due not merely to ideological difference, but also to the needs of the poorest people who are not generally taken into consideration with the immediacy and care with which they should be treated.

A coalition for a World Water Contract was established by the civil society organisations in several countries, and intends extending its activity to other countries. This coalition defends the right to water as a universal right. The Water Movement has been active since the initial social fora in Porto Alegre (Brazil) in 2001 and 2002. It is currently developing concrete proposals such as : recognition of water as a human right to the tune of 40 litres / person / day, a progressive price scale , different systems of taxation that would guarantee solidarity between users.

The United Nations Millenium Development Goals, in Objective 7, target 10 for 2015 state « A 50% reduction by 2015 of the percentage of the population who do not have permanent access to drinking water supplies. »

This objective is considered a setback by civil society organisations, as the objective of universal access to water in the first decades of the 21st century had been a previously stated goal.

Other sources on water access in the world :

• World Business Council for Sustainable Development
• UNESCO Web site for the World Water Day
• World Water Council